The Hand
This week is a little different. This hand was played by a friend down at Mountaineer. I ran into him at a charity event recently and he presented the hand to me and asked me “What Would I Do?” and now I’m going to present it to you.

This was a $2/5 NL game. My friend had about $550 and the rest of the table had roughly $200 to $1200. It was an average table with a decent mix. There was one player at the table that came in with a $35 raise almost every hand he played and he was to the right of my friend.

My friend was in mid-position with pocket Kings, Kd/Kh. Our $35 guy is UTG and made it… you guessed it, $35 to go. My friend just smooth called to conceal the strength of his hand and two others called. The SB and BB folded.

The flop was Qh/Qd/Jd. The $35 guy bet out $65, my friend called and the other two folded. The turn was Q/s. Now, the $35 guy checked. My friend bet out $100 and got called. The river was another Jack and the $35 guy checked again… What would you do?

Winner: Frances Hitnton, Rocky Mountain, North Carolina
I would check. At this point he may actually have a hand. AA, AQ. If I check here it may seem weak, but no need to give him the chance to check-raise. The pot has enough money in it and you could still be holding the best hand.

If he would have bet into me, I may have re-raised to get a taste of his hand strength. I noticed a player the other day raising out of position every hand he entered he would raise. Finally I got KK and guess what he had? Pocket aces!

Robin’s Response:
Okay, I would have played it as Frances would have, but my friend did not. He put out a $100 bet and our $35 guy re-raised all in. My friend called the rest of his chips and was shown pocket Aces. I would have never opened that door on the river for my opponent.