Considering calling a river bet with A high, no limit cash

Game type: 3/6 No Limit cash game, full ring
Your image: You have been very active with your raises
Misc notes: You have forced your opponent, a solid TAG player, to lay down several hands
Your hand: A♣K♣

The setup: You’ve been playing a very aggressive brand of poker, winning several pots on the flop and turn, and going to very few showdowns. You have forced this particular opponent to lay down several hands in the last few orbits.

When you pick up AK preflop with a limper in front, you continue the pattern and raise to a little more than 3x the BB. The table folds to the BB, who calls, and the limper calls. You completely whiff the flop:

7♣2♥4♦

… and when both players check, you decide to slow down and take off a free card. It’s a decent one – 2♣. Both players check again, and you decide to bet. You make a bit of a mistake and bet fairly weak at $30, roughly half pot. The TAG player in the blind check raises you to $103, and the limper folds. With the nut flush and two overs, you call the $73.

The river is a Q♠. The blind leads out for $108 into $269, making a pot of about $375. You have ace high. What’s your play?

7 COMMENTS (Jump to comment form)

drhoho

I agree that it all doesnt add up.
You cant really put him on a better hand, but nor really at an inferior, as it would be kind of a weak bluff.
Often I find, at the silly 1$ stakes I play, that the opponent holds a good hand played badly, and loose some money calling.
But I too would probably call here, as I agree that the chance he is bluffing seems decent compaired to the call vs pot ratio,

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John B.

I’ll raise. Definitely no reason to slow down the aggressiveness at this point. If he has a mediocre hand, he’ll probably toss it.

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Cristiano

This is a tought call, indeed.
I might not raise him though since I am not willing to call a reraise.

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Zack

The fact that the player in the big blind called your initial raise and perhaps more importantly re-raised your bet on the turn (albeit a week bet) is a clear sign that he has something, especially in light of your less than timid play so far in the session. The question is will he lay it down, and for how much since you can likely only beat a bluff at this point, which seems like an unlikely scenario given his tight table image and your aggressive style. Given the texture of the board and the blinds pattern of calling a raise and then re-raising I would be most worried about Trip 7′s since it would explain his initial call, in part because he is getting in at a discount. Despite your weak bet on the turn, which would probably seem to many as suspicious, showing more strength than weakness, the player re-raised an aggressive player which tells me his intial holding has improved in some way. He could possibly have speculated, at a discount, with A/2, got a free card that gave him trips. You could over bet the pot in hopes that he is holding something less that he may lay down, however given your betting pattern, so far in the hand, and the board itself, what could you be representing? Fold, hang on to the money your aggressive play has brought you and look for better opportunities.

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Patrick Cherry

Easy fold.

The biggest mistake was raising the turn.. you could have just seen a free card. Now the pot is huge and you want to call with ACE HIGH. Of course he might be bluffing, but he could be bluffing with 3-3 with has you beat!

If you raise and he’s bluffing.. great! If he’s not you just donked up…

So just fold, it just is not worth it!

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JoeyMags

Have to agree with the fold here. He has at least a pocket pair, what else would he call your PF raise with? At best you are playing for half the pot as he could have AK as well. I put him on a small pocket pair though, with a set being a strong possibility. He just wouldn’t try that move with any other cards. You need to find a better spot to pull something off.

And always check that turn, take the free nut flush.

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alan

bb had 3 twos

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