Another Hold'em hand, deepish stacks.

Lafortezza

I forgot to email myself the hand history for this one, but the details are pretty clear in my head thankfully.

8 handed 25c/50c NL Hold'em table on Stars.

I have $155, Villain has $180, all other stacks are <$50. Myself and Villain have been pretty much running over the table for the last while, me by hitting hands and flops pretty hard, Villain by being ultra aggressive and pushing people off pots.

I have no real previous history with Villain at the table so far, we played one small pot where he check called with the nut straight against my rivered flush.
From all the other hands he has shown down I am pretty sure that he's a good player, very aggressive but very able to fold big hands.


Villain limps UTG. Everyone else folds to SB who completes.
-I make it $2 (4xBB) to go from the BB with KcKd.
-Villain limp reraises to $5.50, SB folds.

IMO Villains range is AA-QQ, AKo, AKs, AQs, less likely he's on JJ/TT/KQs but since he knows I play quite tight it's not impossible.

-I call. Pot = $11.75 going to the flop

- Flop: KhQh4s
- I lead for $6, Villain raises to $16

What's my plan to make the maximum from this hand?

Results later!

Marq

My line here would be:

Flop: Lead for 9 or 10. He has announced before the flop that he has a big hand. If he has a hand with which he is going to call or raise when you bet 6, he'll do the same if you bet 10, but the advantage is that you get more of his money in now. His likely range of hands are now all hands that you dominate completely, ie AK, KQ, AA, QQ, with the outside chance that he is raising with a flush draw(possible straight and flush draw draw). If you reraise on the flop, you give him a chance to get away from AA and AK, although you'll get all of his money if he has KQ or QQ. I am inclined to give it a few seconds and then call.

Turn: Check. He has shown that he wants control of the hand. You have no reason to think that he is going to stop betting, and because his bet will make the pot much bigger I think that you have a much stronger chance of getting all of his chips (or a lot of them), by waiting until the turn to raise. In the exact example given, you should be able to get about half of your remaining stack in on the turn with a raise that any reasonable hand has to call, and the rest on the river gives great pot odds for him to call yet again. The advantage of checking the turn is that it gives him the chance to bluff again at the pot if he was bluffing on the flop. As such, I am inclined to let him do the betting. However, If you think that he will raise the turn again after your call on the flop, then betting out between 3/4 and all of the pot is the most effective way of getting him all in.

River: If you're not all-in already, lead out for the rest. The only exception would be if four hearts (or maybe an ace) came on board, in which case you use your judgement, or he checked behind on the turn, in which case I'd slightly over bet the pot on the river.

Hectorjelly

Great hand and well played so far! Normally given this action the best line is to flat call and then either lead or checkraise the turn, but the draw heavy nature of the board means a three bet on the flop is the safest course of action, because there are a lot of turn cards that are going to make the hand difficult to play, and you are oop. Id make it 50 and hope he has a strong hand. If he has JJ/AQ or some other not great hand its unlikely you are going to get much of him anyway. The alternative is to flat call and hope for a blank turn, given his description I dont think hes going to check raise. Then move your stack in. That reeks of a set though.

Hectorjelly

I agree with Marq as per the bet amount. If you bet 10 his raise is going to have to be at least to 25 /30, you want as much money in this pot as possible.

Marq

Given what you believe the range of the villian to be ("AA-QQ, AKo, AKs, AQs, less likely he's on JJ/TT/KQs"), I don't think that the draw heavy nature of the board is anything to worry about. None of the hands that you put the villian on connect to make a draw on that flop. He is unlikely to have a flush draw, as it is the K and Q that are suited on the board. If you think that the villians range could be wider (particularly to include AT, AJ or JT suited or unsuited) then I agree with Hector in advocating a re-raise on the flop, though I might not make it as big, as you have the nuts and still want the villian to come along even with the chance that he may outdraw you.

Sure there are plenty of cards that leave you without the nuts on the turn, but I think it's highly unlikely given the range that any of them are real scare cards in this situation.

Hectorjelly

Whilst they might not be scare cards for us, they could be scare cards for the villain.

Marq

Point taken.

Lafortezza

In this hand I called his flop raise. I thought about raising the flop but this guy is good enough to release AA/AK without a second though. I'm really hoping he has a big hand that will pull the trigger again on the turn. My plan after calling the flop was to have a long pause when the turn card comes and bet about 3/4 of the pot $30-$35, pot after flop is $44, and hope to get raised. Is this too strong?

Pot going to the turn is $44

Turn came Th. This is about the worst card for me ever.

Board is now KhQh4s Th

What now?

Hectorjelly

Check call. If you bet you cant really call a reraise.

Ste05

Nasty card ...... On this turn, I don't think he has hit anything that you need to be afraid of right now, (if you have his range correct), as HJ says though it is a serious problem card because it is a serious scare card for him..... and also there's a chance he has just received alot more outs, there's a good chance he might have AA with the h....
I think I'd also check call, and bet the river if it's not an A, J or heart.
Although this is a particularily difficult hand to play after this turn, I think it has seriously hurt your chances of stacking him and also lends itself to you being runner runner outdrawn which will really hurt.