Just when you think you know a player

[jjh]

Just had a really bad beat against a player I play quite often.

Been at the table a while (£0.25 NL blinds cash game) and built upto £45, player whose name I'll keep annonmymous incase he plays here has £40 odd as well. His playing style is very tight but aggresive when he has a good hand. I know this from having played him numerous times.

I've got QQ and he raises £2 pre flop- which is a decent size raise for these tables. With this raise, I'd have to put him KK or AA, or maybe KA suited.

Anyway, flop comes 2 Q 6. He bets pot amount, as so many players do after an initial pre flop raise and I raise about 2 times the pot- he calls.

None of the flop cards where suited and the turn was a 3- and a diamond which meant a flush was not possible on the river. At this point I felt fairly safe as I knew his style and if he had KA suited, the flush was off- the only danger for me I believed was if the river was a K or A as this may beat me if he held AA or KK. This time he checked and I bet half the pot- he called and the river came a 4.

OK, so for these tables usually this is a bad river, as some fool will have called with a 5 and got lucky. But I must have played with this player over a hundred times and he is a very tight player, and never would have raised £2 with a 5 pre flop-

But to my horror he raised all in, he had £19 left- I was still thinking he had KK or AA and as I trusted he wouldn't ever have raised with 5 I called- only for him to turn over Q 5 (unsuited as well).

Was this a correct decision from me- cos I am really beginning to lose faith in online poker- it must have been the only time he had ever raised with Q 5, neverminf even bothered playing the hand in the first place- an extremely lucky hand to chose to do it and one that has left me confused and uncertain how to approach similar situations in the future!!

[Thor2007]

well, maybe the guy made a smart move on you. Maybe he wanted you to have the impression that he was tight and never moved with anything other than a decent hand.

Anyone who can play the game to a decent standard is capable of making moves and making people think they play in a certain manner. I think you were extremely unlucky and hitting that out was unlikely on his part.

The fact that he was calling you all the way down must have alerted you to the fact that he either had something or was drawing to something. I reckon you should have bet a lot more on the turn. Only half the pot is a little small considering u doubled the pot on the previous card. A bigger bet here should have pushed him off, even though he had top pair and a straight draw.

maybe an all in move was more appropriate after the flop considering u had the best hand possible at that point. If he was indeed holding AA or KK after this flop then he is drawing to 2 cards, i.e 8% and that wouldn't be a bad time to have all your money in the pot. If indeed he did have AA or KK, he is likely to call an all in move here.

Good luck and keep plugging away

[Raiser]

Depending what level you play at you will find somepeople wont lay down top pair with any sort of draw! regardless! - yes it pisses you off on the hands you get beat but this is want you want people to do in the long run!

[Thor2007]

Depending what level you play at you will find somepeople wont lay down top pair with any sort of draw! regardless! - yes it pisses you off on the hands you get beat but this is want you want people to do in the long run!

Fair point, in the long run u will make money off these people, but its the times when they hit the 4 outer that sticks in your head.