Daily Hand Quiz

Check.

If we bet here its not for value because there are no hands we beat that will call us.

If we bet here its to represent a better hand than our opponents and get them to lay down a hand that is ahead. But what hand is ahead of us here that will fold? Who knows.

The problem we have here is we don’t have a read on our opponent. If they are a calling station, something they’ve done a fair impression of so far, then we can’t bluff them off. If they are tight we have a chance but what tight player got this far without something decent? If they are loose they might call to see what we’ve got.

Essentially without a read we can’t range our opponent to have any idea where we stand or what their response to a bet will be.

So just check through.

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Voted check. Busted draws and any non-K pair will not call. KJ, set, and flushes will c-r; AA, AK will call and obviously beat you. Our image is TAG. High risk of getting c-r for a small value bet in return tells me to check it down.

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Pretty simple spot to CHECK.

The only bet/call is the one that beats you, and CR is just a crappy decision I don’t want to make.

We’ve invested roughly 1/4 our starting stack in this hand already with just TP, let’s be happy to win what we can and check it down.

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Jeff Reply:
July 31st, 2009 at 7:19 am

eeer, closer to 1/5…but whatever

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I voted to check although… What hand could villan have that beats you? Pocket pairs (Jacks and Kings) or big slick would/should have reraised preflop. Villan quickly calls the turn bet? I don’t think they continued to call raises on the flop and turn to get to the river for the flush.
Pocket fives would have reraised the flop to protect against the flush and lead the river for value when they back doored a boat. I think villian has a worse King and check called throughout for pot control. How about a “what happened”

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What are we worried about if we do bet?
What’s the downside?
I doubt villain has a flush here very often.

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“What happened” is for wimps. Who cares what actually happened? Make up your own ending, then run the numbers, then ignore the ending that you made up. 8^)

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I voted check as well.. To be honest playing KQ offsuit from an early position is already pushing your luck. We paired the king which is great but theres a scary heart flush draw scenario on the flop. Now if we put our opponent on playing two hearts in his pocket we need to see if he would be calling favorably. He would be betting 10 into a 25 pot or 2.5:1. A heart has a 1.86:1 odd of coming up on the turn OR river. so a call by him is profitable. On the turn however, he completely misses and you bet 22 into 45. so his pot odds are now 67 to 22 or roughly 3:1. The chance of a heart coming up on a turn is over 4:1 odds, so a call is unprofitable. Plus the fact that he “quickly” calls again leads me to believe he’s not worrying about these pot odds, either because hes not chasing the flush or because hes a very poor player – a calling station type.

There is a chance you could be dominated by Big slick, or he could have limped in with K J, a big possibility for a blind, or he could have had the win sealed the entire time with American Airlines.

Check it here. If you win you got away with playing KQ in early position. But more importantly if you’re beat you’re minimizing your losses.

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ranamuck Reply:
July 31st, 2009 at 6:07 pm

checker…..KQ 6 handed…there is not other way to play it

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check? Screw that. Bet-Fold this one. There are only like 2 players in the world that check call this far with A-K…K-K…A-A, K-J…This board scarry for you as well as it is for him. So if he had a strong hand he would try to get value out of it somewhere. You are UTG representing a strong hand…I think he has KT,JT,QJ,AJ, TT, 99, QT enough to call you. If he was drawing to a flush…you will know. It takes a VERY good player to check raise a river with a marginal hand when you bet every street. he called 1 and 2 cause he did not believe you….Value Time.

I could be wrong but, this is what I would do.

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check, the save play.

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I would love to bet over half the pot here but without a read and given the villan’s play so far I would have to go with checking.

I’m just not quite convinced we can get him to lay down a better hand and the hands we already beat won’t call anyway.

I have a sneaky feeling he is weak player who has KJ and a bet over half the pot would get most (decent) players to lay it down. Then again, any decent player would be reraising on the flop with top two on a draw heavy board.

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