You're a Bunch of Factors

First let me say it's good to see that this section of the site is starting to get more threads and good discussion! Here's a hand from an 11pm (AEST) game where slowplaying went horribly wrong:

Blinds 100/200
Hero (11,726)
Villain (8,090)

Dealt to Hero:

5 folds, Hero raises to 550, Villian calls 550, 1 fold, SB folds, BB folds

Pot:1250

Flop:

Hero checks.
Villain checks.

Turn:

Hero bets 625.
Villian calls 625.

Pot: 2500
River:

Hero bets 1250
Villian raises by 5665 to 6915 and is All-in.
Hero ???

Reads: At this stage very few but later from a small sample he seemed to be a loose maniac. It folded to me on the SB, raised to 600, he pushed all-in (~8k stack) with J5s

Looking back I played this hand like a biatch. Tried to slowplay even though there were two hearts on the board - why give him a free card

Then on the turn probably bet way too small. And what the farcaldo was with the river bet

So I have highlighted the key decisions in red (there's 3). What would you have done in each situation given the play before hand?

My action:


Edit: added poll for fun's sake!

trishan wrote:Looking back I played this hand like a biatch. Tried to slowplay even though there were two hearts on the board - why give him a free card

Dont forget the straight draws to?

First, at the 100/200 level in the hijack, I would bet more than 3x BB, you bet less...
Second, on such a draw heavy board, I would bet that flop HEAVILY! probably pot it. There was a thread about post-it notes for poker, one of mine is 'Dont trap w/o nuts, TAKE pot' - better to win 1250 than lose 2.3K? I dont literally mean the nuts, its just shorthand for STRONG hands, which you might say 2pair AK is, but not on that flop...

On the turn, as AJ/KJ/Jx is a possibility, I would probably slow down and chk-call, maybe (opponent dependant) try a chk-raise, and if he calls c/f the river.

Also, 1/2 pot bets aren't strong enough...

This is the problem when slowplaying only semi-strong hands (Hence my note). You flop a boat: slowplay! top 2 pair might sometimes be ok to slowplay, but not on such a draw heavy flop... AND turn...

Pity he didnt bet the flop... What would you have done then? Chk-Raise would be my line, if I had checked, but as I said above, I would most likely pot that flop...

fold pre IMO

AJG wrote:First, at the 100/200 level in the hijack, I would bet more than 3x BB, you bet less...

Yeh, I usually do bet more than 3xBB but with 5 folds behind me, I didn't want to kill action. Wanted to bring along any QJ, KJ, K10, Q10 type hands (obviously not envisaging that flop)

AJG wrote:Second, on such a draw heavy board, I would bet that flop HEAVILY! probably pot it. There was a thread about post-it notes for poker, one of mine is 'Dont trap w/o nuts, TAKE pot' - better to win 1250 than lose 2.3K? I dont literally mean the nuts, its just shorthand for STRONG hands, which you might say 2pair AK is, but not on that flop...

Yep, I look back and think what an idiot I am trying to slowplay something that shouldnt be slow played.

AJG wrote:Pity he didnt bet the flop... What would you have done then? Chk-Raise would be my line, if I had checked, but as I said above, I would most likely pot that flop...

I probably woulda pushed. Are we check-shoving to a pot size bet on the flop?

Finno wrote:fold pre IMO

It certainly limits the decisions you have to make on later streets...

trishan wrote:I probably woulda pushed. Are we check-shoving to a pot size bet on the flop?

Probably not with your stack size.... No need.

Sorry, misread pot size.
Yeah shove, as any meaningful raise would be 50%+ of your stack.
And given the following cards, PRAY he folds

on a board like that, slow playing is pretty bad. (but you know that)

i can't remember where i read this, but i read an article that basically said that most of the money you win in poker is not from people bluffing into you, but from you both having a good hand but your hand is better.

i can't see any hands that you beat going crazy on a board like this, but plenty of hands you beat will call you down, like AQ, AJ, KQ, KJ, K10, A10, AhXh type of hands.

there are plenty of hands that you beat that will still come along on that flop. and a lot of those hands mentioned may not bet when you check to them either.

i would have raised to 600-800 on the flop. you shouldn't worry about the fact that everyone has folded to you. in fact, by making a standard raise in late pos, the blinds might even think you are trying to steal and rr you. so making your raise standard size instead of a bit smaller is still the way to go.

raising to 600 makes a 1400 pot. on the flop, i would have bet 1000-1200. if there was a raise, i would shove. most of the range that beats you is re-raising you preflop, so i would take a flip and hope to dodge the flush and straight outs that he would have.

as played, your turn bet is too small as well. it should have been around 1000 i reckon.

for what its worth, i think he has KT. he didn't lead the flop, but called your undersized bet on the turn. and then went crazy on the river. even though he is a loose maniac, i doubt he would do this with anything less than trip jacks, so it was a good laydown in the end.