Against a tight aggressive player I am folding on the flop (if I didnt let it go pre)with just middle pair (no backdoor flush). I definately continue with the pair, and backdoor flush. I believe you played the hand masterfully, there may be a few situations where we can target a weaker queen, which would take a top tier player to Identify. I have taken this same line many times and have often pondered in which situations we should be betting for value or trying to get a player with a weak ace off there hand. I dont think two pair or better is folding here however.
Thanks for that insight JL on how to play your whole range not just your hand. I played with pair of tens twice by betting pre-flop and calling a raise preflop and played too aggressive and lost both times. Next time I will think of my range rather than my hand.
Is there some merit to betting 25% on turn to potentially guard against facing a big bet on the river? You could get some additional value from a draw and I worry an aggressive opponent could exploit you checking back. What hands are you using to protect your turn checking range? Weak aces and AJ (with A spades) because it blocks everything?
What about the idea of value betting the river thin to extract max value? Some poker coaches are really big on this as crucial if you want to be a winning player. Would that apply more to a cash game?
Betting thinly for value is great. In this spot though, I still think there are too many better hands than QJ that are in his range, that when we value bet here, we don't win often enough vs their calling range.
We get called by JT suited (2 combos left) and lose to pretty much everything else that would end up calling. Gotta tighten his range a bit because he is 3 betting from the big blind. Any ace, KJ, pocket queens, pocket kings all will call. Pocket tens, nines, eights, and air will all just fold or even raise which would be horrible.
