$200 NLHE 6-max: TP IP vs fish; river decision

$200 NL HE 6-max: TP IP vs fish; river decision

Villain is a 42/22 fish with a WTSD of 27% and a donk-bet of 7% over only 100 hands.

His bet-river% is through the roof, but for some reason he checks. Makes me a little - but not much - weary that he might have gotten there with a flush and is being tricky.

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HAND 1
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$1/$2 No Limit Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
Poker Tools by Stoxpoker - Hand Details


BB: $282.95 (141.5 bb)
UTG: $197.05 (98.5 bb)
MP: $645.60 (322.8 bb)
Hero (CO): $248.45 (124.2 bb)
BTN: $200 (100 bb)
SB: $240.15 (120.1 bb)

Pre-Flop: Hero is CO with Q:heart: K:club:
UTG calls $2, MP folds, Hero raises to $8, 3 folds, UTG calls $6

Flop: ($19) 7:spade: K:spade: 7:club: (2 players)
UTG bets $12, Hero calls $12

Turn: ($43) 4:club: (2 players)
UTG bets $30, Hero calls $30

River: ($103) Q:spade: (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $80

What I don't like about this hand is my river betsizing, and I don't like it because I'm making it such a size that

1) I can't fold to a reraise, and
2) I'm possibly making it too expensive for him to look me up with QJ/AQ/KJ/KT/99/whatever.

I think half-pot is a good number for the river, and I think I'd feel pretty comfortable folding if he check/shoves.

I would prefer repopping to see where I am on the flop. The only reason the river decision is tough is because you are not sure where you are on the flop or turn.

Villians final check leads me to believe he put you on a flush draw or 7 and hit, making his hand a king or weak 7. Having not played against him, I assume UTG limps to be little pairs or hands like KJ. I like a decent size bet here as it both shows you're committed and seems like you want some value from him. 60-100 is gonna put some doubt in his mind. Either check or know it might be going all in, I like your hand though.

Ultrazord said:

I would prefer repopping to see where I am on the flop. The only reason the river decision is tough is because you are not sure where you are on the flop or turn.

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I strongly disagree with this. Raising can be done in part for information (but only if there are other compelling reasons to raise as well) but only against good players. What will I learn if I raise and he calls?

... and if I raise he folds, then I've learned that I just stopped him from bluffing into me again on the turn and wish I could turn back the clock and not raise.

Villians final check leads me to believe he put you on a flush draw or 7 and hit, making his hand a king or weak 7. Having not played against him, I assume UTG limps to be little pairs or hands like KJ. I like a decent size bet here as it both shows you're committed and seems like you want some value from him. 60-100 is gonna put some doubt in his mind. Either check or know it might be going all in, I like your hand though.

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His limping range UTG includes a LOT of trash, including stuff J8o, K8o, A9o and Q5s. I like that you're assigning him a range, but I think you're vastly underestimating just how loose a 44/20 player is.

F Paulsson said:

What I don't like about this hand is my river betsizing, and I don't like it because I'm making it such a size that

1) I can't fold to a reraise, and
2) I'm possibly making it too expensive for him to look me up with QJ/AQ/KJ/KT/99/whatever.

I think half-pot is a good number for the river, and I think I'd feel pretty comfortable folding if he check/shoves.

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Yeah 1) is definitely an issue, but against a 42/22 drooler I'm not sure 2) is. For one thing, he probably raises pf with the top hands there (AQ/99), and I can't see him not calling with any piece of anything, regardless of whether we 1/2 pot or pot, because he's probably thinking in terms of "he is/is not bluffing" more than anything else.

This is seldom but sometimes some trickily played flush - fish definitely love their bizarre slowplay, but more often than not it should be taken at face value as just a fish not knowing when something like K8 isn't good (but actually being scared of the flush on the river), the bonus being he'll call your 'oversized' river bet every time with something like K8 even though he's scared of the flush because, well, he's not very good at poker.

Ultrazord, we generally don't "raise for information" against a bad player. If we raise flop, he's calling with a huge proportion of his donk-betting range, so we're still as uncertain as we were before raising but now we've swollen the pot unnecessarily. If we gain confidence in our hand on later streets the pot size is still conductive to getting the majority of our stack in (as actually happened) without having to throw more chips in on the flop.

F Paulsson said:

I strongly disagree with this.

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+1. Raising flop is terrible here.

Honestly, i like the way you played it. I would probably bet a little smaller on river, but i'm not sure it's better than what you chose.

Looks fine to me, though I agree with betting smaller. I probably bet like $60 here.