$2 NLHE 6-max: Flopped top pair, went for check-raise

[Casey55]

pokerstars, Hold'em No Limit - $0.01/$0.02 - 5 players
Hand delivered by Upswing Poker

UTG: $1.94 (97 bb)
CO: $1.37 (69 bb)
BU: $3.60 (180 bb)
SB: $4.12 (206 bb)
BB (Hero): $2.63 (132 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($0.03) Hero is BB with K♣ J♥
2 players fold, BTN raises to $0.06, SB calls $0.05, Hero calls $0.04

Flop: ($0.18) 6♥ K♦ 7♣ (3 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, BTN bets $0.05, SB calls $0.05, Hero raises to $0.16, BU folds, SB calls $0.11

Turn: ($0.55) T♠ (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.35, SB calls $0.35

River: ($1.25) 6♠ (2 players)
SB bets $1.21, Hero calls $1.21

Main villain's stats are VPIP 43/ PF 29/ AF 1 (14 hands)


I decide not to 3-bet pre since BTN had 40 vpip over 15 hands and I didn't want to play this type of hand OOP if both players called. I decided to just call pre-flop. On the flop we hit top pair and I decide to raise because I think there are gut-shots/ straight-draws and pairs that may call. After SB calls flop I bet turn... and I think this may be a mistake after looking at Equilab., when he calls the turn bet our hand has about 38% equity versus his range assuming he doesn't re-raise flop or turn with some of his best hands every time.

villain bets roughly pot on the river, I can't imagine he has too many 6x here besides 66,76s and possibly 86s. I over-looked that 98 could be in his range and thought his line did not make too much sense. I figured if he had a set he would have raised at some point. I had his range on some of the nut hands and then possibly some over-played Kx and some broken gut-shots. What do you think I did wrong here? Should I have check-called flop?

If I had to guess I would think my main mistake was betting turn after looking at what villain's calling with, but I don't know maybe the check raise was a poor one. I assumed if they are fish the check-raise wasn't bad since they can continue with all sorts of stuff.

 

[feisas7991]

Squeeze pre
Calling and raising flop is fine. KQ raise nearly 100% of itme.
Turn size down a bit, since you want to get calls from worse
Mostly check folding or block bet tiny and fold to a raise on the river, either option is valid and should be fine in a long run
Hope this helps and Good Luck!

 

[UNE_Aces]

it was easier to take one screenshot rather than describe the entire distribution ��

 

[UNE_Aces]

This is verbal examination to imagine true hand

 

[fundiver199]

Preflop
Standard call.

Flop
When BTN bet so small, and SB only call, I do think, it indicate a lot of weakness. If BTN had a great hand like AK or AA, I think, he would want to build a bigger pot, and if SB had a great hand, he would have check-raised. So I am totally on board with this check-raise, but I would go a bit larger like 26c rather than just 16c. 16c is only 33% pot, which is very small.

Turn
You got a great result on the flop in that, you got BTN to fold but SB to call, so now you are playing the hand in position. But here I might actually use that position to check back for pot control, especially if I had raised larger on the flop. The T is not a total brick, since it does bring in 98, which was the main draw, and it bring in KT and TT as well. So I am not 100% in stack off mode here, and the pot is pretty big already.

River
I think, its fair to say, that he is not doing this almost pot sized donk shove with a worse hand like K9 or K8 for value. So we have ended up in a situation, where we were betting for value, but now our hand is reduced to a bluff catcher. And the problem is, there are not many busted draws, he can be bluffing with. 85 and 54 are in theory out there, but how often are those hands called from SB? 85 probably almost never, and 54 only the suited combos.

We are not getting a good price here, and when there are few natural bluffs and many value combos, that potentially beat us, our default should be to fold. I get, that his line is weird, because does he really have a 6 in his hand, probably not. And if he had 2 pair or better on the turn, why did he not get it in there. But recreational players do weird stuff like this sometimes, so I certainly dont think, we can rule out hands like 77, TT, KT or 98. You dont have much information about this guy after just 14 hands, so all in all I prefer a fold as played.

 

[magister1]

Pretty weird line from both you and the villain to be honest.

I'm folding river at NL2 because I don't think people at this level are bluffing on a line where they call a check-raise then donk bet pot the river. Kind of sick with the small sample size but he has way more 6s in his range than yours.

 

[fundiver199]

Should add also, that I am only on board with raising the flop because of BTNs sizing and the fact, SB has called. This is not the wettest flop, but I still dont want to give two opponents such a great price to bink something like a gutshot or the ace overcard on the turn. Whereas had BTN bet even 10c rather than 5c, then I am definitely not raising the flop.

Its rare, that we should raise the flop for value, when we are not default prepared to stack off, but I feel, this situation is one of the exceptions. I also think, we very likely had the best hand on the flop but probably got drawn out on later. And of course there is nothing wrong with putting money in, when we are ahead, and then checking or folding, when we are beat. In fact thats pretty much the definition of perfect poker