In my continuing effort to work on "getting away from strong hands when raised on the turn", this is a hand I had in my notes that I played back on 2005-01-02. I think this is an example of one I can't get away from, but I'm posting it for posterity and to see if others agree.
In an online $5/$10 limit HE game, I picked up A
A
in the big blind. There are three limpers before me
(putting the pot at 4.5 small bets). I decided to raise right there, to
build the pot. I would rather win a bigger pot, and punish those who
limped with trash. Of course, with my tight image, this gives away that I
have a big hand preflop. (That's the typical trade-off for raising with
a strong holding in the BB.)
Everyone called the preflop raise, so we saw a flop of 3
Q
5
four-handed, and with 8.5 small bets in the pot.
I bet out on the flop, and a hyperaggressive player named Morron (interesting name, that) raised me. I reraise and he called. Someone in-between us also called, so we saw the turn three handed with about 8.5 big bets in the pot.
I was pretty sure that Morron had a pretty good hand. Even though his aggression was typical, he wasn't usually terribly aggressive with three in the pot -- he saved his most aggressive tendencies for heads-up play. I figure he had KQ or a holding like that. I was pretty convinced it was simply a strong queen he was overplaying a bit. Q5 and Q3 weren't really possibilities, since Morron had reasonable starting hand selection (even though he was hyperaggressive) and he had been in early position preflop.
The turn fell 5
, pairing fives. I bet again, and Morron raised,
giving the pot 10.5 big bets. The other guy folded. So, I'd have to call
two big bets to showdown (because I know it will go check-bet-call on the
river). I'm thus offered 1-to-5.25. The question was: are those odds
good enough to justify the idea that he didn't flop a set or holds a 5? I
decided that they did, so I called, the river came 3
, with the expected check-bet-call, and Morron showed A
5
.
I wonder, can I get away from that hand? Should I have gotten away? Don't I have to put him on at least trips when the 5 turns? OTOH, he's hyperaggressive, so I should call, I guess. I'm not sweating the call down, but I am trying figure out the right lines of when to get away from raises on the turn in limit HE.