Sat down tonight at the 2/5 NL table with several unfamiliar faces, and the table was playing very strangely right from the start. This hand was pretty early, so my reads were still somewhat unclear, but, just as one example, I had raised to $15 with QQ only to win the blinds. Then others started raising bigger and getting callers.

My main opponent in this hand was pretty erratic, and, as became clear to me later, a flush chaser deluxe and seemed rather inexperienced--he just bet a lot of hands very strangely.

I should also mention one other thing about this game before getting into the hand: What I'm increasingly coming to realize is that almost everyone in the game is really looking for bluffing opportunities, and that's the reason my win-rate is also so high, because I quickly started ONLY getting involved at all in pots when I have had a pretty serious hand (definitely NOT messing with TP at all if I have A3o in BB or stuff like that--if nobody likes it, ok, I might call a little bet on the river with an uncoordinated board, but that's about it). Anyhow, some are pretty decent at making these kinds of LAG plays, others are pretty bad at it.

This type of play makes sets incredibly profitable, but it makes playing one's own raising hands somewhat difficult if you can't get huge action PF or else drag something like AJ along on a J-high flop with your QQ. I've bet QQ before and won (in position) with an A-high flop, but I'm pretty careful about it. At the same time, as raiser at this kind of table, while I'm unusually tight, I also want to keep the initiative if at all possible. Giving unpaid draw opportunities to players of this type is absolutely fatal.

Ok, so here's the hand (sorry for the long-winded intro): I have As Kd in BB, 3 limpers, I raise to $20 and get 2 callers (1 limper folds--guy who lost his stack once to my AK when he followed me to the river on KQ with a K board).

Flop: Ah Qh Td--a bit too coordinated for my taste, and AQ already scares me a bit (and obviously KJ), but I bet $80 into the $80 pot. Button flat calls, so we're HU. Well, this is the rather erratic guy, whose play I really don't understand entirely (one of the other players said that he didn't the think the guy understands his own play--as I say, I think he's pretty inexperienced).

Anyhow, I think I simply have to bet that flop, no question in my mind there.

Now, the turn comes 6h, making a possible flush, which this guy may have already had, but I'll never know. On the one hand, he chased flushes, but he also made calls with TP no kicker and sometimes middle pair, so no telling. I still have TPTK, but this board is looking increasing bad since I don't have Kh.

Well, we now have $240 in the pot, and here's my first questionable move, I think. I check this turn, and my opponent bets $100 at it. I call. Basically, my intention was to be defensive but still tough. Again, at these tables, once I DO get involved in a pot, I think it's important not to give it up prematurely, although I simply don't like this whole thing, since I don't have Kh here, with which I'd definitely bet it out. At the same time, of course, I don't want to pour more money into a losing hand.

But I just really don't like check-folding the turn, even though the board is starting to topple in the wrong direction for me. The other option would have been to bet out something like $150, which was more than I really wanted to pour into it. So, maybe the check-call wasn't the worst move. Opinions?

Anyhow, then the river comes yet another heart. I check, he bets $100 more, and I fold.

What do you guys think? This was the first big hand I've lost in quite a while, but I just feel like it's overly weak shutting down completely on the turn. Or was it better just out of principle (despite increasing my losses) to bet the turn as if nothing had happened?

I think, all things considered, I guess I do like my play here, although I'm certainly open for suggestion!. Was able to show a profit still by the end of the night, but only $74, my worst of the last week.

Anyone have strong opinions on how to play this turn? Check-fold, check-call, and bet out all seem to me to be at least viable options.

And I guess ice might (?) view this as a good situation just to check in BB PF rather than raise it... ? Playing AK 4-handed and unraised does give one a lot more flexibility and the action isn't completely out of control.

Sometimes, I check in the bb with AK if I know I'm not gonna get the table to fold because now I have to play out of position with a drawing hand. Also, if I hit, no one sees it coming but I don't have a problem with the raise or the bet on the flop.

The turn check is questionable and I can't really say its that bad but this is what being out of position does. However, once you call his $100 bet on the turn, you have to call that same sized bet on the river. If he has you beat on the river, he had you drawing thin or dead on the turn so there is no point calling there to fold the river. It was a waste of $100 IMO. If you believe he has the flush or unwilling to pay the similar bet on the river, you should fold that turn.

Having slept on this one, I don't mind my PF raise, but I really think I've been influenced here by watching too many bad plays.

I should never have gotten involved with that flop at these tables out of position. While I do see people pounding away at it and winning, it's basically KJ (with which they'll call a raise all the time) that is the killer. It's completely pointless and asking for disaster to bet into a possible made hand which they now really know I can't have after having raised.

Just as "playing habit," I think I should have gone on the defensive immediately on that flop. If I get to see a turn after checks, then I at least have an offsuit J as something bettable, but I think it was a mistake to get involved with that flop in the first place.

Actually, in conjunction with our AK discussion (which I think needs to be viewed in the context of all raising hands), I'd be interested in hearing opinions about the following principle:

Never bet into a board on which it's impossible that you have the nuts.

As an additional part of the problem: Ok, I could have AA or QQ here, which are very good drawing hands now even against KJ. And, if I don't believe that a bettor here has KJ, I can even consider checkraising one of those if someone wants to get involved in that flop. But, after raising, I'm thinking I (particularly as "predictable raiser") have to play very softly into coordinated boards. With an AK looking only for an unsuited J as safe draw, I think it was a mistake getting involved in this flop out of position at all--particularly at these tables. The raise doesn't get me out on a limb here, but the flop bet does.

Thanks very much for the helpful remarks. I think you guys are probably pretty much on the money (ice, I hope you will post some stuff on unraised vs. raised AK--I do think there are some interesting scenarios, this being one, where I can see some advantages to not raising--LP with a limited number of limpers might also be a good candidate).

I think I'm starting to get too paranoid about toughness and predictability here. In all actuality, I'm still getting callers--sometimes dangerous ones, actually. Essentially, they're looking for any semblance of a draw on which to call.

But, in any case, while they pretty well do know my range of raising hands at this stage (to which I think I really do need to add JJ now, simply for getting a bigger balance of big pairs in there to offset my AK draws and making for more potential scare cards), they don't entirely know how far I'm willing to go without the nuts--and they really can't, because I don't know it exactly myself.

With or without raise (I think I'm keeping my raise for the moment on AK as a general rule, but I'm definitely curious, ice, as to what you come up with--it's clearly a critical hand admitting of a lot of variations in play), probably betting the flop here, then just letting go is the best way (I also was thinking today about maybe checkraising, but, having done that tonight on a 2 pair hand to no avail, I think I'm going to reserve my checkraise at these tables for better situations, if at all).

As to the follow-up bet on AK, which I've slipped in occasionally (and successfully) at a tighter table which I've tried at a bigger casino when the nearest one doesn't have an NL game, I think I'm going to go back to just scrapping it here. They're calling my blasted AA bet after a raise, so I see no reason to believe they're not going to call against my unimproved AK... But I do think it's time to add JJ to the mix of raising hands.

As far as ice's AK investigation goes (no doubt a little different B&M, particularly in my situation because there are a lot of regulars where we have pretty decent reads on one another by now), I do think it needs to be viewed in conjunction with a certain range of raising hands--giving you some flexibility with overpairs, occasionally big sets, and then the big A or K pair on AK. Anyhow, some of the better players now THINK they have a read on me which identifies top set vs. overpair, etc.--in actuality, I really do have a lot of flexibility (board- and player-dependent) in these various situations.