Daily Hand Quiz

I’m trying to get to showdown as cheaply as possible in this spot, and i’m more than willing to check-fold. Think about what villain can possibly have – there are no real draws on board and they called an EP raise plus a flop bet with a player still to act behind.

This feels like a hand that beats yours. If they do have a weaker hand, they’re likely checking back the turn. In that case, I’ll probably call a river bet, but if I check and they bet, I have a hard time seeing what hand I’m beating, so I’ll probably just fold.

What actually happened: You checked and your opponent bet about 500. You folded.

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I think we have to check-call the turn but I’m doing it not because i think we are behind but for pot control and to get the player behind to bet it with a hand that hit the jack like QJs and thinks may be good and can play position on us. As opp is a strong regular I can’t see him calling with a weaker ace so that leaves a pp or suited connector type hand, both of which we are currently beating, or he flopped a set of 6s. Check raise is actually an option if we are going to call a potential turn (and river) bet anyway. Check folding feels weak.

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I think i agree with the staff here

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Just another reason why being out of position sucks

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Plus I actually think that the fact they just called a flop bet with a player behind means they are way more often weak here (i.e QJ) than strong (JJ). Bottom set needs to raise in that spot.

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check fold? have you lost your mind? we have aq, hit the ace on a dry board and we’re giving up becuase the guy calls a 2/3 bet on the flop. whoa….

you have to lead here, get value from a weaker ace/pocket pair, or fold out someone who floated the flop to test if you were c-betting. if he raises, you can start thinking. but until then, im assuming i have the best hand. checking invites villain to take this away from us. i can see check/call for pot control, but check-folding a hand like this is the definition of weak. check calling for pot control is problematic anyway, because you let villain dictate the price, whereas leading allows us to do that.

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You need to add that he’s a regular which GREATLY diminishes both his calling range with weaker aces pre and his value-betting range w/ worse hands on the turn.

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I think _CityBorn_ has this right. What hands are we behind here? AA, JJ, AJ, AK, 88, 66.
Based on the pre and post flop action, AJ is the only one that makes much sense – possibly JJ. Seems more likely we’re up against a smaller pair or a draw to me.
I think you can make a decent case for either a lead or a check raise. Not sure I want to play for pot control in this hand since I believe we’re more often ahead than behind – and I’d be perfectly content to take down the hand before the river gives him another chance to catch up. Check fold is ridiculous unless opponent shoves.

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I like check-call, depending on the bet size. 500 is a tough size though.

Our opponent is tough, and there’s two others in the pot at the flop. Hmm, now that I think of it, I’m more inclined to fold.

Because there’s three at the flop, he knows that we’re not often betting the flop with air. If we have KK/QQ we’re not often betting this flop as we’re wa/wb. I think on the flop we’ve pretty much told him that either we have one Ace or a monster (AA/JJ). If he can beat a single Ace (66/JJ seeming most likely), then his flop and turn play make perfect sense. Only if he knows that we know that, then his play also makes sense as a higher level play by representing a hand that beats a singe Ace.

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you could be the holy grandpappy wizard of poker and still make that call with a/10. all he wants to do is see another card for a relatively cheap price. ive seen the best of the best play in televised tournaments picking bluffs off with kings or queens in a spot like this. the minute you check he can put pressure on you and represent the best hand. THATS what would make him good… good does not mean only being willing to make calls for small amounts with a monster hand. he called a small bet, that doesnt mean hes got the nuts.

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You lead here and risk being raised. If you’re raised, fold, but you probably have the best hand.

I don’t understand the staff’s thinking on this one at all. If you’re folding to all callers behind you, why even play this in early position?

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the only thing that makes sense for villain to flat call here is either a PP 77+ KQs or an ace with a lower kicker. It looks like a c-bet from us – Lead and see where you are.

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I voted lead – ~475.  The pot is 40% of the hero’s stack. Try and take it down now. With 2 aces out, the v likely holding KJ, QJ, or pp.  The call of the c-bet could certainly be with mid-pair. If v is holding something that beats the hero (66, JJ, AA, AJ), you’ll hear soon. Checking puts you in limbo with regards to where your hand stands.

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I surely don’t get the check-fold mentality from the staff. What, we’re beat because “he’s a good regular?” What the hell?

“Strong regulars” do things like floating apparent cbets and then stealing pots when the apparent cbettor has given up on a hand by checking a dry turn.

Lead, check-call, or check-raise depending on your exact read and the size of the pot you want to play, but I cannot understand *check folding* in fear of the handful of plausible hands that are beating you, here.

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Check folding is for wussies. Oh god he called my flop bet so no way he has middle pair only a set or AK….loooool.

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I agree with everyone saying that the staff decision is very weak. Like some others have said, if he’s a strong regular he’ll call a midsize bet trying to set up a bluff on the turn. That 8s sets up some weird draws that I don’t really like. I think you need to lead out and maintain control of the pot. If he did hit a set, then you are going to pay him off, or you are going to pull an Allen Cunningham and make a hero fold. Either way…check folding just paints a big target on your back for the rest of the table.

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The great thing about leading is that we can fold relatively cheaply (20% of our stack) if met with a reraise / shove.

The bad thing is that if opp flats behind we may have just built a pot with the worst hand and are now committed to check calling off at least half our remaining stack (unless you can find a fold on the river getting 3 to 1?).

By betting the turn we fold out the hands that could attempt to bluff once or even twice and just give chips to the few hands that actually do have us beat. Sure we may miss out on value but at least we don’t commit a large amount of chips with a hand that isn’t even top top.

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