Top pair facing an all-in bet on the river...

[DonkBox]

No reads on Jonas, cos i haven't been paying attention as i was HU in a sng at the time.

PokerStars Game #7395730724: Hold'em No Limit ($0.25/$0.50) - 2006/12/11 - 09:09:40 (ET)
Table 'Discovery' 6-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: Monkeyboy235 ($48.25 in chips)
Seat 2: dino1980 ($67.65 in chips)
Seat 3: Muhweli ($50 in chips)
Seat 4: Jonas22 ($66.25 in chips)
Seat 5: sfinxen ($51.60 in chips)
Seat 6: AllenJ ($91.60 in chips)
AllenJ: posts small blind $0.25
Monkeyboy235: posts big blind $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to dino1980 [Ks Kc]
dino1980: raises $1.50 to $2
Muhweli: folds
Jonas22: calls $2
sfinxen: folds
AllenJ: folds
Monkeyboy235: folds
*** FLOP *** [Qc Qd 8h]
dino1980: bets $2.50
Jonas22: calls $2.50
*** TURN *** [Qc Qd 8h] [5h]
dino1980: bets $4.50
Jonas22: raises $10.50 to $15
dino1980: calls $10.50 - this is weak i prob should raise or fold
*** RIVER *** [Qc Qd 8h 5h] [6c]
dino1980: checks (should i put out a blocking bet here? - say c,$20?)Jonas22: bets $46.75 and is all-in


what do you do??

[Matty H]

I think your preflop raise is not enough. Your postflop bet is ok. I think your post turn bet is also a little weak and as such I think I would fold here to his reraise to 15. Did you call? He clearly has the Q

[jjh]

I'd say you're either up against trip queens or he was very lucky on the turn and holds 55.

Maybe Q weak kicker, he calls the flop, sees you bet $4.50 on the turn, that is a weak bet if your're holding a Queen IMO- pot at that point was $10 or so and betting half that was a sign you never really had the Queen, or that is how it would come across to me and if I held the Q I'd raise you the amount he did.

With his raise on the turn, although I'd be calling, I'd fear you've lost the hand.

On the river, just let it go, you're beat IMO.

[Prowler]

prefer a far stronger bet on the flop....i dont mind taking the pot there or finding out i'm beaten sooner rather than later

[PokerWoody]

Check the flop, always.

[jjh]

Check the flop, always.

Why Woody, it won't really help in determining what the other player has. If you check, he might put in a smallish bet to try and keep you in the pot. Although I see were your coming from, I'm not a fan of betting huge on the flop, but a bet is necessary to try and start building a picture of what he might be holding.

I think his flop bet was fine, as if you bet too much, if Jonas if holding Q J or lower kicker, he might call but not raise as he fears a better kicker. So betting too much on the flop is digging a whole in my opinion.

It is the turn where you get a clearer picture, Donk bet half the pot, which was quite weak and Jonas' raise on the turn probably indicates he has the queen. I mean you could drop the hand there, although I'd prob call because it wasn't the biggest raise and a King on the river (although unlikely) would mean a very nice pot, unless he was slow playing QQQQ LOL

[DonkBox]

Check the flop, always.

If i'm the pre-flop agressor and i've just got one opponent, 95% of the time i'm gonna fire a 2/3 of the pot sized bet out on the flop.

I should've bet more on the flop and folded the turn, but his all-in bet to me on the river was a sign of weakness not strength IMO. If he's got a queen there i think he probably value bets the river. $46 to me was a scared bet that was trying to steal the pot.

I thought for ages, there was more than money riding on this. I had about 2 minutes of my lunchbreak left, so if i lost this pot, i'd have a losing session, and boy would monday afternoon go slowly.

I called in the end and he had As-Js.

[PokerWoody]

If i'm the pre-flop agressor and i've just got one opponent, 95% of the time i'm gonna fire a 2/3 of the pot sized bet out on the flop.

I don't think this is a good spot for a Cbet and I also think maybe 95% is to larger Cbet frequency - unless you raise very rarely maybe.

This betting the flop to 'find out where i'm at' business is just backward. How are you going to find our you're beat? When he calls your bet? So you are going to let him fold for free when you have the best hand and you're going to give him a 2/3rd pot bet when he has you beat. We want to maximise our winnings and minimise our losses, not the other way round! If you are ahead, which is very likey, he is drawing to 2-3 outs, give him a chance to make a mistake.

I know this is kind of backwards as we want to be building a pot when we have the best hand but if you look at the texture of the board, then think about what hands will call you on the flop and how you might play future streets, checking is better than betting.

If you do bet the flop then i'd probably check call the turn and check fold the river.

[jjh]

I disagree about checking the flop because if you check, he is likely to bet to try and steal the hand and then you're really at a loss as to what he may be holding.

My option is an average bet on the flop, if he simply calls, then you could be looking at Q weak kicker. If he raises, then you can be positive of a queen and high kicker or maybe better.

I'd be testing him on the flop, then combining that with the action on the turn- in this case he raised a weakish bet so I'd be pretty sure he held a queen now.

What did you do anyway Donk?