I was in a hand last night that brought up some good table talk and wanted to see what others may think...

1/2nl max buy-in $200
Positions
Villain: cutoff/$600+ effective
Hero: BB/$350ish effective with Q7o.

I've played a lot with villain. One of the more thoughtful players at my room but can be extremely splashy. Has the ability to pressure a cbet that he thinks is being done as a "standard" play.

Limped preflop pot
Flop is Qc7cx
Hero checks
Villain bets $12
Hero calls

Turn is a club
Hero checks
Villian cheeks

River a 7, what's the play here for the hero?

Also, keep in mind that villain hand was never in question..anything other than complete air/bluff would have been shocking.

1. Lead out with hopes of being raised by an aggressive player with a deep stack?

2. Check, to entice a bluff/last attempt save the flop bluff and win the pot?

I'll chime in, in a bit with what route I went with

It´s kind of weird because you don´t really have many bluffs on the river, assuming x=2 or 3. I guess im betting full houses and turning bottom pair into a bluff. probably checking everything else unless you´re playing against players that don´t fold top pair, in which case I would bet more thin for value as an exploitative play.

As played I probably go for the c/r on the river, but I would have bet flop, and had I not bet flop I would have c/r the flop.


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Bet river. Seems like his bluffier things might have bet turn, so look for some value from some sort of Q or (un)lucky 7.I'd also prefer to give him the opportunity to make a more expense bluff albeit a rarer one facing a bet - still possible, esp if he checked back some sort of value/high club ott.

I'd bet flop as well.

I think the flop is a far more interesting bet vs check spot than the river.

Your checking range in a limped pot is wide and weak. You can either bet or check/raise but whichever you picked has to have an appropriate amount of trash in it.

I agree, I think the flop I probably should have ck/r instead of ck/c. I saw the flush draw and figured that's what he was betting only to realize that he wasn't once he ck the turn. In thinking that I should have charged him for his draw (even though he turned out to not have that draw).

I was really trying to get him to hang himself as that's the type of player he is/was and as it turns out I did ck the river.

My thinking here was there was no way he was going to call any bet. A small chance he raised me if I led out and a greater chance that he takes a stab at the pot if I ck to him. As it turns out, any bet (flop, turn, or river) would have resulted in a fold anyways so I think there simply wasn't a 'correct' play to get more chips from opponent.

anywho, thanks for the feedback. This hand could have been played a lot of different ways and it's one of the things I love about NLH.. there isn't always a 'right' answer and sometimes there are multiple/possible right ways to play a hand/situation.

One thing I did notice was this allowed me to get to showdown a couple of times that I had not expected due to checking the nuts in this situation. This hand made my opponent aware that I'm capable of this play and provided plenty of caution.

I'd lead the flop. A check around would be annoying.

As played, I think this is the perfect spot to make a fake blocking bet. I'd bet somewhere around 1/4 to 1/3 pot. If he calls with some bad hand, that's fine. If he raises, even better. I think checking is unlikely to elicit a bluff - he's not going to expect you to be check folding after the way the hand has played out.

I'd always go for a bet to induce in this situation too. I've lost count of the number of silly bluff raises even quite passive players pull on me when I look fairly weak but they know they can't win by calling.

Like ChrisV says most villain's won't think a normal sized river bet gets any folds here but a small lead from you starts them thinking that now a monkey bluff raise can be big enough that it just might work! Maybe they make it really big just to be sure