Hand of the day XXV?

Question

a heads-up cash game question this time, and this time you are going to help me decide if i made the right decision in this hand that i played about a month ago now

blinds are $1-2 in a home game(it had been as many as 6-handed but the game broke down) and my opponent places a $5 straddle on the button, which is common for this game...i raise to $15 out of my big blind with K-10 of hearts, and my opponent, who has been playing close to every hand as he likely should considering my style of play, calls...the flop comes down K-J-2 with two spades, and i checked, figuring he may have hit this flop enough to bet or would be willing to bluff it...he obliged by betting $10, and i raised to $35, and he called...the turn is an offsuit queen giving me an open-end straight draw, i bet $50 and got quickly called...the river is the 3 of spades putting a potential flush out there, and my opponent has about $100 left...what would you guys do here?

Answer 1

This is about the same as all my cash game responses. I would check and shut it down because theres too many hands that beat us and that's alot of real hard earned money at stake with a pair of Kings decent kicker.

Being that we check raised the flop it represented we had more of a made hand and not as much of a flush draw hand. So when the flush opportunity comes out at the river, it would be hard to bluff it and represent the flush if we had a made hand. And being he called our previous bets he's not really too afraid of whatever we have. So I don't like the bluff idea at all.

A check seems like the best bet because he might be just as afraid of the flush opportunity as we are. Either way if he pushes it all in we're more than likely beat. Or he'll bet a little and we're pot commited to call and we're most likely beat. Or he checks too and we have a chance to win it.

If we bet any amount at all and get called, we probably lose.

(LOL, sorry Da Hal, I don't usually read anyone else's answers before I just give my opinion. I write my answer and then read everyone elses. I think mines about the same as yours. wasn't trying to copy & rewrite your answer. That's funny. Great minds think alike. )

Answer 2

Well hes playing every hand so its a bit harder to put him on a specific hand. My first thought is a busted spade draw or a represented straight. A check and he moves in but with his stack its hard to make a value bet that is proportionate to the pot. All that being said all you have is top pair and you have represented the straight. he has $100 left, I would make a $60 bet that screams call me. If he has less than top pair he shouldn't call and you should rake it in.

Answer 3

imho, i think you're already beat, and your only chance is to bluff at the flush, which probably won't be successful. I think the only possible hand he could have that you could beat is AQ, but it's much more likely he has a hand that beats yours.

Therefore, you have two choices: make a large-ish bet and hope he believes you have a flush, or check/call hoping he has a hand you can beat. Either way, I think you have the losing hand and neither strategy will get you the win, and going all-in is probably a mistake.

Overall though, the big mistake here was the $50 bet on the turn. It should have been either much larger (forcing him out of the hand, or, if he calls, you would have known you were beat) or much smaller (pretending you had the flush draw.)

I think you only have a 10-20% of having the better hand outright (he has only a pair of jacks or a king with a worse kicker than you) but bluffing at the flush only has a 10-20% chance as well. In this case, I think the check-call would lose you the least amount of money.

Answer 4

da_hal, folding would lose you the least amount of money