More FTPA

Full Tilt's Poker Academy continues to fill holes in my poker game. One area that it has really helped me in is making situational aggresive decisions from out of position when I plan on calling anyway. Here's a situation that came up recently. I made a raise UTG 5-handed with KQo and flopped top pair with a late position opponent. My "continuation" bet was called and the turn paired the board with another 6.

At this point, there was $0.62 in the pot. My opponent had $1.16 remaining. If I bet my top pair again, I'd likely make it a $0.40 bet, meaning if my opponent called or shoved, I'd be committed to the hand regardless of what the river was. That bet and any call or raise would put at least $1.42 in the pot and I would only have to worry about my opponent's remaining $0.76.

If, however, I check, there's a chance that I can play the hand to showdown for only another $0 - $0.62. That's preferred, since I ONLY have two pair, and not even AQ for the top kicker. I'd rather ONLY invest $0.40 into this pot unless a Q comes on the river.

So I determined that my best course of action was a check on the turn. Any bet by my opponent would automatically commit me to the pot, therefore I would check-raise all-in if necessary on the turn, or check-check-call to showdown otherwise. Either way, folding never crossed my mind. It turned out to be the correct move. My opponent gave no credence to my continuation bet and probably put me on AK or AJ, with the second 6 giving him an extra hand to represent. Here's the run down.

Full Tilt Poker Game #18973203949: Table Gushing Spring (6 max, shallow) - $0.02/$0.05 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:25:41 ET - 2010/03/04
Seat 1: jojo972 ($1.76)
Seat 3: Shinobao ($2.17)
Seat 4: tb1984 ($1)
Seat 5: CgCook38 ($3.19)
Seat 6: baseball14t ($1.51)
Shinobao posts the small blind of $0.02
tb1984 posts the big blind of $0.05
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CgCook38 [Qc Ks]
CgCook38 raises to $0.15
baseball14t calls $0.15
jojo972 has 15 seconds left to act
jojo972 folds
Shinobao folds
tb1984 folds
*** FLOP *** [Qs 6h 2d]
CgCook38 bets $0.20
baseball14t calls $0.20
*** TURN *** [Qs 6h 2d] [6c]
tino_g43 sits down
tino_g43 adds $2
CgCook38 has 15 seconds left to act
CgCook38 checks
baseball14t bets $0.40
CgCook38 raises to $2.84, and is all in
baseball14t calls $0.76, and is all in
CgCook38 shows [Qc Ks]
baseball14t shows [8s 8h]
Uncalled bet of $1.68 returned to CgCook38
*** RIVER *** [Qs 6h 2d 6c] [Js]
CgCook38 shows two pair, Queens and Sixes
baseball14t shows two pair, Eights and Sixes
CgCook38 wins the pot ($2.89) with two pair, Queens and Sixes
baseball14t is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $3.09 | Rake $0.20
Board: [Qs 6h 2d 6c Js]
Seat 1: jojo972 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: Shinobao (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: tb1984 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: CgCook38 showed [Qc Ks] and won ($2.89) with two pair, Queens and Sixes
Seat 6: baseball14t showed [8s 8h] and lost with two pair, Eights and Sixes