3.30 8-max Tourney - 2 hours in, 1 hour of late reg still remains.
hero: 35BB
villain: 40BB
7 players at the table

pf: villain from UTG+1 opens 2BB, CO calls, Hero from BB calls with 55
flop: 5h jc 4h (pot 7.37BB)
Hero checks, pf raiser bets 4BB CO folds and Hero calls

turn: 2d (pot 15,75BB)
Hero checks, villain bets 8BB and has 26BB left and Hero has a decision to make with 28BB left. Hero raises 2x and Villain folds.

What is the best way to get max value in this situaation? I feel like if we just call and check again on the river, we can almost always expect check back. Should we instead of check raising on turn, just call and then lead the river if there is no heart? Or the best play is to check and hope Villain will continue?

I like the way you played this hand besides the turn raise (I will explain). I like the call pre flop, I really like only calling on the flop as so many players check raise there and then fold out so many hands including Jx there where they forego so much value doing so. Om the turn we do have a decision to make as you pointed out and I personally agree with your assessment that we cant call and then check the river as we cant count on villain 3 barreling this hand. Our options are call the turn and lead river, raise on turn in a min raise fashion (as you did), or jam raise the turn. Of the three choices I like raising small the least and like jamming the most. We have to first understand on this hand that more than likely any one of these choices will just lead to a fold. We shouldnt be mad about that, its just a case where we need villain to have something. So if it comes down to they need to have something then our move needs to look as weak as possible to get a call from the least "something" villain could have. This is why I dont like min raising the turn. Min raising there looks the strongest of all moves and a competent opponent even with a hand will be thinking that you are trying to take them to value town. Jamming the turn looks the weakest in my opinion as you could be semi bluffing a draw, jamming some pocket 7s or 8s type hand, or doing so with some bluff. I dont think villain would ever put us on a bluff if we min raise but might if we jam.

The middle option of calling and then leading river is not terrible but I feel like depending on sizing and what card hits the river they may not buy it. We would never be bluffing a draw at that point since all the cards are out so villain would just have to decipher whether they have something that beats us or not. Plus rare times a 3 comes or flush completes it just isnt going to be fun to make that bet (not the reason I dont like the play but just throwing it out there). Jam the turn and hope they have a little something or think you are bluffing or a combo of the two.

Given that he bet-folded the turn, he might not have had much of a hand, and you might have extracted the maximum already. If I had to guess, I could see him have a hand like A high, which put out a standard C-bet and decided to fire again, because he picked up a gutshot. But with just a gutshot and an over, he is not going to continue against even a small raise.

But he is probably also not going to fire again on the river, so if you check-call again, you are just giving him a free card to hit his 4-outer and put you in a miserable spot on the river. With that being said I think, there are different ways to play the hand, so lets break it down.

Preflop
Standard defend against a min-raise.

Flop
With middle set you obviously want to get stacks inside, unless the board runs out in a horrible way like 3-2 or h-h putting out some kind of 1-liner. Any line other than folding is obviously +EV, but if I was to pick one, I actually kind of like a donk bet. With effective stacks of 35BB, 3 bets are enough to get stacks in, and the simplest way to make sure, 3 bets go in, is to just grab the initiative right away and go bet, bet, jam.

This generally look weaker than a check-raise, and some people play very poorly against donk bets. They see them almost like a personal insult, and they might even raise you, in which case you can simply get it all in on the flop. Sure you might miss out on value from some bluffs now and then, but you make sure, a bet goes in, and really you just need to hope, someone has a piece of this board.

Turn
As played 300HPGOD already made a good case for check-jamming to make it look more bluffy. This also price out any draw, which is valuable in an MTT for ICM reasons. If he has a hand like 8h6h, you are happy, if he calls it off, but you are also totally happy, if he fold and give up his chance of hitting one of his 10 outs on the river.

Hello, I agree mostly with guys. In this situation I prefer call on the flop and call on the turn. On the river I prefer lead on every card, even will come heart and complete the flush, because I pick cards up from the UTG position are usually offsuit, there are few suited connector cards. Pre flop raise from UTG position with suited connectors cards is more advanced strategy. So I think that we can lead on the river not scary the flush on the river. I think that your raise on the turn makes more sense when on the flop or on the turn will come Ace, because from utg position often players raise strong aces. GL

Check Raise was the best decision in my opinion, well done!

I really liked the way you played it. I like taking pots without a showdown. They don't get a lot of information on you. That being said as others have stated I think you have to size up that check raise bet. Board has lots of draws with the hearts Ax has a gutshot, 33 is open ended. Those hands you'd want to try and price out of a river card. Basically making them pay to chase, but I am happy taking that one down without a showdown.

As usual I trying on the role of villain.


Why I bet on flop, why I bet on turn? Is 4 bb too much for flop? Is 8 bb needed for turn?
Why hero simple call and not squeeze?


I think you should allow villain to bluff more.

I think I would have played like you did.

I would also consider leading turn. I think 2d is a card that villan is not going to bet enough and might just check back. Curious to what people think about this.