Part 2:A quick recap to save people from alternating between pages: Katja has got around 15.5k in chips and the blinds are 150/300 with a 25 ante. The table is 9-handed. Stuart Fox is in the cut-off with about 14.5k.
Folded round to Stuart who raises from the cut-off to 900. Katja calls from the small blind holding
. The big blind folds.
Flop:
Katja checks, Stuart bets 1,250, Katja raises to 3,500, Stuart calls.
Turn:
Both players check.
River:
Action on you.
1. What do you think of the turn check after the flop check/raise?
2. What sort of hands do you put Stuart on?
3. Given the flop and turn action, is a river bluff worthwhile? Talk about a whimpish way to play.
Why would you want to check raise to 3500 and leave yourself with a mere 11k? surely you should have checkraised all in as by giving your opponent the chance to call the check raise you are going to stuffed if not making your hand by the turn. Genrally if you are going to put 25-30% or more of your stack into a pot you are better off pushing the whole lot in as ou give yourself maximum flod equity.
Anyway the play is a check raise so lets stick with that.
1. The check on the turn is very weak. After the check raise on the flop you are supposed to be representing a strong hand so by checking on the turn you are in essence telling your opponent that you are giving up on this hand and conceding defeat. I would have thought Stuart would have been expecting you to follow through with a bet on the turn but your check is either saying that you have a J with a weak kicker or scared he might be holding a ten with a straight draw. Either way Stuart sprobably nw confident that he has the best hand unless you hold a JT and completed a full on the turn which would be a strange way to play a hand where u have flopped two pair.
I don't like my position here as I ahve a Q high and should probably prefer to give up on the hand here but being me and seeing 9k out there for the taking would push my remaining 11k in on the turn. Without a full house or at minimum AA it is a tough call for Stuart.
2. Stuart called a 7.25k pot on the flop after the check raise for 2250 more so he could easily have a pair with a gutshot straight draw or an overpair or a J with a Q or K or A or T kicker or a very wide range of hands because you under check raised compared to the size of the pot. The relatively small check raise doesn't define his hand at all and these are the kinds of hands I put him on when we leave the flop and enter the turn. Your check followed by his check on the turn tells me he is most likely drawing like me or has a full house. Personally it is difficult to see the full house as if he had a set or two pair on the flop and turned a full ouse he would most likely because of the draws on the flop re reraised me as I check raised him indcating a strong hand or at least a big draw even though I was out of position. Hence for his hand I sway towards him holding one pair or a pair with a gutshot straight draw or a flush draw.
3. Because I see Stuart as holding a mediocre type hand I believe that he has not got a monster and that a bluff bet all in has a goood chance of success on the river. He would surely have bet to stop you drawing on the turn or fancy that he is in front so would bet the turn (unless he had a monster which for reasons given above I believe he hasn't got) so I expct him to be forced to fold as he is going to need a mnimum of AJ to call this and even that os a tough call.
Overall this hand seems more complicated to me than it should have been due to the way it was played but such is poker life and varying the way you play is part of the game an eseential for confusing your opponent.
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