Hi all,

2/5, V/BTN is very good 5/10 reg on waiting list, should have solid ranges, and Dumbo is . . . Dumbo. I decided after a run at 5/10 last month to play deepstacked 2/5. $1,200 eff.

V opens BTN $20, SB folds, hero AcTh 3! to $70 in BB, V flats.

Flop ($135): K-J-3ss. Hero $35, V calls.

Turn ($205): 8d. X/x.

River: 9c. X/x.

Thanks,
DT

I would bet bigger on flop as there are tons of hands that can continue. As played you kept his range wide on flop so there is merit to blasting turn for 175

Well... Raps had zero chance of ever beating the Celtics so I think I would probably just fold A-10 here vs. a BTN open and wait for superstar hands, because they’re the only chance of winning since 2004.

Grunch.

I'm calling pre at 100% frequency. We're supposed to be polarized from the BB with our 3 bets - offsuit broadways are excellent hands to flat. Regardless, your sizing is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too small. I default to $100 here if we're 100 BB deep. I'd go $125 at this depth (that's with my 3 bets I'm just calling here as mentioned.)

Flop is fine, but I'd go $45, personally.

I would continue barrelling the turn if you're gonna bet the flop, with our draw. This isn't the worst draw to check though, given sdv, but I like betting because we get everything below a J (maybe even Jx to fold?), and we get called by draws - almost all of which we're ahead of.

AP, river looks good.

Would flat pre, check it down and fold to aggression. Basically I wouldn't want to play big pots OOP against good players with vulnerable, weak hands like ATo.

grunch

Probably flatting here vs this sizing almost always and 3-betting smaller ones w/ this hand, as that would usually indicate a wider range. Hard to tell live though.

I think your sizing is fine, only because V’s continuing range vs a larger size will be doing very well vs this hand + positional advantage. That being said, as a default I’d tighten up my 3-bet range a little (on the value side, include some bluffs of course) and go at least $90.

AP I think we should continue on this turn almost always because of how good this flop was for us- probably planning to give up most rivers unimproved if called

AP we’re going to lose to small-mid PPs a lot, but giving up seems OK with our showdown value after the turn x.

That said, I think betting is perfectly reasonable and probably best because we don’t have too much junk. Also, you’ll take this line for thin value on this texture often in a 3-bet pot I assume (BxB).

I'm not a fan of the downbet on the flop, our value hands are going to want to charge draws more and it's unlikely we have a super nutted hand. If we do downbet it should be to fire big on a brick turn, like this one.

On the river we've pretty much lost all fold equity and have some showdown value so I'm fine with a check, most of our showdown hands are going to play x/call here so I'd expect a check back and few bluffs here.

PF I think we can select better hands for a light 3bet but I'm not hating the play. 3betting here does give us a little more clarity and protection post-flop on ace high boards because we'll be repping a much stronger ace than we have when we continue.

How is it unlikely that we're super nutted? We have all KK, all JJ, and all KJs.

I’m assuming Dumbo would go larger with those pre but I dunno.

I honestly think it’s perfectly fine (/profitable) to just play your hand the way Dumbo did here, although it’s not my preference. I also like to think of it as range vs range.

I think we have decent FE pre and otf with those sizings live even vs. a good player. If V’s folding any pairs/better A-highs (AJo etc.) it’s profitable. (Both pre and OTF)

That would be way too transparent versus a thinking villain. I only change my sizings versus villains that I know aren't paying attention, and versus them I size my nutted hands smaller to get action

Agreed. That being said, you really don’t play with people in similar situations often enough for it to matter that much tbqh.

Even if they’re thinking, they’re not going to see a lot of your hands go to showdown and have no access to statistical data. So V can’t do too much with this hands showdown.

I like Dumbo’s HH’s

Grunching ...

If 3B pre, I'd go at least $90, but I prefer to flat HU.

As played ... a bit bigger on the flop, then I'd bet close to pot OTT. Unblocking FD, blocking AJ/KTs/JTs.

Done on river unless improved. Hand might have some SD value vs QT and missed spades.

