Top two pair on the flop, high stakes no limit cash game

Pretty standard here, agree with DHQ

I voted ‘call’ because the question was ‘what’s the best way to get all the money in the middle’. However, that’s not my only goal - there are draws to protect against as well.

Based on that, I might have lead out on this flop (small, third to half pot). This helps protect my hand, but there’s a high chance for a raise if our opponent has an A (which we know after the fact that he does).

To me, a checkraise on the flop tells my opponent- “I have a hand that beats top pair”, and therefore it might be tough to get all the money in the middle. Leading small conceals the strength of my hand better, and protects against draws as well.

The fear in checking here (with the goal of building a big pot) is that your opponent will also check behind. However, given the level of aggression here, and that the villain was the preflop aggressor and an ace hit the flop, I think it is extremely likely you’ll get bet at here.

Matt, you say that the check raise says “I can beat top pair”. I would say heads up with ultra aggressive opponents with large stacks (125BB effective), I don’t think it means that much. It could easily mean as little as “I got a piece of that flop.” Someone who just hit the 9 could check raise to punish the predictable continuation bet.

I like the check raise here, but maybe not as high as suggested by the staff. My initial inclination was to go with $10k. I understand the thinking behind the represent a (semi-bluff) draw with a big bet, but in practice I seem to see a lot of folds when I do that. Then again, I don’t play high stakes HU either.

totally agree w matt…

I voted 3-5x raise here for the reason that if villain has an Ace he would reraise me and build a big pot. Not being a high stakes player, my best guess is this: I Have an aggressive image and I would likely make a move like this with out a hand this strong to steal if I could. So I have to play this hand the same way and hope for the re raise all in. If he folds I win a small pot, if he pushes I stand to win a huge pot, so image tells me keep my agression up and play it fast.

I have to disagree with DHQ staff on this one. The play Lars made in my opinion was the correct one. Raising to 14k would not look like he’s trying to move on the pot, it would look like hes trying to look like hes making a move on the pot. Besides, with anything other than AK in this spot, Antonious would likley fold to such a large raise. In any event, Lars accomplished his goal by taking all of his oponent’s money on this hand.