Whats wrong with this picture

[KewlKatt]

Been working on some more advanced strategies and trying to put them in play lately, which consiquently has been leading to greater loss variance in my game. Take for example last night I was on the SB with AKo at a 0.50/1 table. MP raises $2, I reraise to $4, MP is the only caller.

My first thought is to take him off AA-KK maybe even QQ, with him going to have position on me when the flop comes he would benifit greatly from going over the top of me preflop.

The flop comes Jxx rainbow, my initial thought was to raise, but I thought a check raise would get more information and possible a free turn card if he only calls so I check. Sure enough MP raises me $5, my intial thought was he is holding AJ, to be sure I do as intented and raise the pot another $5, MP just calls. Turn is another x, I check ready to give up the pot now looking for my free river card, MP checks the turn as well. Right away I put him on 10J, QJ, or KJ since I was representing the AJ with my check raise on the flop.

Riv shows me the money with an A, I bet into him now $10 to show my strength and he comes back over the top of me another $10. I called knowing full well I was beat, but I had to learn and he shows AJ.

Where did I go wrong here? or what part of my logic for putting him on his cards did I do incorrectly.

Is it common to play second best hand when someone is representing your holdings?

[heatman]

Look at this hand from his perspective. 2Xblind raise with AJ, re-raise from the SB. I'm wondering if you've got a hand or are pushing back on a perceived steal attempt, and AJ isn't that strong, so a call is pretty good.

My J comes on the flop, with no apparent help for you. TPTK, worth a bet. Your re-raise, with your re-raise on the flop says you've got a hand. KK, QQ, JJ? I'll call because of pot equity, but I'm not re-raising.

Turn is no help. Your check after two re-raises suggests trap. I'm not falling for that little trap again.

River A gives me top two pair. $10 bet on the river is weak and I think my top two pair is good. Can I get another $10 out of you?


What kind of information were you going to get by check-raising on the flop? AJ isn't a great hand to go over the top of a re-raise with after calling a re-raise on the flop. As it worked out, you got only mis-information.

[KewlKatt]

I see your point about the trap, I never really thought to look at it from a TPTK getting reraised on the flop.

Mostly by check raising the flop I was for one making sure he was holding at least top pair and didn't completly miss the flop like I did, and secondly taking the position of best hand and try to get a free river and landing one of my over cards. But mostly I was hoping he would fold to the check raise.

[Xianti]

Nice avatar, KK.

[pokerfanatic]

The flop comes Jxx rainbow, my initial thought was to raise, but I thought a check raise would get more information and possible a free turn card if he only calls so I check. Sure enough MP raises me $5, my intial thought was he is holding AJ

You should never second guess what you put a person on, a majority of the time your first assumption is right, in this case your first assumption he was holding AJ was 100% right, when you check raised he thought he was beat because you were representing you could bet top pair. Then when you check as said before, if it were me I would think you were trapping again so I would check with you. Then on the river when I hit my two pair and you bet into me I would think they were good because earlier you check raised representing something like QQ or KK, I wouldn't put you on AA because I think you would have pushed it harder then you did (most people not all play AA strong and don't check raise with it, especially at the type game your referring to that you were in). I think once you check-raised, you might have wanted to bet out on the turn representing that strong hand, he might have laid it down if you bet into him on the turn telling him for sure that he was bet and you were going to make him pay to draw out on you. This might work sometimes, other times it won’t, but it's one way you would play it, good luck.

[michael1123]

Yeah, only a good player is going to lay down the TPTK on the turn even if you do lead out big, and only if you're earned their respect at the table. Your check on the turn is just confusing really. If you had KK or QQ, you've already given away the strength of your hand on the flop, wouldn't you then lead on the turn to protect your hand? But I've played against the rare guy that will try and check raise on both the flop and the turn, even though it rarely works.

Anyway, interesting hand, but I can't fault that guy's play. He was probably more confused by your unorthodox play than anything.