I recently have been getting in to heads up 50nl, and would really like to improve my game, I have been playing short stacks a lot because of the fact they usually stink at poker and to lesson my risk while learning, this is a hand I had some trouble with and would like some opinions. This guy was pretty aggro, he was starting to run me over a little bit with 3 and 4 bet shoves up until this point, I finally got a decent top pair hand to play back at a little, I thought he was trying to represent the flush, I thought he had a pocket pair hand maybe 2nd pair 99,88,77,66, maybe a one spade hand, should I call this river? It looks like a value bet, other then that how does my overall line look here?


Poker Stars $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 2 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

Hero (BB): $62.25
BTN/SB: $66.50

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BB with 8 K
BTN/SB raises to $1.50, Hero raises to $5, BTN/SB calls $3.50

Flop: ($10.00) K 5 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $7, BTN/SB calls $7

Turn: ($24.00) 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN/SB bets $12, Hero calls $12

River: ($48.00) 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN/SB bets $32, Hero ???

if you still can, i would edit out the results. it will influence people's comments.

that said, i think you played it fine. getting it in on the turn might be better to protect against some 11 out draws that wont call your shove, like 66+ with a spade. but if he's been overaggro and you've been giving up on pots a lot, i like your line since you might get him to bluff off his stack on the river.

edit: i didnt notice this, but he didnt jam the river, he just bet the majority of his chips. in my experience, this bet size is more often a bluff than almost any other.

thanks for your input I made the edit like you recommended, that was kinda my idea to check and induce bluffs because it didn't seem like he liked to give up pots very easy

i like ur line up to river (altho i dont love pf unless ur happy with top pair) and id go either way on river, probably looking him up, pretty much my entire line is based on the fact that i think ppl float here waaaay too much

The most important thing on the turn is HAVING A PLAN. Don't check "because a scare card came" or to "hope he checks behind". That spade is less of a scare card as it might seem at first because aggro guys probably raise their flush draws on the flop. You get floated here a ton, because of this I like the turn check to induce a bluff.

C/shoving and c/c are both viable options, but if you c/c you're pretty much commited to calling a non-spade river.

Against someone who's been running over you i wouldn't 3bet hands like K8s because you will face a lot of difficult decisions out of position in big pots with a weak holding.
As played i think it's a good line if you call river.

Yeah against an aggro player I think this is the best line.

Totally agree, better just flat call preflop here, since if you miss, you surely lose to the aggro running over you again... If you flop TP like you did, still you are in danger of being outplayed or being dominated...So three bet only for big value Like JJ+ and maybe even AK and AQ would be better to only call here out of position since you migth make way more money by letting him bet on your strong ace vs being in tough situation if dry board comes and he starts firing again...

I know some good regs here will disagree because they are able to make a push on dry board if they sense its a steal again, but given the fact that you have been outplayed a lot, you better wait for position...

my 2 cents...