I still think I’m right.

Because those aren't very many combos and there are a lot more one pair combos we have that would also bet this flop, also lots of draws basically all unpaired broadway cards have a draw and a lot of spade draws. So choosing a downbet sizing here I don't particularly like unless we're going to use a number of different sizings on the flop which complicates things.

These are some good points. I like going 1/3 with my whole range though. So for this specific hand we do get value from worse draws and floats, and potentially fold out his smallest pairs.

My first inclination would be not to play this tough player OOP with a hand as weak as ATo. Kinda sucks, because it might make our blinds exploitable to steals this session, but I think I’d rather take the easy money from elsewhere around the table. Especially if he’s going up to another table soon I might be inclined to stay out of his way. Seat change if possible so you’re not BB to his BTN. Any other seat is an improvement.

If you’re auditioning for 5-10 though, thinking to playing against player like this in the future... I think blind defense makes ATo a call, not a 3! It’s borderline between reverse implied odds hand and hand with some showdown value. It seems like the perfect kind of candidate that’s not strong enough to raise but is great to protect the rest of our calling range, so the calling range is not completely skewed to mid boards.

- Like the 3b pre
- Hate the flop sizing
- Further hate the turn x
- River i don't know after the way flop/turn played out.


I think you had the right idea pre-flop attacking villain's lp range. But, the trajectory of the hand changes based on the cbet sizing and checking turn.

Minimum half pot bet on the flop, 60-80% psb on the turn.

+1 to the entire post.

The thing is vs the 4x sizing, rake considerations, and no other callers, we’re not really supposed to be defending with anything speculative since our implied odds aren’t good enough. The stack depth is a bonus, but even hands as pretty as J10s are meh here.

I think we can even play 3-bet or fold vs this sizing without giving up too much against a good player who we don’t want to be OOP too much against.

Yeah I heavily advocate for playing tight in the bb in live poker due to the wacky sizes people use (and 4x isn’t even indicative of a weak player, why not make it more expensive if people are just going to give it action and play bad post?). Like we’re already getting worse than 2:1 before the rake, and we are OOP. Any hand that’s profitable as a call in this scenario is probably more profitable as a 3 bet.

If we must have a few calls, ATo seems to work well into that range, since there’s obvious drawbacks to 3 betting it (like getting ourselves in a spot where we are against a range dense with quite a few dominating hands OOP), while also standing to be ahead of a good portion of his opens.

But if someone wants to keep it simple and play 3 bet or fold from the bb against 4x opens and no other players in the pot, that’s 100% fine too IMO. I’m usually cool with keeping strategy simple.


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Against a "very good" 5/10 reg, his button raise range should be wide. Calling with a RIO hand oop against someone that likely has a skill advantage is a bad idea. Easy raise if the read is good.

After a small flop bet and checks, a "very good" 5/10 reg should have stabbed at the pot since you likely have ace high. I think you played this ok but you knew this player wasn't that good.

No. This is never a 3 bet at equilibrium, which villain is presumably playing close to.

The second paragraph is wrong, too. Why is villain obligated to bet all of his hands that beat A high? He doesn't even definitively know hero has A high.

Concluding that the villain isn't that good without knowing his hand, when he could've played the hand perfectly makes zero sense.

Ok, ok results:

He showed up with AJ.

Button RFI should be wide for good players, yes, but that doesn't apply to every sizing. The larger the open, the more Villain is risking to win the blinds- so the less you have to continue- and the tighter their range is in theory.

Villain can't really auto-stab when we check ott because we'll hands like K10s or KQo that want to "pot control" (not the term I would use but it's fine) turn vs. a tight range OOP and go for value on the river. We'll have some bluffs like Q10s or hands like this that may stab river if turn checks through.

Our flop sizing doesn't say anything about our hand. We bet small, because it gives us the ability to bet our range (all our hands) profitably. Villain can't raise us too much profitably because of our range advantage. We have AA, KK, and JJ and Villain may not have any of those hands. It may not be the optimal sizing for this hand specifically but the strategy is fine.

imo