Message Board | AQ slowplayed?

I would appreciate any comments. Opponent in this hand seems a bit loose and prone to play any ace or king from what I've seen so far.

Limit Holdem Ring game
Limit: $2/$4
9 players

Pre-flop: (9 players) Hero is UTG with Q♣ A♠
Hero raises, 7 folds, BB calls.

Standard raise.

Flop: 5♦ A♥ 4♣ (4.5SB, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks.

I slowplay my top pair, good kicker to try for a trap. 

Turn: Q♦ (2.25BB, 2 players)
BB bets, Hero raises, BB 3-bets, Hero caps, BB calls.

I get all the action I want. Anyone argue against a cap?

River: 4♦ (10.25BB, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets, BB calls.

I bet for value. 

Results:
Final pot: 12.25BB

Results forthcoming after some responses, I hope. 

Well Shrike, slowplaying the flop isn't bad here. If there was 3 or more players of course you'd have to bet or check raise to make it tough for straight draws. However, this isn't the case here. You are up against a lone loose player and you want to get some big bets and not scare him off. Make sense you me.

Of course, the problem is on the turn. A beatiful card came for you. so now worries on a straight draw, but he bets out anyway. Now, you did say he likes playing with any ace or king like so many low limit players do. However, you didn't mention if he bet like a bandit or not when he did so.

If he usually does, then your cap is groovy. If not, maybe slowing it down would have been better. Bets don't mean much, but as Ed says, raises mean something. This guy had something unless he's got maniac tendencies. 

Since he likes aces, A4, A5, 55, 44, AA, AQ & QQ all seem logical for a looser low-limit player to call a raise and go heads up with you on that would bet like this on the turn here. But, then again, maybe he does has something less. Players do tend to get agressive heads-up and bluff you off a hand at times if they think your tight.

As it stands, from these hands. You are ahead only if he has two out of the seven hands (a4 or a5) or one to tie (AQ). 

But that doesn't make capping it bad. You were going raise his bet anyway, the problem really came down to the fact that he 3-bet that gets you worried.

Well yadda. At least by capping you stand a chance to take control of the hand on the river, which happened. He checked to you. You could now take the free showdown if you really felt worried about his 3-bet. 

The only thing I could think of that would help me in this is extra info on how the player played. Does he slowplay big hands much? Is he passive and only raises when he has serious goods?

Overall, I wouldn't sweat the turn cap. It's easy to look back an analyze hands like this and say "He probally had you beat, so you should have slowed down." The thing is, you were in the heat of battle. You didn't have time to figure it all out. Besides, it was capped and the betting couldn't go any further. At that point, the most you would lose would have been one bet. 

The bet on the river seems a bit rough though. He's going to call you for sure. Hoever, even though it didn't happen this time, if he did have anything of those other seven hands (well, except AQ), he would have re-raised you out of your seat.

Just a guess: My guess is he had A5. It's the only hand I could put him on that would warrant that action throughout the hand.

Later

thatjimguy 

Does not betting the flop really do anything for you here?  Do you often check this flop with KQs that whiffed or do you fire off a continuation bet.  My guess would be you fire off the continuation bet.  If that is the case then checking this flop looks more suspisious than not checking it.

Hey there Ed,

I just wanted to ask about the river play here. That looks awful scary to me for this opponent. Out of all the possible hands I could put his opponent on, A5 is the only one that wouldn't lose here. Why would I risk a reraise against so much going against me? What am I missing?

Thanks

thatjimguy 

Shrike said:

I'm willing to lose one extra bet if I'm raised and behind compared to all the times I'm ahead and extracting a bet from a worse hand.

Nine times in ten I'll bet the flop, too. I was just varying my play in this instance.

Right on. I'm just saying the situation looked rather grim there by the river. Out of the worse hands here that I could see, there was only one where you beat him. Actually, any other hand almost warrants a raise from your opponent. You have one good scenario against 4 real bad ones, and one where you tie, and a fringe chance that he had something else. Any money you put in at this point has an negative EV wouldn't it? 

Ed Miller said:

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I don't see the river as grim. The only aggressive play the guy made was 3-betting the turn, and after the flop check, that could be from a number of hands, IMO. Certainly AK, for instance, and possibly with an even weaker ace. I think it's too much to assume just from the turn 3-bet that the guy necessarily has two pair or better. And he might well have bet the river with one of the hands you're worried about, so the check gives you extra reason to think you have a value bet.

You echo my thinking at the time, Ed. I just didn't put villain on a backdoor flush. I was prepared to pay him off if he'd spiked trip fours or filled up.

Dolus said:

Why do you discount the backdoor flush? The flop was checked.

It's extremely unlikely to have come in a headsup pot? If he got there, I'm willing to pay off another bet. I trusted my read, gritted my teeth, and made the value bet. I personally subscribe to the theory that limit is all about pushing small edges. I pushed here, and it paid off. I don't want to leave money on the table. I will reluctantly pay off a raise here, if I have to.