Easy fold (right?), but should I have bet the river?

[renegaderob1]

Ok, so I have moved up to 50NL, but I'm now multi-tabling two 25NL 6max with 1 50NL 6max and 1 full ring 50NL to clear the bonuses at multipoker faster (gunning for a min of $500).

I've put my thinking in bold. Please criteque it and tell me where I'm going wrong

***** Hand History for Game 2822794611 *****
$25 NL Texas Hold'em - Tuesday, October 04, 04:11:08 EDT 2005
Table Table 54854 (6 max) (No DP) (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 2: floridagq ( $110.46 )
Seat 3: Draculard ( $23.30 )
Seat 4: rickthedick1 ( $68.55 )
Seat 6: therobbery1 ( $10.15 )
Seat 5: dr_rob ( $28.25 )
Seat 1: Haxxor99 ( $25.95 )
dr_rob posts small blind [$0.10].
therobbery1 posts big blind [$0.25].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to dr_rob [ As Jc ] - Ok, it is not the best hand, but it is a fair hand; especially in 6max, but in small blind, I limp because I don't like playing out of position much
Draculard: lol
Haxxor99 folds.
floridagq folds.
Draculard calls [$0.25].
rickthedick1 calls [$0.25].
dr_rob calls [$0.15].
therobbery1 checks.
** Dealing Flop ** [ Jh, Tc, 8d ] - TPTK, but a fairly scary board for anyone limping Q9s etc
Draculard: ty
dr_rob bets [$2]. - If anyone has the straight, I want to know. If anyone is drawing, may as well give bad odds so I overbet the pot (which is 95c)
therobbery1 folds.
Draculard folds.
rickthedick1 calls [$2].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 3h ]
dr_rob bets [$3]. - Non-scare card falls. Now I have to wonder why he called my flop bet. He either has the straight or something else that has me beat (set, two pair?) and is slow playing it, or is drawing...Draculard: did you get a message?
rickthedick1 calls [$3]. - Another call... warning bells start going off.. surely if he has something good, but not great, he would raise here on my 'value' bet?
** Dealing River ** [ 7d ]
dr_rob checks. - Scare card. I've gone into cheap showdown mode here, and figure if he throws out a weak bet I can check-raise to show some strength (fold equity?)
rickthedick1 bets [$25]. - F*CK! I'm pretty sure I'm beat here. Smells too much like a slowplayed monster, and I figure I havn't invested enough to be able to call this with TPTK. I'll give it to anyone bluffing as well - easy fold.
floridagq: lol
dr_rob folds.
rickthedick1 does not show cards.
rickthedick1 wins $35.45

OK, so I'm fairly confident that this is an easy fold. There is too much that has me beat, and I'm not going to bet this much for such a low return when my odds of winning arn't that great.

What would you have done in this hand differently?

I was thinking as soon as that $25 bet came out, maybe I should have thrown out a 1/2 pot bet to discourage bluffing (check to scare card seems really weak doesnt it? Anyone perceptive could probably put me on TPGK trying to protect and then getting scared away by the 7, right?) and see where I really stand... or was the check OK?

I've been in similar situations before so would really like to know how to play these...[/b]

[edudlive]

raise AJo PF in 6max

[PokerPatNEU]

In 6-max i raise AJ from the SB. The flop over bet is probably your biggest mistake in this hand though. Also i am not so sure he has a 9, that is a huge over bet because you checked.

Pick a price to show your hand down for (4$ or so?) and bet that much on the river. It's a blocking bet to hopefully keep him from making that enormous over bet that could easily be a bluff but you'll never know.

[renegaderob1]

In 6-max i raise AJ from the SB. The flop over bet is probably your biggest mistake in this hand though. Also i am not so sure he has a 9, that is a huge over bet because you checked.

Pick a price to show your hand down for (4$ or so?) and bet that much on the river. It's a blocking bet to hopefully keep him from making that enormous over bet that could easily be a bluff but you'll never know.

Fair enough. Can I ask why the overbet was wrong? I tend to overbet boards I think contain too many draws when I have TPTK; should I stop doing this? And what is the right move?

Also, why raise AJ from small blind? Won't the position I am in post-flop be a major disadvantage? How should I play this?

[PokerPatNEU]

You can give bad odds to draw without betting more than double the pot size. The reason over betting is bad is because it either tips your hand (shows smart opponents who are paying attention that you have a hand you're trying to protect, TPTK, 2 pair, an over pair, etc) or looks like a bluff if they believe they have seen you make that play bluffing. One time that over betting is good is when you have a real strong hand like top set or a flopped strait or flush, and you want your opponent to think its a bluff. Another is if you have a good read on yoru opponent and can confidently put him on a draw, or over cards, and you know he will call you down. Betting 2x the pot is not a good size bet to gather info, which is what you need when playing a hand like TPTK out of position.


The reason you raise AJ in the SB in 6-max is because 95% of the time, it is the best hand at the table, and you want to get money in the pot while your hand is best. You're likely to get a lot of weak calls from worse aces in 6max. Playing big hansd out of position is also easier in 6-max because the quality of the hands that win pots is lower than it is in 10-max.

[renegaderob1]

Ok, so then here my play should have been more along the lines of:

4xBB raise Prf
pot-size bet on flop
then value bet on turn and blocking bet on river?

I think one thing I've noticed with 25-50NL is that absolute values count just as much as pot odds - so with a small pot, a lot of opps may think "well, its only $1 to call". But I see what you mean thnx

[r8ed]

Bet the pot every time regardless. You diguise the strength of your hand and you are taking their odds away anyway. If you get reraised, then you have to determine whether to continue. But, you only lose one pot sized bet instead of 2x if you fold.