Playing top 2 pair

[donny111]

you make a good point joefine in that i had plenty of chips left to play with. however you also fail to think about value. one of the best things that good players do is get value out of their hands. if your always going to check with a str8, 2 pair, or a low flush, because ITS POSSIBLE that your beat; then you are going to miss out on a lot of value bets that your hands should be getting. if the villain in this hand would have had say AJ and hes like many other online players who flop top pair with a good kicker and never fold, then i would have been an idiot to have it go check check on the river and let him get out for cheap while not get any value out of top 2 pair.

[joefine]

you make a good point joefine in that i had plenty of chips left to play with. however you also fail to think about value. one of the best things that good players do is get value out of their hands. if your always going to check with a str8, 2 pair, or a low flush, because ITS POSSIBLE that your beat; then you are going to miss out on a lot of value bets that your hands should be getting. if the villain in this hand would have had say AJ and hes like many other online players who flop top pair with a good kicker and never fold, then i would have been an idiot to have it go check check on the river and let him get out for cheap while not get any value out of top 2 pair.

I guess we look at things differently. I understand value betting even when you don't have the nuts and you believe you can get a worse hand to call. However, again you only had the 10th best hand on that board (AA, KK, QQ, 88, 1010, KJ, J9, 8x all have you crushed and all these hands would be played the same way with exception of 8x) with someone calling you down on every street. Given the blinds being so small relative to the pot the guy either was an idiot calling down such large bets or had you crushed. Again - you have showdown value with top two on that board but like i said before you are only getting called by a better hand or an idiot with Ax.

I still don't see the value in shoving there - as a matter of fact you are destroying any equity you do have by shoving.

[StephyMarieC]

Maybe pot committed isnt the right phrase for this. The point I'm trying to make based on the way he played it is he wasn't letting go of the 2 pair so I think he should try to get paid off by shoving. It was a gamble but it was the perfect oppurtunity for him to double up and knock out the other guy. But now that I think about it alot of times i'll check on the flop when I'm just not sure lol now I'm just rambling.

[donny111]

just make a value bet,if u beat u beat,but there is a better strategy is to check and let him either bluff,in that case u win more money or if he has stright or even set,u lost minimum.

i disagree. i use this strategy a lot but this is the best strategy when u have a medium strength hand. if i check i also give him the option of checking back with say KQ AJ Q10 A10 and thus lose potential value that i may have got. this may be the SAFEST play but not necessarily the best play.

[Zerchai]

The bet on the river is not a value bet anymore in this hand.But it is what u need to do

[donny111]

[QUOTE=joefine;123818]I guess we look at things differently. I understand value betting even when you don't have the nuts. However, again you only had the 10th best hand on that board (AA, KK, QQ, 88, 1010, KJ, J9, 8x all have you crushed and all these hands would be played the same way with exception of 8x) with someone calling you down on every street. Given the blinds being so small relative to the pot the guy either was an idiot calling down with such large bets or had you crushed. Again - you have showdown value with top two on that board but like i said before you are only getting called by a better hand or an idiot with Ax.

i think your thinking a lot about this hand as if its the wsop or some big tournament. ive played thousands and thousands of hands online with players who call you down with Ax. sure if its a large buy in tournament you can make a case that people make better decisions but in cheap online tournaments i dont think its a given that the other guy has a str8 when he just flats you twice in a row. if you are more often then not checking in spots like this then believe me you have missed out on tons of value bets over your poker career. needless to say you would still be in this tournament! haha

[TARGI]

check call assuming it's not a shove.

[jdot81]

Playing aggresive is good there dont give then a chance to chase and if your wrong you still have good odds.

[ad87ag]

I would have gone all in before the river for sure

[eqgh5uea]

I usually shove if there isn't any strong draws after the flop...