betting for information because aggression prints money
Hello
Still new to the game.. What I don't understand: why is villain checking when he has AA on the turn and especially when he has AAA on the river. Villain checking made me believe that I had the better hand hence the big raise on the River by Hero.
I keep finding myself in these situations and I dont understand the logic of Villain by checking with a strong hand
PokerStars - £0.02 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 4 players
Hero (BTN): 55.5 BB
SB: 100 BB
BB: 100 BB
CO: 120 BB
SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB
Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 8♦ J♥
CO raises to 3 BB, Hero calls 3 BB, fold, fold
Flop: (7.5 BB, 2 players) 6♠ J♣ 5♠
CO checks, Hero bets 3.5 BB, CO calls 3.5 BB
Turn: (14.5 BB, 2 players) A♣
CO checks, Hero bets 4 BB, CO calls 4 BB
River: (22.5 BB, 2 players) A♥
CO checks, Hero bets 21.5 BB, CO raises to 43 BB, Hero calls 21.5 BB
CO shows 3♣ A♠ (Three of a Kind, Aces)
(Pre 57%, Flop 18%, Turn 89%)
Hero mucks 8♦ J♥ (Two Pair, Aces and Jacks)
(Pre 43%, Flop 82%, Turn 11%)
CO wins 104.5 BB
Hello there MJJ, welcome to the CardsChat community and thank you for sharing your hand. Don't need to worry, we are all students here and we all have the desire to learn.
The Preflop
Are you playing SSS (short stack strategy) or MSS (middle stack strategy)? If you are okay, no problem but if you aren't, we recommend to play with a effective stack of 100 blinds.
Your calling range seems a little bit wide, because calling here what good could come on the flop when we do hit our Jack or an Eight? CO/Villain can, and will have better jacks than you always, because J7o is not so good for opening, you are holding J8, so we should put into Villain's range J9, JT, QJ, KJ and AJ.
I don't like playing MSS strategy because of the low SPR, we are almost always commited with any Top Pair we hit, so there isn't many space for
bluffing postflop when we do have only 50 blinds of effective stack.
the postflop
The Flop
CO checks, because most of players are checking 100% range out of position, so they could easily go for check-folding, check-calling or check-raising. I would not bet this flop, because, as I said, we are almost commited to the pot and when we do bet, CO can continue with better jacks, two pair, flush draws and even some straight draws, given CO's range is dynamic. This means that CO can show on its preflop opening range:
22+, A2s+, K7s+, Q8s+, J8s+, T8s+, 98s, 87s, 76s, 65s, A2o+, K9o+, Q9o+, J9o+, T9o (35%)
We understand now why it is easy for CO to be checking out of position when BTN calls, because it is just a small part of 35% range could/should be betting here out of position and even so not everytime. CO is checking its 35% opening range in a high frequency here, checking something between 70-100% of times.
This is one thing many players do, they bet for information and because they believe Villain will always pay with worst hands, but now CO doesn't has any worst jack than ours, and Hero BTN goes for 1/2 pot, and we should ask ourselves whether this is a bet for value or whether this is a bet for bluff.
The Turn
CO will continue checking here even when it hits AJ for example, because if CO has AJ on its combos, CO is blocking almost all the combinations that BTN could have, and if CO bets it gives an easy fold for BTN.
The strongs hands are checking, all of them, AJ, A5, A6, even AA if Villain has, since BTN demonstrated that it has some Value by betting flop and turn. If BTN/Hero doesn't has any made hand, but flush/straight draws, no problem, CO can continue paying with strongs value hands to evaluate river.
The River
Many players will check a lot when they have strong hands, because the rational philosophy of poker these days are "if you don't know what to do, bet", "if Villain checks or calls it is passive and bluffing so we must force it", "bet for information to see what Villain really has".
The logic is simple, since CO checks flop and BTN/Hero bets, this is a information bet that we are giving for CO: now Villain knows we do have hit something on our range/or we are bluffing the draws of the flop.
CO checks turn and Hero bets again, it is another strong tell that BTN is holding value and will probably keep betting river if we do check for it, so why bother putting money on the pot when our opponent is already making us this favor?
If I was on Hero's shoes here, I would not bet flop, nor turn nor river, well, to start with I would not be defending J8o versus CO, and if I decided to defend it I would go for 3-bet bluff 100% of times.
But, it seems you are betting for information and when you put some many chips on the pot it becomes impossible to fold when Villain re-raises you, and only with better hands.
Regards;
Carlos 'Aballinamion' Barbosa