I’m back from vacation, taking a while to get over jet lag. I played my first session last night, and quit after three hours. The game was fine. I was up, down, up and then, strangely, I was up less than I thought and I could not remember exactly where the chips went. I decided that jet lag and concentration lapse were responsible for my short-term memory loss, and left the game.

A hand came up I thought had an interesting characteristic. A loose raiser (LR) raised in middle position and a very loose caller (VLC) called (did I mention that the $30-$60 games are still very good?). I had red aces in the small blind and three-bet. We took the flop 3-handed, which came 873. I bet, LR folded and VLC called. The turn was a 5. I was getting ready to bet again (no free cards) but I stopped to realize that if I checked, VLC would always bet here, assuming I had a hand like AK. The fact that he called means a) he had some of the flop in which case he would bet or b) he had overcards in which case he was drawing dead but would still bet if I checked (hoping I would fold) but fold if I bet.

I know passive play is not popular these days, but I thought it was an excellent chance. “Why not check-raise?” you ask. Good question. The reason is that I did not wish to have to deal with a reraise, but I am not saying it would not be a reasonable effort.

Anyway, I checked and he bet as expected. I called. The river was another five, which I thought was probably a very good card for me, because it made me a winner if he had 87. So I checked and called again. I felt again that if I bet he would call if he had anything and I would win a bet. But he would bet with virtually any hand he would call with (believing he had the best hand), plus a few bluffs. It was also insurance in case he did have a set or silly straight or something.

So I check-called again, and he showed me 65s and took the pot. This is not a bad beat story, though, as I do not care if he won or lost. I thought the two checks gave me an excellent chance to win at least as much as I would win if I bet, and perhaps more, while allowing me to lose less if I was miraculously beat. I really believe that checking in this specific circumstance, remarkably enough, is a +EV play compared to betting.