Flush vs PF 3bettor on 9-high paired board

[DoanDiggy]

I was playing pretty loose/aggressive tonight, mainly raising a lot more suited cards than I typically would. Villain was running 19/8 over 59 hands and has not 3bet at all until this hand in (if I remember right) 14 or so opportunities.

Obviously it's a fold preflop, especially out of position, but with the stacks pretty deep and me putting him on a pretty strong range, I decided to call anyways. My computer was lagging pretty bad too and that was tilting me somewhat and making even 4-tabling pretty difficult, but that's beside the point and is a lousy excuse for my preflop call.

So here's the hand:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($9.40)
UTG ($11.05)
Hero (MP) ($17.30)
CO ($10.15)
Button ($18.10)
SB ($6.15)

Preflop: Hero is MP with 7, 8
1 fold, Hero raises to $0.40, 1 fold, Button raises to $1.20, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.80

Flop: ($2.55) 2, 6, 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

Turn: ($2.55) 3 (2 players)
Hero bets $3, Button calls $3

River: ($8.55) 3 (2 players)
Hero bets $5, Button raises to $11.40

Total pot: $31.35 | Rake: $1.50


On the flop I was obviously going for the check/raise with such a huge draw. When he checked behind and I hit the turn, it's time to start building the pot. My bet is pretty big, but I think that he's going to call, raise, or fold regardless of my bet size due to his range, and since the bigger bet looks bluffier and builds the pot (and my 8-high flush is vulnerable to his holdings) I decided that betting big was the way to go. The river kind of sucks since it pairs the board, but I was thinking 99 probably isn't even in his range, so I'm trying to get more value.

The raise just sucks. As soon as he raised my first thought was 99, since his line would actually make some sense with 99 (although I don't like checking the flop, bad players love to), but I just could not see that card being a big part of his range. My next thought was AhKh or AhQh, but I couldn't see those hands checking behind on the flop.

In the end I made a crying call since all I could put him on was a stupidly-played overpair or maybe a hand like AhK (and besides his raise wasn't all that big in relation to the pot), but I really felt like I'm losing most of the time after this raise. Then again, if I'm winning even 21% of the time in this spot (getting 3.9:1), this call is profitable.

What do you think? Where should I have played the hand differently, or was my play not bad? Maybe a bigger river bet makes sense?

[AFchung]

i think we can try and get it in on the flop and no need to check raise, because overpairs are definitely in his range and with an OESD/FD combo draw we have more than enough equity to get it in here

Board: 2h 6h 9d
Dead:

equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 55.842% 55.84% 00.00% 27089 0.00 { 8h7h }
Hand 1: 44.158% 44.16% 00.00% 21421 0.00 { 99+, AKs, AKo }

as played, i ship it this river. i can only see us being beat by 99 here and higher flushes

[jyms]

Why check raise? If he has what you put him on he's at least calling a donk bet, and AK may even get stupid. Letting him C/B the flop when you self admittedly have been aggro and he may be just playing back. Put yourself in his shoes and think what would you do here with JJ+ or AKs if he donked into you.

[bigspenda73]

I totally disagree with leading in 3bet pots. I'm not sure at all what is accomplishes. We really allow ourselves to get positionally owned when we donk here. He's either going to fold air that he might have cbet or he's going to raise and we'll get it in as a flip. At least by c/r'ing you perhaps gets some value out of the bottom of his 3betting range.

[DoanDiggy]

as played, i ship it this river. i can only see us being beat by 99 here and higher flushes

You mean you shove over his raise on the river? I don't know how I feel about that. Feeling like I'm usually beat when I'm raised on the river here, it seems like raising is a pretty bad idea. He's either raising with a hand I can beat, hopefully 21% or more of the time, or he's not. I don't exactly want to lay it down on the river, but why make the pot bigger when my hand is starting to look pretty weak given the action so far.

I mean, what hand does he have that is calling such a huge bet on the turn and then raising the river? I don't think a heart overpair is raising the river at these stakes (or very often at any stakes)... they would instead call or maybe fold. It could maybe be a hand like AhK, but then a river 3bet by me would be worthless. When you consider the check on the flop, the call of a huge bet on the turn, and then a "please call me" raise on the river, the only hand that really makes sense is 99.

FWIW, I probably fold if he shoves, so his raise size on the river wasn't actually that bad.

I totally disagree with leading in 3bet pots. I'm not sure at all what is accomplishes. We really allow ourselves to get positionally owned when we donk here. He's either going to fold air that he might have cbet or he's going to raise and we'll get it in as a flip. At least by c/r'ing you perhaps gets some value out of the bottom of his 3betting range.

That's pretty much what I was thinking. A player who 3bet preflop should be betting this flop a huge percentage of the time. The fact that he chose not to perhaps should have set off alarm bells.

he has like, what 3 dollars left? if he has a hand like JJ+ he will still call
the only hand that doesn't call is a pure river raise bluff