PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop

CO ($35.30)
Button ($94.25)
SB ($10)
BB ($50.75)
UTG ($50)
UTG+1 ($55.95)
MP1 ($51.50)
MP2 ($10)
Hero (MP3) ($52)

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with 6, 5
UTG raises to $1, 3 folds, Hero calls $1, 3 folds, BB calls $0.50

Flop: ($3.25) Q, 5, 5 (3 players)
BB checks, UTG bets $2, Hero raises to $8.50, 1 fold, UTG calls $6.50

Turn: ($20.25) 8 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $18, UTG calls $18

River: ($56.25) A (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero ???


this was such a weird spot.
villain was running at 16/13/2 over 200 hands, WTSD 16, W$SD 66

after he called the raise on the flop and after i bet the turn, i figured if he was to call the bet, he was either letting me hang myself with QQ, couldnt let go of AA (possibly KK) or was overplaying his FD.
mostly, i had a feeling he was calling down with AA, i didnt see him minraising preflop even once before, so the whole thing was weird.
of course he could hold other 5x combinations as well, the minraise could mean anything, i just didnt know what yet.

do i still shove the river even if the whole situation felt like AA/QQ, which both beat me now, or a busted draw?
i couldnt make up my mind, cause the only hand i saw him calling me on the river that i beat was a FD with the Ah.

If you think he can call you with the busted flush draw with the Ah, I think you have to shove.If villain checked to you 3 times with queens full, congrats to him.

Could his hand be a badly overplayed AQ? Or do you think villain is capable of folding TPTK on the turn after you fire?

What was your table image here?

Could be AQ. Villan is not likely to put an 5 in your range and he also assumes you'd 3b QQ preflop most of the times. Also, a common thinking among many of this kind of players is that a raise on a paired board usually is a bluff (there's a whole theorem about it, named something like 'zeebo').

So it could be he is looking you up with AQ or KK/AA, assuming the chance you're making a bad timed bluff is big. Once the turn bricks, he checks to give you the chance to continue your likely 'bluff' and he has planned to call you down all the way.

It can't be AA/QQ, no way this villan gives you the chance to check river behind with that kind of hand.

So I think I'd shove the river. AQ probably will call because it looks pretty and he is too far in it now and he might fold KK to spare some $.

i forgot to mention that he instachecked the turn after calling my reraise on the flop and he quickly called my turn bet..and when the river hit there was a 1-2second pause before he checked.
if that helps making a decission for you guys.


my image was solid, havent been out of line or anything, was TAGging along.

edit: @chris:
actually, i sometimes do it as well, especially with QQ in these spots. you let villain bet his 5 or his FD when he is drawing dead and figure if he misses his FD on the river, he wont call a bet anyway, but he would continue to bet his 5 and sometimes even bluff the river after bricking or even valuebetting once he hits the A on the river of his A-high FD.
i think its ok to do so, to mix it up.
its also prolly a reason why that play was so predominantly in my mind with me having the 5 here in this position.

It's a bad play and stop doing it. A busted draw is never going to continue a bluff here, unless villan is very bad. He cannot expect you to fold anything of your logical range there, so he checks behind. A villan actually can check behind a 5 sometimes, if he's scared (like you here) for whatever reason. However, he'd never fold a 5 for a 25 donkbet in a 50 pot. So by checking you risk loosing value against 5x, but never gain extra value from other holdings. Betting the river with QQ/AA is much better than checking. The pot is too big to do that kind of stuff.

If he did showup AA/QQ than I hope you checked behind and punished him for it.

jam river plz

makes sense, thanks a lot for that analysis and advice for future hands like these.
i guess its only viable against a hyper aggressive player who has shown to raise flop and double barrel bluff before, which is rare.


he actually turned over KQo - i cursed, shook my head in disbelief, made a note, opened a thread and whined about it.