Lucky River

[twosevoff]

Lucked out on the river, but assuming no read, was this played poorly by me on the flop? Should I be able to put him on two-pair/set/straight as opposed to just overpair/bluff?

***** Hand History for Game 1096936044 *****
$50 NL Hold'em - Sunday, October 24, 18:13:28 EDT 2004
Table Table 14870 (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: tugadaun ( $94.75 )
Seat 3: jc2007sft ( $78.85 )
Seat 5: NotTooGood27 ( $67.8 )
Seat 6: aburke900 ( $86.1 )
Seat 8: StewNasty ( $0 )
Seat 10: Jason4422 ( $44 )
NotTooGood27 posts small blind [$0.5].
aburke900 posts big blind [$1].
tugadaun posts big blind + dead [$1.5].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to NotTooGood27 [ As Ac ]
Jason4422 calls [$1].
StewNasty has left the table.
>You have options at Table 14767 (6 max) Table!.
tugadaun checks.
jc2007sft folds.
>You have options at Table 14432 (6 max) Table!.
NotTooGood27 raises [$3.5].
aburke900 folds.
Jason4422 calls [$3].
tugadaun calls [$3].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 3s, 7c, 6h ]
>You have options at Table 14767 (6 max) Table!.
NotTooGood27 bets [$10].
Jason4422 folds.
>You have options at Table 14767 (6 max) Table!.
>You have options at Table 14767 (6 max) Table!.
tugadaun raises [$30].
>You have options at Table 14767 (6 max) Table!.
NotTooGood27 is all-In.
tugadaun calls [$33.8].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 8c ]
** Dealing River ** [ Ad ]
Bann9mon has joined the table.
tugadaun shows [ 7s, 7h ] three of a kind, sevens.
NotTooGood27 shows [ As, Ac ] three of a kind, aces.
NotTooGood27 wins $139.10 from the main pot with three of a kind, aces.

[DavSimon]

If it were me, I would be worrried about the set. I can't imagine two pair...or a straight who would call a pre-flop raise with those cards. Although I can only go by my experience and how I play. If I had 3-4s, 6-7s, 8-9s I would let it go to the raise...but then I usually play at the $25/NL level....perhaps a 3x bb preflop raise is fairly normal at the $50 tables.
Anyway I'm just talking it out for me as much as for you - I probably would have raised more like $5....then you would almost certainly eliminate the 2pr and straight draws....then all you have to think about is the set or other high PP putting you on smaller PP. Tough call to make with a strong raise like that - glad it worked out for you.

[DavSimon]

BTW, I would be interested in hearing your thought process on this. Why did you call him - what were your thoughts before the call?

[twosevoff]

There are MANY people (including me) at the 50 6-max who will call 4xbb with suited or even offsuit connectors like 67, 45, or 89. I called all-in because I thought it was just about as likely he was raising on an overpair or (semi)bluffing as to have a hand that beat me. If I have a read on him, then I might be able to lay it down, but I think at the 6-max risking a buy-in or so with AA on a flop like this is +EV assuming you're not up against a rock who would need 2pair at least to make this play.

[DavSimon]

Hmm...do you think am playing too tight?
I would not call a 4-5x BB raise with low suited connectors and never with off suit unless I was fairly certain of a bluff. I might BE the one to put out the preflop raise with low suited connectors....but probably would not call with them. I just feel much more comfortable being the aggressor with those kinds of hands....too conservative??

[gutshot]

I ran into a hand similar to this the other night on Empire.

I'm in MP with AA. I raise preflop to $4 and get 2 callers.

Flop comes Kxx rainbow. I lead out with $4 and guy immediately behind calls. LP folds.

7 on the turn. I lead out again with $5 this time and he reraises me all-in(about $7 IIRC). I was blinded by the rockets in my hand and called him without much thought. No real read on the player yet so I called thinking he was pushing TPTK after calling $4 PFR.

He flips K7o and I spike an Ace on the river. River justice for him calling PFR with that trash. I am glad I got lucky.

Dav, I think we play pretty similar with suited connectors. I rarely fire out raise with them, even in LP. I will call up to 3-4x BB if and only if I've got 4+ players in the pot.

[twosevoff]

Hmm...do you think am playing too tight?
I would not call a 4-5x BB raise with low suited connectors and never with off suit unless I was fairly certain of a bluff. I might BE the one to put out the preflop raise with low suited connectors....but probably would not call with them. I just feel much more comfortable being the aggressor with those kinds of hands....too conservative??

Offsuit connectors you are not losing anything by folding from any position and I would not advise calling raises with them unless you're feeling lucky or are at a table with very bad or loose players. With suited connectors, I love raising, and yes, I would rather be the aggressor with them. If you have position on the raiser or already have money in the pot (i.e. in the BB), I think it's worth calling a normal-sized raise with suited connectors and 1-gappers 45s on up. I think calling raises with these SCs is only marginally +EV though, so again, you are probably not losing anything by pitching them.

[twosevoff]

Here's my PT stats for suited connectors and one-gappers 45s-87s:

Total: 396 times, Net=416.07, Avg Hand=1.05, BB Hand=.44

Any Raise: 90 Times, Net=154.98, Avg Hand=1.72, BB hand=.52

Raised First In: 65 Times, Net=64.53, Avg Hand=.99, BB hand=.17

[twosevoff]

Not to talk to myself, but the above stats also show how rare playable suited connectors are--I was dealt them only 396 times in nearly 17000 hands. Being that you see them so infrequently (and they seem to be +EV in raised pots), I think you can safely raise or call raises with them from any position except UTG (and I would almost never raise and almost always call a raise with them from the blinds). They're also slightly useful for table image/advertising purposes in that people paying attention will realize you give action and are not a rock when you go to showdown having raised preflop on 46s.