levels #2

This hand is against a pretty good, thinking villain.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (2 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) ($172.95)
SB ($100)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A, 10

Hero raises to $3, SB calls $2

Flop: ($6) 10, Q, 4 (2 players)

SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($6) 8 (2 players)

SB bets $5, Hero calls $5

River: ($16) 3 (2 players)

SB bets $30, Hero calls $30

Total pot: $76 | Rake: $0.50

Results:

Hero had A, 10 (one pair, tens).
SB had 8, 8 (three of a kind, eights).

Outcome: SB won $75.50


I check back the flop with a showdown-bound hand. I think cbetting there is okay to get some value out of the draws but I let it go this time. Villain donks the turn which, based on previous play against him, tells me he has some showdown value. I'm not totally sure whether my hand is best or whether he's towning me with better. I decide to re-evaluate on the river and so I just call.

River comes a brick and villain leads with an overbet. What led me to call is the fact that I've shown no strength in the hand and so there's no reason villain should expect me to call this bet. So as far as I'm concerned, he's bluffing here quite often because why would he make such a large bet with a strong hand? I'll rarely ever call it with whatever medium-strength hand I happen to have, so the more obvious way for him to get value out of me would be to bet some amount that I snapcall with my second pair.

It turns out he was one level ahead of me in this hand and got some great value out of his turned set. He read me as being showdown-bound and also realized that I might sniff out an overbet bluff, making it a great spot for him to overbet for value.