EPT San Remo

-if he had a hand like J-8 would he check the turn?
-was he capable of bluff raising the river? It was a tough decision because I felt like he would just call the river if he had a pair, would have bet the turn with a random 8, but also felt like he was capable of a bluff raise on the river. I folded. The very next hand I was dealt AK on the button. A player from early position raised, a late position player called 2500, and I called from the button. The small blind, the same guy who just beat me on the last pot, raised it to 12,500. It felt like a squeeze play to me based on his hesitation pre-flop and I felt like he had a weaker ace than mine. If one of the other players pushed, I was planning on folding as it would be a bad spot to play AK, but they both folded. If I make the call I’d be left with close to 26,000. Since my opponent had a ton of chips I didn’t see any fold equity since it would “look” like I had a pair of 88 or something like that anyway. If I call, though, I’m committed to going with the hand no matter what hits the board. I decided to make the call instead of going all in because I felt like I may be able to get him to fold on the flop, thus protecting myself from him seeing all five cards. Also, if he had a small pair and the flop came, like, Q-10-9, I could probably bluff him off of the best hand with an all in bet on the flop. I called the raise and now was playing for a monster pot despite having only 10,000 to start the day! The flop came Q-7h-4h and he shoved. I looked at the dealer and said, “That’s a very, very, very, very, bad flop.” I didn’t like seeing the Queen on the flop, but I did have the Kh for a miracle runner-runner draw in case I was crushed. I know he is going to push with any hand he raised with on a flop like that, so AK could be the best hand. I had 26,000 left and there was 32,000 already in the pot. 26,000 to win 58,000 in a spot where I felt my opponent’s range was pretty wide made it a pretty easy call. I called, and he showed A-Q. Yuk. If I pushed pre-flop he was DEFINITELY calling so I like my play, including the 26,000 flop call. The turn was a heart, giving me a bit of hope, but the river blanked and that was that. I went from 10k to 50k in a heart beat, and then didn’t even make it through the first hour! Oh well. I really tried my best and felt like it was a good effort. I got bluffed a few times by some bizarre, random plays, but that’s ok. If you never get bluffed then that means you just aren’t trying all that hard. It was a tough way to go out. I almost wish that I would have went out with the As 3s rather than get some hope and then go broke the way I did. I’m feeling good about my game right now and am going to try to get a bet down that I final table either Monte Carlo or Bellagio. Huge fields so I’d obviously need some good odds, but I’m feeling really confident now about the way I’m playing. Doing commentary for almost two weeks straight most definitely helped. The plan now is to spend a few days here in San Remo. My aunt lives here so we are going to probably visit her tomorrow or the day after. Other than that, not really sure what to do around here, but we’ll think of something.
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