Help toughest spot ever!

[Ethan]

I have AK on the button.
I raise to 15 preflop and get two callers.
Flop comes A, 9, 6 two hearts, one diamond.
They check I bet 25.
I get one caller. This is a very tight player who was loosing badly this session. (but didn’t appear to be on tilt.
Turn is a 2 of diamonds.
He checks I bet 50 he calls.
River is a jack of diamonds. Back door flush gets there. and AJ gets there.
He checks. ANd I just think there a few worse aces he can have that I can get great value from.
He checks (making it more likley he has a weaker ace), so I bet 70.
He mid raises me 70 more.
I just think there is no way this player is bluffing here ever.
So I painfully let it go.

[John S]

An important aspect of this hand is the suit configuration on the flop. It’s A96, 2 hearts 1 diamond. But which card is which suit? Specifically, which card is the Ace? If the Ace on the board is a heart (and therefore not a diamond), your opponent can have AXdd, meaning he backed into the backdoor flush. This is really the only flush that makes sense other than 87dd. These are things to pay attention to, since it helps you know how many combos of better hands your opponent can have. So in this case, if the Ace on board is a diamond, he can really only have 2 pair combos that beat you, since he should never have a flush here.

So many you call when the Ace of diamonds is on the board, since he can’t have a flush? Might not apply well to this villain, since you say he is very tight and not the type to bluff. Bluff catching isn’t really profitable at 1/2 against players like this. But if you’re going to call down with AK here against other players who may bluff, perhaps call when the Ace of diamonds is on the board since opponents can’t have a flush.

[Ryan Norton]

Hello Ethan,
I think you played the hand well until the river. You have to put him in a range of hands that he can keep check calling with on the flop and turn that would also lead him to check the river. The can easily have two pair combos here and flush draws that may pick up equity on the turn that were stated above by John. I would have checked back the turn and reevalutaed on the river to see what he did. Most of the time when a player check calls they have a marginal hand that may be trying to catch up with and when you bet the river it allows all his two pair and back door flushed hands to now raise you. I think if he checks the river you can safely bet but when he check calls the turn alarm bells would be going off for me. I prefer to check back the river and get to show down as he has played the hand very strangely. Now that he has raised you it’s hard to fold here with the price you’re getting but you are right that he is almost never bluffing.

Good luck at the tables!
Ryan

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