Villain is a tough pro, who recently mentioned that he noticed I have a 100% C-Bet frequency, which was true at the time. I acknowledged it with a smile. We had been friendly talking both poker, an non poker related stuff.

2/5
Hero ($1200) opens MP $20 with KJ

Villain($1400) flats co.

HU Pot ($45) K-7-2r hero bets $35 villain flats

Pot ($115) turn 9x hero bets $65, villain raises $200 hero calls

Pot ($515) river Kx hero checks villain bets $450, hero folds.

Did I level myself into a bad fold?

When you call on the turn, what was your plan for the river? i.e. Fold to another bet/call another bet/call all blanks/etc.

One thing I'm working on is making sure that if I call a turn raise/big bet, I'm either going to call a bet on the river, or make sure that V is giving me the implied odds I need should I hit my draw. Otherwise, he has the power of leverage and I have to fold on the turn, because I know that if I call I'm probably going to face a substantial river bet too.

In this situation I probably fold on the turn, given that we only beat J10 and 10-8 and our outs may not be clean. I think the river is a fool's gold kind of situation, given that if we weren't ahead ott, we're only beating 97 that turned itself into a bluff and busted straight draws that floated the flop to take the hand away on later streets. IMO we're mostly facing boats here, and V made a big bet because he put you on the kind of hand you have and wanted the most value.

Should have folded on the turn, what do u think he called u with? I think it's obvious he boated. Probably with 99, or k9s. If he's bluffing the river, wouldn't u think the river bet would be pot if not bigger. Like ^ said I think he played it like he knew what u had.

What does villain know about your turn betting frequency? How bluffy is he?

If you're double barreling with air at a significantly lower rate than you're c-betting, this is a bet/fold on the turn, especially on a dry board like this with no draws in villain's range (this turn decision becomes a lot different on a board like K 8 6 9, for example.) You might have a bet sizing tell here too. If the guy is truly a good player, he'll likely interpret the 1/2PSB as either a bluff or a one pair hand. How much would you bet with 99 or 77 here? I'd go at least 85-90 OTT with all of my value range.

With that said, good fold on the river. I understand being paranoid about competent people playing back at you, but people generally aren't bluffing as much as you think they are (I've been there before...I have a lot of experience with failed bluff catching on the river )

Finally, my first rule of seat selection is to NEVER have a tough player in any of the three seats to my left.

When I called turn, I was planning on calling river. Due to the "c betting" comment I thought he would raise a set on the flop more often then not. Therefor his most likely value hands are AK,KQ,K9,99. It wasn't until the arivel of the next king that made me really second guess his bluffing frequency. I figured my hand was face up and how many players try bluffing guys off trips?

After this hand a seat to his left opened, I politely asked if he wanted it, he said if I didn't torture him I could have it,so I took it

I just hate folding when all I lose to is reped sets.

Also good point on turn sizing tell, Illiterate, thanks. I had just smash bet a flush against fish and it went to show Down.

You might be leveling yourself a bit here.

You should check the turn. You have a marginal top pair on a dry board against a competent opponent who thinks you're cbetting air. You want to pot control and give him the chance to execute his float. Hard to get a lot of value out of a worse hand, and if you get raised, it's a disaster.

As played, fold turn. You beat nothing but a bluff. Villain thinks you cbet a lot, but he probably respects your double barrels more.

As played, fold river. This is a massive bet after we've convincingly represented AA+. It would be a crazy bluff, so without better reads, give him credit and fold.

Also, don't politely ask if you can have a good seat, just take it, lol.

If he's noticed you c-betting at a high freq he is probably raising his bluffs + semi-bluffs otf more often, and his big value hands less often. Do you see why?

Answer below:



Betting KJ on the turn is rather thin vs a good player too, he is unlikely to have worse K's. You should check in case he is floating, and possibly fold/call depending on his sizing. Calling the turn raise is incredibly bad, he most likely has 77/22 and its a very narrow nutted range but he has no bluffs!!!

As a side note, be wary c-betting oop vs this player. He is very likely to float you and try to take it away on turns. IP expect a much stronger range playing vs you and be very wary of connected broadway flops.

Try to avoid playing pots OOP vs this guy at all costs, and expect raise ott and river to be complete value.

The leveling comment about c-betting is hard to ignore. It suggests he would be just calling with the better part of his range here (KQ/sets/even 10s), as another poster has suggested. A raise on the turn is consistent only with sets and bluffs, and, of course, the river sizing likewise makes sense, although, as you say, would he attempt to bluff you off a king? The answer to this question is most likely 'no', but if he has no showdown value, it is the only way to win the hand. Someone who makes specific comments about your tendencies is perhaps more inclined to make such a play. In the end, you're receiving 5:2 on the call. Can he have AK as a value hand here? What are his semi-bluffing hands? When you need to be right just 2 out of 7 times to BE, I would be counting the combos, at the very least.

^ I think KQ is the bottom of his value range here, though perhaps thats giving him too much credit. In short, he'd bluff OTF. His entire value range owns you.

I think that's the exact reason he'd c/c the flop with a set, if he knows ur bet range is wide and he has a set, he'd allow u to dig ur own hole and get more value on future streets stringing u along

I would think that he would be more likely to flat flop and raise turn with a monster hand given his awareness of your c-betting frequency.

edit: but I guess 6 people beat me to that comment...carry on

All good comments. In future I'll be more hesitant to barrel turns against competent opponents oop with marginal hands and respect turn raises more. At the time of the my turn bet I was thinking I could get looked up by 66-88-1010-JJ, but in retrospect c-b then C/C is almost certainly the correct line. Thanks all!

OP has put him/herself in a bad situation here. You're OOP for one, and you checked it, to what you described as a very tough player, on the river...then the overbet by the villain. This puts you in a tricky spot. Perhaps this was the plan of the villain all along to try and stick it to you on the river and steal the pot?

Because you checked the river, this opens you up to a bluff. This seems like a bluff to me.

TPGK OOP on dry board is a marginal hand?
Two barrels isn't a good líne?
Is better líne c/c turn, c/c river?

I think this is a pretty standard fold on the river. Your hand looks so much like exactly what it is and I don't see a good player betting the river here as a bluff in an attempt to get you to fold trip Ks. For you to be good here villian either has to have floated us on flop and is turning a value hand or air into a bluff on the turn, or has to be overvaluing Kx on the river (which I doubt is the case). As far as the turn goes, I think checking versus this player is probably better than betting. And bet/calling turn is pretty player dependent.

Obv results comment here ... But do you see if you only c/c Turn then you dont 'expose' your hand as much as calling a raise does? Totally agree that being OOP AND with the c-bet comment that a check on the Turn here is perfect. I think it allows you to c/c Turn and even maybe donk/block River to get to showdown with a marginal holding.

He may blow away a River bet by you anyway, but the Turn is much cheaper ... which in turn makes the River cheaper also. It wouldnt surpise me that he bluffed you here but I think the fold was the right thing to do.

Check Turn, lead River, get to showdown ... GL

Why on earth are you calling the turn? And after you do call and then improve on the river, why fold? Fold the turn... Ap for sure call the river

I'd check the turn and bomb the river - fold if he ships