Playing at the local card room when a new player arrives at the table. He is in his forty's, curly hair down to his shoulders, heavy set and is wearing a collared shirt of one of those free poker tours. My thoughts are he plays in free events, maybe played online because he looks like a computer guy and is trying out real money poker. This is just my gut, I had never seen the guy before but he doesn't stack his chips like someone who frequents a card room.

He bought in with about $175 so he has one of the 3 shortest stacks, I have him covered. About 10 minutes later, I am on the button and straddle for $5. (My casino allows a straddle of any amount from any position other than the blinds) The V is UTG but will be 3rd to act due to the left of the straddle (SB) acting first. SB folds, BB calls and V calls. There are 2 others that call and I look down at . The majority of the time I would put in a raise but I like to switch it up and just check behind. 5 of us to the flop $25.

The flop is

BB checks and V bets $20, the next 2 fold and I call and the BB folds. Head's up to the turn $65

Turn

V bets $20 and I decide to bump it to $45 and the V instantly calls the pot is now $155.

River

V bets $20 into a $155 pot and has $85 left. What is your read? What is your play?

I will get it all in against a V like this every time with top 2 pair. It is possible that V has a set but 1 pair or a worse 2 pair are much more likely. It is hard to read V's hand because the line doesn't make a lot of sense. One question, what was the purpose of such a small raise on the turn? Why not make it $75 instead of $45?

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You made putting a read on him a whole lot more difficult by not raising pre-flop. You could have narrowed his range greatly with a raise. That said I would put him on a hand like QJ or possibly an ugly two pair like Q-8. Without having garnered more information pre-flop there’s really not much you can do other than assume your top two is good. If he caught a set here then so be it. I would raise him all-in without question. It’s only $85 more if you’re beat, but you are almost certainly ahead.

You have to raise him all in. You're top two pair is good probably 80% of the time here, maybe more depending on how weak V is. Likely he has a weaker two pair or AQ. If he flopped a set or was trying to trap with KK preflop, pay him. I can't see V having a set since he should have shipped it on the turn after Acehater raised. He knows Ace isn't holding KK or QQ since he checked his straddle preflop, so a set of 8s or 4s is going to be best.

That said, I don't like your check behind preflop. You have a reasonable hand and position. Raise it to $30. Mixing up your game is fine, but I like to check behind on hands that have big implied odds. KQ suited is designed to play a small pot, so you need to get headsup or at most 2 callers.

I would have raised bigger on the turn, and would have shoved the river. If he has a set, then it's just a cooler....but he doesn't have a set, based on his bet sizing.

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I think I shove on the river as well. I've seen a number of villains at $1/2 who will make small flop and turn bets with a big hand, like a flopped set. But, these players normally fire big at the river or would re-pop it when you make the turn raise. This guy didn't do either. So I am discounting the set here and suspect he's got A-Q or maybe Q-J suited. But I'm not sure if he'd stack off here with those hands. I suspect that he felt your turn raise was trying to buy it and the $20 on the river was a classic blocking bet and that he's done with the hand.

Dave

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While I agree that a shove is low-risk and probably justified, I don't think V is calling ANY raise--even another $20--with any hand worse than ours. So since a raise can't make money, only lose it, I call even though I'm about 87.435987% sure I have the best hand.

Greenslime -- I considered that as well and I do get your point. But, I think if the only way to get a worse hand to call is to convince the villain that we are trying to buy the pot and I think only a shove can do that. Since the shove seems so low risk, I'd say it is worth it.

Dave

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Raise more on the turn to make the river shove more natural

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As with the other posters I'm very confident you're good here, if he has a set he is shoving before the river. I think based on the facts that you have him pegged as a first time B&M player or a relativity infrequent player and his line of betting, $20 regardless of pot size, you can't assume he understands pot odds. If he doesn't play a whole lot he may only bring 1-2 buy ins and might be scared to put it all in right away. To maximize value I raise the river to 60 or 65. 85 can seem like a steep bet, but an extra 40 doesn't seem like that much. I think V is likely to call with a weaker hand and if he shoves I insta call.