TPTK Power Poker
Live 1/2, mid/late (hijack?) -- AKs (spades). Limped to me, then I raise pretty big (at least 5x -- two or three reds). It seems to take a lot in these 1/2 games to clear out limpers.
Limpers clear out, reg on my right calls. Flop is Ad and two low cards (two diamonds on board). He checks. Not too worried about the straight threat, I bet somewhere around 75% and get called.
Turn brings up a 4 but no diamond. He checks, I bet again (75%+) and get called.
Five of diamonds (of course) hits on the river. He shoves, but his stack is very low at this point, so call is mandatory (bluff catcher, but everyone knew he hit).
This (almost) exact situation is in Super System under "How to play A-A and K-K."
So I figure (in retrospect) that he had nine outs on the turn and then 12 on the river. I didn't actually look at his hand, but I heard someone say, "you got the straight AND the flush!" (could have been a joke since 4 to a straight was on the board). But calling 5x+ preflop with a low Kxs (or something) OOP against a big raiser wouldn't exactly be my default move.
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Questions are:
Was the barreling the right play? I figure I could have checked back the turn and waited for a brick, but I feel good about getting basically his whole stack in at a significant disadvantage (I mean, that's the whole point, right?). And I was trying to barrel him off the draw, which obviously didn't work. Do you just check back for the river and then shove or check/fold accordingly? Should I have come over the top with the flop?
I wasn't super-worried about a set. My preflop raise was pretty healthy, I paired the board and didn't have him for the other two aces, and the other two cards on the flop were pretty low (although I would never put set mining any pocket pair past anybody). Also, he's looking for free cards on a flush-threatening board, which I don't imagine he'd do with a set here. Does this sound right?
What would some ballpark bet sizings be?
What about the opponent's play?
Comments
Your play sounds fine to me, other than maybe bet more like 40%-50% of the pot on the turn. The pot is getting pretty big by that point, and if you're value betting you want to encourage him to call with hands like AJ or maybe even 99. He's probably not folding a combo straight+flush draw regardless of what you bet.
On the river you better have had really compelling odds to call that bet, because that's almost never going to be a bluff. I can't think of any hands you can beat at that point.
Steve
I agree with Steve,. The hand was played ok, except for the turn bet, maybe 50% of the pot was better. By the river our hand don't improve and now is only a bluff catch. But I don't see many hand we can win. Easy fold in the river
The most important in my opinion is that the opponent call pre flop was wrong, that's mean in the long run we gonna get all their chips regardless of this hand.
I agree that opponent made a less than optimal call pre flop. Arnold Snyder in "Poker Tournament Formula" has a bunch of classifications (kind of like the "jackal," "elephant," "mouse" types) -- he singled out Ace Masters as well as Flush Masters (and others like "Canasta Ladies" -- note that a guy can play like a "canasta lady" -- it's just a template for a style).
So I imagine this guy is playing every Ace-x and King-x suited that comes his way. I mean, it's a $10 or $15 gamble preflop (here, because I raised), and then the hand plays itself, as in "flop it or stop it." He may even be thinking, "more in the pot means more for me to win!" I don't know. I do know that if I was holding a non-premium suited, I'd probably fold and then stick around and try to get in cheaper and possibly in CO or on the button (or checking as BB). Even $10 is three full rounds of blinds.
If you think someone is on a draw you can go all in on the turn which should give him incorrect odds to call you. If he calls that is good for you because your ahead. You got your money in when your way ahead. If he folds that is good also because you win the pot without the risk of him hitting his draw.