How do you play top 2-pair here?

[filimaica]

Thanks in advance for your time and constructive feedback.

For this hand, Villain is loose and straightforward. In a very short time, he's shown weak hole cards + limping from any preflop position. On the flop and turn he had made a couple of calls with weak drawing hands, weak aces, bad pot odds, or a combination of all. I had yet to see him raise preflop until the hand in question.

Live $1/$2 NL, 9-handed. Villain (UTG+1, stack ~$150) raises to $6. Three other players (no particular reads on them, all seem passive up to this point) call. SB folds. I look down at in BB (stack ~$200) and decide to call purely based on pot odds. Preflop, pre-rake pot $30.

Flop -

I'm putting Villain on 66-AA, AT-AK, KQ. But the table is passive enough that I want to gather info from my own bet. I bet $15. Villain calls. All others fold. Pot $55 after rake.

I'm not sure what he's holding, but now I'm confident he does NOT have: AT, JJ, QQ or KK.

Turn - Qs

I am concerned at this point that if I value bet again, then the queen scares him. But I'm not sure.

Before I post further - how do you analyze and play the hand up to this point?

[lkport]

I bet $15 again, like I am hoping he doesn't have the queen. The hope is he sees it as weak and puts in a big raise I can reshove and trap him on

[acefishing]

at first glance i think beacause of his previos play im gonna put him on 33 / 44/ 56 suited or possibly kk /AA or aq(( but because im holding the q and he never raises ill scratch the aq for now)) i think he would raise with any of these under the gun +1
but more likely the kk/AA unless hes changing things up and raises with the small pairs

you never told us how he played his small pairs but you put him on possibly the 66 preflop so maybe he hasnt had any small pairs yet
i think your AT and QK are out because he never raises prelop let alone under the gun +1((unless he has decided to change things up)) and the qs are a smaller possibility because of the Q im holding

so because of his previos play im pretty sure hes gonna call any bet with any of these hands after the turn including the draw

the problem here is that you said hes straight forward
if your right about that he would of raised me with a set the overpair or even the top pair after the flop
anything that has me beat if hes straightforward like you said he would have raised with after the flop


so really they should be eliminated or hes not straight forward that leaves only the draw or over cards to the flop
also there were 3 other passive players called preflop probbaly using up some of the aces and kings
so he shoud have the draw and i have to make him pay for it so im gonna bet 3/4 to full pot
and i cant trap him because hes straight forward and wont raise(and he doesnt bluff hes straight forward)
if hes holding a q ill know after the turn bet thats hes got a Q or the draw

[acefishing]

talk about over thinking i just woke up and read it analized it and edited it my post about 12 times

[CFB402]

The problem is when you play a hand as weak as QT vs 4 players you're asking for trouble unless you flop 2 pair or better because you're going to be out of position this entire hand. The fact that he raised utg + 1 in a 9 handed table tells me that his hand is more than likely strong, but if you check the flop he's prob gonna C-Bet anyways. Since you called pre and flopped top pair, the right move is to lead to see if he wants to continue with the hand. If he calls which he did, the Q is a very good card. If he had AK - AT you are sitting pretty and the chances of him having QQ or TT are slim. I would bet this for value since there is no flush draw and the only thing you are behind is a set.

[filimaica]

@lkport - I don't think my opponent would interpret a 2nd $15 bet as a weak bet. He's only likely to raise this bet if he holds AQ.
@acefishing - I am most definitely not including 33, 44 or 56 in his range. Not 33 or 44 because I am confident he would have raised my flop bet. Not 56 because he would not have raised this preflop (again, based on my reads). I am confident that by him only calling my flop bet, that I was ahead, and that he wasn't overly excited about his hand but that he had something.

I decided to check the turn against Villain to disguise the strength of my hand and set up a nice value bet on the river. I'm putting him on 77-99 or JJ. Honestly I didn't include AQ or AK in his range (which in hindsight I should have) - had I done so, I certainly would have bet the turn. So - I checked, he checked behind.

River brought a 9d. I bet $40. He look puzzled, thought for a while, then called. He flipped over 9c9s for a set and won the pot. I was surprised he didn't raise on the river. I was a little bit annoyed by the way this hand played itself out.

[acefishing]

oh i love those hands
rivered set with an underpair
it all makes sense now as far as poker goes
hindsight is a great thing
sounds like you had him where you wanted him and he got lucky
gl in your future endevours