This is early in the game <10 hands. Villain raised every btn so far and won by firing out on flop or turn when I was the preflop raiser. Is this horrible? Especially early? PokerStars $5.00+$0.25 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level I (10/20) 2-max Seat #2 is the button Seat 1: Hero (1250 in chips) Seat 2: ZellMad (1750 in chips) ZellMad: posts small blind 10 Hero: posts big blind 20 *** HOLE CARDS *** Dealt to Hero [As Ts] ZellMad: calls 10 Hero: raises 60 to 80 ZellMad: calls 60 *** FLOP *** [Tc Ks 9d] (Pot: 160) Hero: bets 100 ZellMad: raises 100 to 200 Hero: calls 100 *** TURN *** [Tc Ks 9d] [2h] (Pot: 560) Hero: checks ZellMad: bets 250 Hero: calls 250 *** RIVER *** [Tc Ks 9d 2h] [9s] (Pot: 1060) Hero: checks ZellMad: bets 500 Hero: calls 500
To be honest, I would probably just check the flop.
You're deep and OOP, shorter stacked I might bet if I'm looking to get it in (your equity against the draws is not bad, so shorter stacked if you could get it in reasonably often on the flop that might be the best option there), but you're really just building a pot for a way ahead with little value turn spot or a way behind forced to fold or play a marginal big pot turn spot.
Excuse my run on sentences, but basically by building the pot on the flop I feel your implied odds are fairly low going into the turn and your reverse implied odds are working against you as well.
I'd check the flop. Villains often stab for "fold equity" in these spots, so you can profitably check call this flop, or if he checks behind you can get a much better idea how your hand is going to be played after seeing a turn card.
A turn card such as this one, you can usually put in a nice valuebet, a turn card like a Q or a J, you may want to check and try to see a cheaper showdown or let villain check or bet (in that scenario a check or bet + timing is often a really big tell on the type of hand they have, if the turn is a J and villain checks, this may be indicative of him having a near 0% chance of a Q).
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As played I probably call the river. Given your reads this guy looks like he's trying to push you around, and has successfully so far. You give him no reason to think you have a very strong hand, he probably puts you on AK or a weakish pair like you have. That's often enough to just pure bluff given your few hands of history with him.
His line doesn't a lot of sense for anything except a very strongly flopped hand like a good King or QJ. I especially call very quickly if he bet the river quickly, as the 9 usually gives Kx type hands or even stronger some pause before they decide if they want to bet and if so how much.
Thanks for a good reply Ryan. It hadn't even occurred to me to check the flop. I guess I automatically cbet flops alot when I raise from the bb. I have a really hard time getting my head around exactly these kind of spots, i.e. I'm deepstacked, attack a limp and flop a marginal hand but am pretty confident I have the best hand. I just have it imprinted in me to valuebet in these situations.
Say you are deep and attack a limp, hand examples:
1. AK and flop comes 237r
2. TT and flop comes KQ7ccd
3. AJ and flop comes KJ8r
When do you normally check/cbet? When I'm short I generally try to get it in on the flop in hand 1 by cbeting or c/r depending on opponent, dno about when I'm deep. Hand 2 I tend to check/fold or maybe call 1 street depending on the board. Hand 3 (and original hand in post 1) I have very little feel for.
Vs unknowns, I cbet 1, check 2, and probably cbet 3 but it can go either way depending on how you play turn and river vs unknowns. If I feel like I have no handle on the opponent, maybe it's best to check (not saying I always do, but probably is best), if you have any sort of idea and are anywhere near comfortable vs the guy in hand 3, it's probably usually a bet.
I also used to feel like "auto cbet" when I raised limps. I think that's mostly bc it's such a strong move for my game, raising a limp (I don't mind letting ppl limp first level, I don't stack off super light in limped pots vs the avg player and I feel like they are giving up value by limping), so mostly I'm raising value hands by default when people limp, meaning I feel like I have a big advantage preflop, and even when I miss the flop the natural tendency is to "cbet." There's nothing wrong with that for boards you hit decently or miss entirely, but anything in between with weak to mid pairs and OK draws, I feel like checking is often the best option, to put it simply.