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Facing A Check Min Raise
A while back I was listening to one of the strategy podcasts and the group was discussing what style to play in low buy in online tournaments. The panel thought it was best to play exploitatively for the most part. Shortly after the podcast aired I sent Jim Reid a message highlighting a number of plays I observed in these low buy in tourneys as well as in the Recpoker Nightly Series and games I’ve played with friends or in casino/card rooms. One of my observations was the frequency of the check snap min raise (aka CSMR). I’ve seen this play countless times in these tournaments and it happened again to me in of our very recent Nightly Series events.
The blinds were 25/50/6 and I was third to act with 3650 chips. UTG folded, UTG+1 limped. I had QsQd and I raised to 225. It folded around to the big blind (who will go unnamed) who called. The limper folded and we went to the flop with 529 chips in the middle. The flop was Kd7s5d. The BB checked quickly and I decided to continue. I figured I was more likely to kings in my range than the BB. Also this player has been known in the past to donk min bet, but that was not the case in this hand. I bet 245 and the BB check snap min raised me to 490. In the past this person has employed this move several times and most of the time they had it but a few times they didn’t have it.
So, people, how would react/proceed facing this play?
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3 Replies
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These are interesting spots. As played I like a call here. You are good against a fair amount of their range they the are bluffing/semi-bluffing with. Also, I think many players will do that with a K but also even middle or bottom pair; or something like 66, 88, 99; also in this case diamonds could be in play. I don’t like the sizing of a min check-raise, so I think we can exploitively call here and see what happens on the turn. 4% of the time we spike that Q, 20% of the time a diamond comes to give us a flush draw. I think that equity along with feeling like we are good at least some of the time against the diamond draws and one pair hands.
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<div>I tend to agree with Steve here. There are two types of min-check raises in my experience. The first is a “let’s see where I’m at” bet. It usually includes a range of condensed value, but rarely includes top of range. The second is a “I’m going to induce you to go nuts here” which almost exclusively includes top of range. So on this board it would be sets of 7s and 5s. Or maybe even K7, K5, 75 type hands.
</div><div>The majority of the time, maybe 80-90% of players at small stakes, it is the let’s see where I’m at bet. I think you can call this almost every time with some value and see how the hand plays out. You can especially do this against the type of player you describe who has other “let’s see where I’m at” tendencies (donk bets, small bets, limp calls). They’re testing the waters regularly.
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If I see this from someone who has more conventional bet sizing and bet patterns, I’m running for the hills. I might call with something as strong as QQ, but I’m not happy about it, and I’m more scared of this bet than a regular sized check raise from this kind of player. I’m now actively hoping to navigate to showdown and folding to further aggression without significant turn improvement.
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Thanks for responding! I did run the range of hands this player could have. Based on past experience with this player I decided to call. The flop was a 3h. The player lead out for a min bet of 50 and I called. The river was Ac. The player checked and I checked behind. He showed K6 off and won the pot. Do we proceed differently if we don’t have a read on our opponent?
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