Tight Poker

[neverthink]

I guess only he can answer that question, but you can all have a stab at it for me as well lols. Reads are that he is a reasonably tight player, but makes same preflop errors as everyonelse does at $100 (CCalling with JQetc). Considerate post flop. I haven't been at the table too long but my usual image is smart lag (I hope!). Here the hand...


Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: tomas_junior ( $95.65 )
Seat 2: Pookster777 ( $126.65 ) Villain
Seat 4: Geisho ( $159.40 )
Seat 5: Gan777 ( $75.64 )
Seat 6: Serena ( $111.65 ) Hero
Seat 3: DerAPateAZ ( $15.20 )
Gan777 posts small blind [$0.50].
Serena posts big blind [$1].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Serena [ Jd Js ]
tomas_junior folds
Pookster777 calls [$1]
DerAPateAZ folds
Geisho folds
Gan777 folds
Serena raises [$4]
Pookster777 calls [$4]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Kd, Jc, 4s ] ($10)
Serena bets [$7.50]
Pookster777 calls [$7.50]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Ks ] ($24.75)
Serena checks
Pookster777 bets [$16]
Serena calls [$16]
** Dealing River ** [ 2c ] ($55.80)
Serena checks
Pookster777 bets [$25] (thinks for ages)
Serena raises [$64]
Pookster777 calls [$39]
Serena shows [ Jd, Js ]a full house, Jacks full of Kings.
Pookster777 doesn't show [ Kh, Qd ]three of a kind, Kings.
Serena wins $182.50 from the main pot with a full house, Jacks full of Kings.


I'm happy with my play on all streets to be honest but feel free to comment. I'm just curious as to whether he would call me all in. Imo, there are 2 schools of thought. If he is bluffing then he won't even call a smallish raise and so I may as well move all in anyway hoping he can't put down the King if he has it (bear in mind he only beats KT now at best!).The other, and one I went for, was that if he thinks trip Kings is like the nuts then he will probably 3 bet me all in anyway, plus I may get some value from lesser hands (AJ, QJ, QQ, maybe even 99 or TT if he thinks I'm making a play).

My only real criteria for value raising on the river is how much of his stack will he be prepared to see me with. When I looked over he had $75 remaining after his $25 river bet, so I felt the best amount was to charge another $35ish, significantly more and I may as well have just stuck him all in. I'm never gonna be check bluff/raising here, so it's all about getting value from what I do have, rather than the long run bluff exploitation of villain.

On the river, I really thought he was probably throwing a last bluff out there, or turning a pretty marginal hand into a bluff. In hindsight, given that he just called my raise, I am certain he would have been capable of making the laydown sometimes, but often enough to make bunging it all in unprofitable?

[sfustsh]

It depends on how good your opponent is.

Many players will be astute enough to release trips here, knowing their opponent is not afraid of it. Very read dependent.

Preflop I might take to 5 because you're out of position. Flop bet is fine.

Checking the turn is iffy. If he called your flop bet you can assume he has got a king with a decent kicker (pretty much exactly what he had) since there are no big draws (maybe QT or something). Now he's made trips, and isn't likely to lay down if you bet. I would probably stab with about 15, and hope to get raised. As played, you have about 85$ left.

I would probably just shove it in. It's one of those bets that you make not expecting to be called, and savoring when it does. You need to make the bet that has the most expectation and I think going all in is how to do it. Betting all three streets can get some opponents eager to call, trying to snap off your bluff. Check raising all-in just stinks of power play, and I would avoid it as it is very transparent. Few players can actually make that check raise bluff anyway.

[neverthink]

Preflop was raised to $5, it's the way PP shows the HH, says I raised him $4 more. I make it 5 in or out of position, these chumps gotta pay up yo.

Turn check was because I thought I'd blow him off anything but a King, which he'd rarely have imo, his flop calling range is nowhere near just a King with a decent kicker. Any Jack will be calling there, as well as some others.

I've probably ruined this a bit by giving the result away, but I am far from as certain as you are that villain always has a King by the turn (the key street). If I knew on the turn he had a King I'd have potted it, and the river would have been big enough to stack away on. I wish he'd have pot the turn for me! Maybe the very fact he didn't means he was trying to control the potsize in case he was dominated.Maybe underbetting the turn is a better play though, hoping for a raise.

A lot of the time I have followed thru on the turn and the guy, who is supposed to have top pair or top trips has just folded... bah!

[neverthink]

Double post.

[sfustsh]

I don't think it's likely he 'doesn't' have a king here. He just called preflop, so he's probably got Ax, some suited connectors, a poket pair probably lower than eights or nines or something in that range.

The key is the flop action. Since he called your bet, he's indicating that he either hit the flop, or that it didn't hurt him enough to make him fold. He probably doesn't have suited connectors anymore (the only SCs he could still hold are QT) or a suited ace. Nor does he likely have a jack (3 are already locked up by now). So he PROBABLY has one pair, fours or kings or something in the middle. If he's staying in with a pair of fours, then you're not getting much out of him anyway. Same with anything other than maybe a pair of queens (unlikely). So just assume he has a king.

The point is that I am playing this hand 'as if' he has a king and made trips on the turn. I want a big pot, so I'm going to assume he has a big hand, because that maximizes my expectation. If I slow down with my big hand because most of the time he doesn't have a big hand, I lose a lot of value on those times when he has something I can stack him for.

I looked at the results right before I posted but his hand is pretty transparent, there's just not a lot he can have that matches his betting. I really do think his range on the turn is not much larger than a K with a decent kicker.