This is from a $100 freezeout on Poker Stars. Villain in this hand is Lilholdem, one of the most successful tournament players around. From what I’ve seen, he’s loose and aggressive, sometimes to a fault.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em Tourney, Big Blind is t150 (9 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
MP1 (t5845)
MP2 (t11864)
MP3 (t4475)
CO (t8581)
Button (t7205)
Hero (t8100)
BB (t2175) (sitting out)
UTG (t9405)
UTG+1 (t3430)
Preflop: Hero is SB with Kh, Qs.
6 folds, Button raises to t450, Hero calls t375, 1 fold.
Flop: (t1050) Qd, 6c, 9d (2 players)
Hero bets t650, Button calls t650.
Turn: (t2350) Ad (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets t1200, Hero calls t1200.
River: (t4750) Qh (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks.
Final Pot: t4750
The BB is sitting out, which means Lil is going to be raising a very wide range from the button. That’s an argument for 3-betting him, but because he knows I know he’s raising light, he’s likely to 4-bet shove on me very aggressively as well. That could be an argument for reraising and calling a shove, but I think a big part of his shoving range is going to be Ace-rag, which means I’d generally be getting my money in bad (though not very bad).
Anyway, I elected not to go down the road and just called. Top pair good kicker is a monster in this spot, and I lead out hoping to make it look like I am trying to take it down cheap with a delayed steal. I was hoping for a raise, but his call could still mean that he’s planning on making a move on a future street.
Ugly turn. But having played my hand so as to induce an aggressive move from Lil, I can’t very well fold to a half pot bet well the perfect bluff card falls.
My plan was to call a bet on the river. Basically, at this point, my opponent is likely to have a bluff, a flush, or a weakish made hand. Against the first two, checking and calling is best, and a lot of his weak hands aren’t calling a bet if I lead the Q. Turns out he had A6, so lucky river for me. I’d be surprised if he would have called anything but a very small river bet, so I’m happy with how I played it.