$4 NLHE Full Ring: $2NL raise on the river

pokerman27

pokerman27

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$4 NL HE Full Ring: $2NL raise on the river

Villain is in the big blind and is very loose playing 50% of pots very passively...I know I took the hand down but I would just like some input into how I played it and what range you put villain on. Personally I beleive my raise on the river was a semi bluff with showdown potential as I think he was playing a weaker ace.

Hand History Converter
SB: $1.91
BB: $3.66
UTG: $4.95
UTG+1: $2.47
MP1: $1.96
MP2: $1.19
CO: $0.76
Hero (BTN): $2.05
Pre Flop: ($0.03) Hero is BTN with A ♠ K ♦
3 folds, MP2 calls $0.02, 1 fold, Hero raises to $0.12, 1 fold, BB calls $0.10, 1 fold
Flop: ($0.27) 5 ♥ 9 ♠ 6 ♠ (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.18, BB calls $0.18
Turn: ($0.63) T ♥ (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks
River: ($0.63) 9 ♥ (2 players)
BB bets $0.20, Hero raises to $0.40, BB folds
 
thepokerkid123

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Pre-flop: I like the raise size. With a calling station in the BB you'll get a lot of calls from dominated hands.

Flop: You usually want to check it back where only worse hands will fold because you're only protection yourself from 3-6 outs (3 of the 6 may be money cards for you if he has an A or K) and if you get called you're giving value to a better hand. Usually in this spot I think checking it down is the better option.

Turn: Yeah, check behind and hope to catch the A or K on the river, or be able to check behind on the river and hope that he called you on the flop with something he shouldn't have.

River:

pokerman27 said:
Personally I beleive my raise on the river was a semi bluff with showdown potential as I think he was playing a weaker ace.
Click to expand...

There is no such thing. It's either for value or a bluff. Semi-bluffing exists only when there are still cards to come (i.e. you have a significant amount of outs).

In this case, it was a bluff. Yes, you have showdown potential if he checks but you have no showdown value against his calling range. You're turning your hand into a bluff, if he folds you win, if he calls you're dominated. Mind you, that's just details here. Since he bet to you your options are fold/raise because calling with A high to catch bluffs is kinda spewy.
As played I don't think he has much, 22-88 (excluding sets) or caught the 5 or 6, I fold here because I don't want to bluff a calling station, I'm only basing the assumption that he's a calling station on the amount of hands he plays but if you think he'll fold a small one pair hand then go ahead and raise but don't make it 40c, you're just begging him to call. Raise to 70c (less than the size of the pot ((83c)) so we need a fold less than half of the time, but big enough that it's hard to call).

I may be wrong and he did have A high, in which case your raise was an insanely thin value bet. If you had reason to think he was bluffing a weak hand more than 25% of the time then the correct play is to call, not raise.
 
pokerman27

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thepokerkid123 said:
Pre-flop: I like the raise size. With a calling station in the BB you'll get a lot of calls from dominated hands.

Flop: You usually want to check it back where only worse hands will fold because you're only protection yourself from 3-6 outs (3 of the 6 may be money cards for you if he has an A or K) and if you get called you're giving value to a better hand. Usually in this spot I think checking it down is the better option.

Turn: Yeah, check behind and hope to catch the A or K on the river, or be able to check behind on the river and hope that he called you on the flop with something he shouldn't have.

River:



There is no such thing. It's either for value or a bluff. Semi-bluffing exists only when there are still cards to come (i.e. you have a significant amount of outs).

In this case, it was a bluff. Yes, you have showdown potential if he checks but you have no showdown value against his calling range. You're turning your hand into a bluff, if he folds you win, if he calls you're dominated. Mind you, that's just details here. Since he bet to you your options are fold/raise because calling with A high to catch bluffs is kinda spewy.
As played I don't think he has much, 22-88 (excluding sets) or caught the 5 or 6, I fold here because I don't want to bluff a calling station, I'm only basing the assumption that he's a calling station on the amount of hands he plays but if you think he'll fold a small one pair hand then go ahead and raise but don't make it 40c, you're just begging him to call. Raise to 70c (less than the size of the pot ((83c)) so we need a fold less than half of the time, but big enough that it's hard to call).

I may be wrong and he did have A high, in which case your raise was an insanely thin value bet. If you had reason to think he was bluffing a weak hand more than 25% of the time then the correct play is to call, not raise.
Click to expand...


Thanks for a great answer Pokerkid...food for thought definitely.

Thanks also for setting me straight about the semi-bluff. I thought it also referred to situations like this where you are bluffing but blufffing with a weak, but more than likely better hand. As for my raise, yes, definitely too small and a more observant villian should have spotted this. Min rasies are normally something I look on with disdain so very surprised he didn't look me up.
 
bgomez89

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pokerman27 said:
Thanks for a great answer Pokerkid...food for thought definitely.

Thanks also for setting me straight about the semi-bluff. I thought it also referred to situations like this where you are bluffing but blufffing with a weak, but more than likely better hand. As for my raise, yes, definitely too small and a more observant villian should have spotted this. Min rasies are normally something I look on with disdain so very surprised he didn't look me up.
Click to expand...

Semi bluffing(from what I understand) is bluffing when you still have cards that can improve your hand(ex. you have a straight or flush draw and you bet/raise). As for the hand,

Of course we raise this preflop so thats good.

I need some more info on the villian though, was he a calling station or was he always just trying to see a flop cheaply? If he's a crazy calling station, i probably would check back on the flop as they'll normally call your bet and might have actually hit something. Usually calling stations don't pick up on weakness and will check the turn if they have nothing or bet when they do. If this guy can actually fold flops than i like the cbet. After he calls on the flop i can probably put him on maybe two overs, flush draw or maybe his got a piece of it.

On the turn I MIGHT be elect to bet this. This is because if he does has a flush draw or two overs and didn't hit by now he'll probably fold(unless he's always been going to the river every hand). Also if he does call then you know you're probably beat and you can shutdown and fold river to a bet. Checking here also isn't bad because the board is getting a bit dangerous.

On the river his bet definitely seems really weak that could either mean he has the nuts or air. I like the raise but i think you need to make it bigger. if he's a passive calling station i'm not going to try and bluff him since i practically have no fold equity.
 
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