Limit Texas Holdem Quiz #26, Question Three

[Matt]

You are in the cutoff position with Q:diamonds:10:diamonds:. The player to your right has posted a late-position blind. Everyone folds to him, he checks, and you raise. The small blind folds and the big blind calls. The late-position blind also calls. The pot contains 6.5 small bets. The flop comes 8:diamonds: 3:diamonds: 8:clubs:, giving you the third-nut flush draw and a backdoor straight flush draw. The big blind checks, the next player bets, and you raise. The big blind folds and the remaining player just calls. The pot now contains 5 big bets. The turn is the 6:hearts:. Your opponent bets and you call. The pot now contains 7 big bets. The river is the Q:clubs:. Your opponent bets. What do you do?

[Nima]

Posted blind means he is fairly loose and also that he could have anything.

At the same time, the pot is too big to fold a top pair here. If you have 15% doubt that he has an 8 to make a profitable call.


You should call.

Cheers,
Nima

[notcalebsheridan]

I don't understand him just calling the raise on the flop and then betting into the aggresor. I think I would raise the river.

[Nima]

He might have thought that your raise on the flop was to get a free card on the turn ( for the flush draw) and didnt want to give you a free card.

He could have had 66.

I don't think I can certain enough that he doesn't have an 8 or full house, so that I can raise on the river profitably. There is not much chance that he wants to check raise the river (as thats usually a mistake) but he very well might have the 8.

Nima

[Matt]

It's best to just call. In situations like this, your opponent will have you beat most of the time. However, as Nima said, the pot odds justify a call.

If I held an eight, I would have also called on the flop and bet the turn when a blank fell. This is one way to defend against a free-card raise. Another option is to reraise and bet the turn. Many players overuse the free-card play, and I try to punish them for it.

In the actual hand, the A:diamonds: came on the river. My opponent held 7:diamonds:6:diamonds: . He bet the turn because he picked up a pair to go with his flush draw, a good play in my opinion.