Pretty badly played HU hand - river decision

[deadlydaveLDN]

Ok, having trouble copying the HH, but it went like this. $1/$2 Heads Up Villain is 79/79 on the button (although I think this is pretty irrelevant here). Effective stacks are $205 He raise to $6, I make a standard 3-bet to $18 with 64s (if anyone is going to come in and say that is a mistake, please don't it is extremely normal HU against a player opening a high % of buttons) He calls and flop is KsQsTx, I bet $24 into $36 and he calls. Not sure if that was really the right play though? If he raises I pretty much have to get it in with a bare flush draw. And now he's called I hate mos turns. Turn brings 3s completing my flush. Now, I obviously have to put in a decent bet $70ish into $84. And for some reason I check. River brings As, obviously a nightmare river, and I check-tank-fold to his $66 bet. I'm pretty sure that this is a correct fold, but I'm not certain. Just trying to work out what Spades he's betting on the river. Js and Ts obviously, and hands involving Js and Ts are obviously in his pre-flop and flop calling range. Anything lower he's surely checking behind? Are there more bluffs in his range than Spades that beat me? So, I guess what I'm asking is whether the river fold is correct, or was my only msitake in the hand the turn play?

[averick]

Re: Pretty badly played HU hand - river decision I'm not a HU player but I'll give my comments based on the facts you provided to the best of my knowledge. Main mistake was the turn where you should have double barrelled given how low your flush was, and you might consider shoving the river even if another spade falls but that would depend on your opponent's characteristics already. Now you only beat 2s and 5s but the way you played it it seems as though you are scared of the flush, and checking the turn and river might very well induce a bluff from him. I agree he's checking behind low spades(8/9 and lower?) so you're either beaten or you've put yourself in a position to be bluffed off the hand because of the weakness you've shown. Don't really know whether the river fold is correct though, I suck at ranging and determining equity so I'll leave that to the rest.

[Nade]

Re: Pretty badly played HU hand - river decision I expect most people will look to get the money in with 2pair+ and big combo draws on this flop as there are a lot of bad turn cards which means they have mostly draws and weak made hands on the flop like 1 pair and a gut shot. Thinking about it there's not too many combos of flushes you lose to as nearly all will look to re-raise and get it in on the flop e.g. 9Tss, TJss, J9ss, but the QJs, KJs will check behind the turn often enough. HU has to be so opponent dependant there's so many other factors then what the board is and our hand to know how to play the hand IMO so whatever you did was probably the right play.

[TastesLikeTuna]

Re: Pretty badly played HU hand - river decision Ha,ok. I think a lot of this has to do with opponents tendencies. You need to give us a read on your opponents tendencies before we can go ahead and pass comment about the hand. For example, - if you c-bet and check the turn would he likely bet the turn as a bluff? - have you 3-bet him at all in the match so far? - if so how many times? - how did he respond to the 3bets? did he fold a lot or call 100% of them? - had you seen him bluff any other spots before? describe. - your own image, how he perceives you? - any showdowns seen yet? - can villain value bet thin on the river with a hand like 2 pair and no spade? So to give you an example. Opponent was someone who calls 3bets wide pre-flop. We'd 3-bet twice before and he called the first one with A5o and an unknown hand which he raised the flop with after i cbet on 76Jcc. Was capable of floating earlier streets with weak made hands/air with the intention of bluffing later streets. Generally aggressive. Had floated you with Ace high in a similar spot and turned his hand into a bluff on the turn when you checked, then bluff shoved river on a scare card and showed his hand when you folded. Ok so that's a pretty extreme/detailed example and you may not have enough information to come up with that kind of read. But i've basically described a pretty spewy opponent. Who is likely to bet the turn with their entire range. So against the fictional opponent i've described i'd look to check/raise all in on the turn, expecting him to bet the turn a lot. But yeah you have to have a reason to do things in poker. Don't randomise. By checking the turn you're basically just clicking buttons and missing value, unless you have a reason to do it (which we assume you don't). So the standard line here readless as i am, i don't mind the 3-bet pre perfectly fine.I might pick a higher suited connector like 67s or 9Ts, but still. Always continuation bet the flop. I absolutely hate getting it in with a bare flush draw on the flop and unless we have reads that villain will bluff raise/fold the flop, i'm looking to bet/fold the flop. So go ahead and bet the flop hit your spade on the turn and continue to smash the pot, get as many chips in the middle and take him to valuetown. The alternative flop line is to c/r but i think we need reads/reasoning to take that line and i prefer to keep it simple and bet out. The reason i say i fold on the flop , to a raise, is that we are likely up against at least one pair and we have little fold equity. So once he raises we're looking to put our money in with like 40% equity at best, which is not something i like to do. The turn check is a pretty massive mistake as you've identified yourself. We allow free cards to draws that will simply fold to a bet on a missed river rather than calling our turn bet. Also if another spade comes it can de-value our hand vs higher spades, or act as a scare card for non spade hands that would otherwise pay us off, like 2 pair or a single pair. As you've played it i think we're basically guessing/soulreading. Our hand looks pretty weak from villains perspective, so that might open up his bluffing range. However, if he has any pair without a spade i'd expect him to check back his showdown value. So i'm going to fold. :)