2/4 NL

Opponent has $500...I have him covered. I played one big hand with this guy....but I hadn't seen any of his other hands. The first hand i played... He raised preflop..i called with TT and the flop was KKT. He checked and I bet every street to which he calls. He finally check and folds on the river when I bet $125. He thought about it a long time before folding. I'm guessing he had AA because I expect a king to call there.

On to this hand.

I'm dealt [Kh]. Two opponents limp in front of me in EP (including my main opponent) I raise to $24 from UTG+3. Only UTG+1 calls the raise.

FLOP $58
[Js][Qh]

Opponent checks to me. This board is too coordianted for my liking..and I don't feel like being checkraised out of the hand. I check.

TURN$58
[Js][Qh][8h]

Nut flush draw and nut gutshot draw along with TPTK. He checks...this time I decide to bet $40. I'm a lot more comfortable with my hand now.

Opponent check raises to $184.50??!!! That is a huge raise...does he think I'm trying to buy? I'm thinking because of the previous hand..and the fact I checked the flop on this hand..that he might suspect i'm trying to buy. I also have tons of outs for the nuts. He has about $300 left behind him. What do you do???

Pot is $282 but it's $145 for me to call.

I called because I thought there was a good possibilty of a bluff (which I doubt he could follow through with) and even if it wasn't...i was drawing to a ton of great cards...and since I had position...would probably get his stack on the flush if he did actually hold something good. Results later.

This is certainly an interesting situation. So what do you guys think??

I probably call this too.... what is he going to check to you twice to that kind of coordination in a raised pot? Surely if he held a monster he would have bet into the turn when it became so draw heavy. I wouldn't like it but I would be tempted to call a bet on the river too if I miss.

Your mistake here is not betting the flop. If this guy has K-10 he isn't going to check raise you. If he has two pair, he probably will check-raise you and you can get away from the hand. Everytime you check the flop while in position, you lose valuable information on the strength of your opponents hand. What you did by not betting is show weakness and gave him the opportunity to steal from you. Now you have no idea if he has a straight, two pair, trips, A10, AK or hit a flush draw on the turn. Luckily for you on this hand (or maybe not so lucky), is you have two nut draws and top pair. I would call in hopes of hitting one of those numerous outs. Just keep in mind, the point of this whole post is to make sure you are gathering info on your opponent and making him make the tough decisions, not letting him put you in a tough spot because you are acting weakly.

Excellent post Stapher

hey stapher....your mom. oh wait ...shes my mom too.

Yeah a better play would have been to bet the flop and check the turn if called; I think. If the flop bet is called..there's a pretty good chance i'm losing...so i should take a free card to hit one of my outs.


Anyway...I called his raise. The river was another Ace. He checked and I checked. He showed QJ two pair..so I rivered him. I played with him for 4 hours...and thats all he would do. he would get a big hand..raise huge...and a lot of the time get called! if he didn't raise...then his hand wasn't very good and he was probably drawing.

so at least after making a bad play...i watched and learned. won't make the same mistake again...at least not for a while