Should I have checked the river?

[Heath]

I rarely play 2-5, but I walked into the poker room at Harrah’s Cherokee (NC) and the 1-2 was so slow and short handed I didn’t wanna bother with it, so I took a seat at the 2-5 table. A hand took place that I can’t decide if I ultimately played it wrong or not. I would like to get some opinions.

I’m sitting there for around an hour or so and I pick up pocket 9’s in the big blind. There are six or so people in the hand, first act folds, to his left calls, button calls, SB calls, and I raise to $35. The guy to my left calls, button and SB fold. So we’re heads up to the flop, which comes 8K8 rainbow. I bet $45 and get an immediate call. The turn comes a 9 (can’t remember the suit) for a full house. I check, he bets $45 and I check raise to $150. He thinks for about 15 seconds and calls. River was a 3 (again, can’t recall the suit). I’m thinking if he felt he was good on the turn, good enough to call my check raise, he was gonna think he was good here. $470 pot, he’s got a little over $600 in front of him, and I move all in for the $165 or so I have left. He thinks for about 2 minutes and to my amazement, he folds.

I was happy to take down the pot, yet I can’t help but wonder if going all in was the wrong play. In that situation, was moving all in too obviously saying “I’ve got you”? Would you have checked, or possibly made a smaller bet into the pot?

[Chuck M]

I think you played it fine.
If we check, the risk of him checking back is too high imo (since you c/r turn). I don’t know, yeah maybe if you bet 80-85… is such a small bet compared to the pot, villain might wanna look u up with Kx (pretty sure he calls you off with 8x)

[Laurens]

I think you should not leave yourself about 1/3 pot bet behind on the turn, imo it’s better to go all-in and overbet a little in that situation.

otherwise a fine played hand

[Yazzie]

I agree with Laurens.

Never leave less than 50% pot behind unless you’re wanting to be perceived as pot committed so your opponent would not bet without a nutted hand.
A check/shove on the turn would have probably gotten you a full double up (if your opponent had 8 7/8 6/ 8 10) or a loss of value if your opponent had a K. I’m not sure.

Most likely you got the max there.

[Piotr]

I agree with Lauren and Yazzie somewhat….
To be honest I do not understand what u was trying to accomplish by check raising on turn and leaving behind 30% pot I believe …
Ok let’s brake hand down …
3 callers before u ..
U bumped to 35$ witch I can get behind… 4x big plus each limper…
Heads up to the flop
U put a bet of 45$ around half pot… And he calls .. so far so good
Here what is I don’t understand why check raise in this spot ? The way hand played u know that u have nutted hand and u don’t want to loose a customer …
And if u have to check raise and u leaving urself 30% of the pot behind … Just go all in to look more bluffy Or to look like u have pocket pair and u try to fold exact hand like he have Kx…check raise for me with 30% behind then shove on River can’t be more face up play …
Ok brother flop is 8k8 u bet he called … Let’s think this thru together what he would call u with u haven’t give any info about suits of the card so we will leave that alone but on flop 8k8 what realistycly could flat call ur rise pre and flop bet Kx would be best candidate here because lots of people love to play suited brodway cards … so he called ur flop bet and he’s sitting most likely in he’s mind on 2 pairs 8’s and K’s with x kicker …
So smooth call is a right play on a rainbow board … And he is probably feeling good about that hand because ur play pre could look like squeeze to him that is why he just call ur raise pre to c what developes on the flop if he connects … Personally if that would be me if I would have Kx suited in that spot and I would choose to play that I am coming for a raise not call blind for 5$ then another 30$ because your play look like squeeze and hoping to hit … If I would be that player I’m kicking off with a raise to take over the action of the heand… Most likely in that situation u would just call not raise because out of position pocket nines with ep raise r only good for setmine …
And me with betting lead if u would donk bet into me I would have two options smooth call or raise … I usually raise in spot like that if I only have Kx because there is a lot of cards that can be bad for me on a turn so I have to deny them equity so just bombed right there …. But if I would have AK I would just smooth call 2 pair with A kicker on a flop not bad …I can always improve to 2 better pairs … Most likely that would be end of it because u really can’t call in spot like that without a king and that is the end of the hand …
If u would not donk lead and check to me on flop I would of course c bet and again u could peel off one but early position raise pre and K on a flop it have to go thru ur mind what range of cards I would play in that position… Of course there’s some sticky players and they will peel off one and as we know you would improve to Full House and I would lose but more than often I will get a fold in that situation … So that right there plus fold from ur opponent on the river when math telling otherwise telling me that u played against someone who have not that deep understanding of a game but even to him ur move on turn and river look kinda face up … I’m not beating u up here by all means so don’t take it like that … But in my mind u did get Max out of that hand the way u played it …. U my end up with different amount played it different… It’s just u sitting on nutted full house u should take a line to not loose customer but by check raising u give him a chance to get out of that hand right there …I’m happy for u that u had that call so u made a little bit more but still…
And the reason I say that u had nutted full house is … The only hand that u loose to is quad 8’s and Kings full …if ur opponent have quads in this spot tough luck buddy … But if he would have Kings full u would here from him pre flop most likely … So if he’s just in call mode that means he have Kx hand and if u have to check raise … Make it look bluffy and go all in on a turn to look like u try to fold exactly Kx hand because u r scared of that King ….
And the reason why I say that u my end up with different amount $ is…
If u had 80$ pre …90$ on a flop that equals to 170$ so u would have to continue story on turn lats say 110$ he calls .. because if he called ur bump out on a turn to 150$ he’s calling 110$..then u have I think about 200$ behind I think so by default he would think that no matter the river u r shoving vs check raise on a turn with 30% pot behind looks like full house ..pocket A’s or AK witch all those hands beat him because 30% behind looks like u ready to put them in but u made small enough for him to call that turn … That is why shove would be better imho on that turn because he would never put u on a full house because who in a right mind seats on nutted house and trying to loose customer … Anyways brother I hope that u will take all info from all comments mentioned by me and other guys because that is how ur game would improve ..
We all know that game is evolving constantly that is why we as a players have to stay on a top of it … That is why even I consider myself somewhat decent player I refuse to say that I know it all because I don’t and it is never ending learning story….
Good luck at the tables bro

[Piotr]

And if u want to learn how to extract max value when u sitting on stine cold nuts by looking like u bluffing i have one guy in mind that u can watch …
Im talking about Garret Adelstein…
U can find that dude on live at the bike for the most part .. Somehow every single time he is sitting on a nutts he overbeats and inflate the pot and get opponents to pay him off …hes unorthodox line he takes in spots like That somehow pushing thru
That is an art within itself if u ask me …
But for him to make those moves it is a multipe of factors factored in within a hand.. I balieve personally that key to his success is … For the most part he knows where he is in the hand and what he is up against ..
But that is coming with expiriance to disect the hand perfectly on a spot …
Of course he loosing some big pots to … We all do but more often then not he got paid max value when he have nutts .. And that is grat skill to have …
I think that i am nowhere near that level to pin point my opponents exact holdings .. But i have ussually pretty good idea what range i am up against … Anyways i just thought that u my get something out of it by watching how this dude playing hes nutted hands to help improve ur game that is why i just decide to let u know about him ….
Good luck at the tables buddy

[Author]

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