This is a bit of a long post so bear with me.
OK this is a hand from a live 5/10 NL game last night that I had a problem with and I think is causing a leak that I can’t come up with a good solution for. First of all I’m primarily a limit player, but have been playing NL in live games more lately.
In this hand I’m in the big blind with 10s/9s, I’ve got about 1400 in chips, I’ve been in the game maybe 6 hours at this point and it’s pretty late.
Guy named John in middle position makes it $30 to go. I’ve played about 8 long sessions with John in this game; he is very loose aggressive pre-flop. He’ll come in pre-flop with all kinds of hands with lots of different opening bets and raises, it’s pretty much impossible to put him on any type of hand pre-flop because of how he plays. His play after the flop however is very good; he’s a really good NL player. He’s the best player in this game and had about $2600 in chips at this time.
Cutoff is an older gentleman he is also a regular in this game, his play is very predictable he plays very tight, bets or raises his made hands and folds when he misses. He calls I put him on over cards.
Button is a younger guy I have never seen before this session, my feel on this guy is he’s playing for more money then he can afford to loose. He’s been playing really weak and John has been punishing him for it. He’s down to about $750 - $800. He calls.
Small blind folds. It’s to me with $105 in the pot, I call.
So now $125 in the pot, flop comes 10d/7c/4s
My first inclination is to bet about $80, but I decide to check for 2 reasons. First I know John will call me he won’t buy that I hit anything better then top pair weak kicker, which is what I have. Second I was a little worried about the kid on the button, when he called I put him on something like a suited broadway or mid pocket, so to me this was not a good flop to take a shot at before I see what that action is. I check.
John bet’s $50, it’s what I expected him to do and really doesn’t tell me anything about his hand.
Cutoff folds, button kid folds.
So now I’m not about to fold top pair, but I need to know where I’m at so I raise to $125. My thinking about this raise is as follows:
I need John to know I have a hand.
He most likely has nothing, but I don’t really know
If I get called I’m pretty much done with the hand unless something crazy happens on the turn.
He calls.
$375 in the pot.
Turn is 2d
I check, John checks
River is Qc
I check, John bets $225. I fold after a minute or two.
I use this play a lot I don’t like to just call on the flop, I prefer to bet or fold, but the problem I run into with this play is being out of position if I get called with a weak hand like this I’m done to any bet when I check the turn.
So I’m looking for some help in this type of situation. BTW John had pocket 4s and hit a set on the flop. He said he had me on something like KQ off.
omni
