2 loose/passive fish limp, 1 somewhat better and more aggressive player limps, I raise TT in the cutoff. Button and players behind fold, limpers call.

4 to flop (9.5 SB): 457
Checks around to me, I bet. All players call.

4 to turn (6.75 BB): 9
Checks around to me, I ?

During the hand I felt that the combination of me either being already behind or getting outdrawn vs 3 opponents made a check correct.

However, I feel that I could bet/fold here as the only player capable of a semibluff check/raise is the player directly to my right, and he would be have 2 players behind him to account for.

I'm still unsure though, because I'm facing the parlay of being ahead of all 3 players on a very wet board and I have no redraws.

Bet

Made a stab at quantifying ranges. I gave all 3 villains the same one for simplicity.



Checking the turn feels weak but if these ranges are approximately correct it looks like I'm in a lot of trouble.

Do you want to give a free card on the turn? You have to bet here. You might bet/fold, but you have to bet.

You have some possibility that your bet takes the pot. OTOH, if you don't bet, you are almost certainly going to face a bet on the river. Then what do you do? Most of the time, if another spade doesn't show on the river, you are going to call the bet. By betting on the turn, however, you not only have a chance to take the pot on the turn, but also increase the likelihood of getting a free showdown on the river. Alternatively, if you face a donk bet on the river you are in a better place to evaluate whether to call the bet.

I agree you need to bet the turn. Anyone with a big spade would call that bet, so you should not give them a free card to draw out on you. It is possible you might take the pot down with a bet, but I think it is unlikely.

Against anything other than a crazy LAG, this is a bet/fold.

I always bet in this spot while thinking 'here comes the moment of truth.' The thing is is that even being so vulnerable you don't want to give a free card to 3 other players.

You're assuming that all three of your opponents have mostly hit a big piece of this flop, and you've left out a ton of weak hands that would definitely be calling on this flop. That's excessively pessimistic and unrealistic.

If anything, we should be happy to bet this card as it means a lot of our opponents weak flop peels will be calling again. Plus, they often have pairs as well and will call again.

Yeah this is definitely a standard bet. 8/16 players are notoriously loose passive so the ranges you assign them should be quite a bit wider. I'd throw in A2-AK (A2/A3 flopped a GS, the middle aces make a pair plus TK, while AT+ are overs that LAPs love to peel with), 3x-9x, and a whole ton of overcards.

Then factor in that if anyone had 2P+ they likely would have XR you OTF. Once you add that all up you can see how TT crushes those ranges.

How bad are the first two players? Something like jd4d could be in their calling range. The aggro player is getting 12-1 closing the action, jq no flush draw could have called the flop. This is a definite bet.

Hey thanks everyone. This is a great hand for displaying nit tendencies I know that I have.

This is of course a big question, but does anyone have any recommendations or guidance on improving / eradicating nit tendencies? This is a fun hobby for me and I have done a lot of studying, but it seems as though emotional factors (probably fear & loss aversion) are causing me to, as Aaron W. pointed out, assign "excessively pessimistic and unrealistic" ranges to players.

+1

Specifically, you've included AsTx, which is accurate but you have TT so there's only 1-2 combos of this, and excluded AsJx, AsQx, and AsKx which are 12 combos you're beating solidly.

Also you should probably include 33 and 22 in their postflop range since those will float the flop, but exclude them from the range they would call if you bet thw turn.

Based on the way that the range was created, I'm guessing that you're doing your hand ranging at the wrong place. You're looking at the board on the turn and then trying to make up a hand range from there. And instead of thinking about exact ranges, try to think of a range of ranges.

Someone limps preflop. What hand range do you assign them? You should have a "loose" preflop range and a "tight" preflop range.

Then a flop comes and you bet and get called. Take a look at that "loose" range. Of that range, what would a loose postflop player call with? Write out all of those hands. Now what would a tight postflop player call with? Write out all of those hands.

This type of exercise will help you reason through hands more effectively. Remember that your goal is not to pick the hands that *YOU* would play, but rather to think about hands that some "loose" or "tight" player may play. You're going to have to learn to think through certain types of tendencies that you might not have, such as peeling two random overcards, or overvaluing a T-high one card flush draw in a multi-way pot.

I would additionally recommend that you literally write them out with a pencil and paper.

Two reasons.

1. It gives you a good idea of how many combos are in loose ranges and tight ranges. Specifically, it gives you a good idea of how many combos there are compared to random hands that pop into your mind. For example, if a loose/wild/crazy player has a range of 200+ combos, plus he may have played AA this way for fun, you'll see that AA gets lost in a flood of crappy hands. But if a tight/nitty player has JJ+, it really matters whether it's TT+ or JJ+ or QQ+.

2. Because hand writing is a pain in the ass, you'll quickly get bored and start to look for easier ways to count and start to recognize patterns. This is important to internalize because at the table you don't get to count exact numbers and then push a button to get an equity to 0.1% precision. You need to quickly tell the difference between 6% equity and 15% equity and 30% equity. It's not super important to differentiate betwren 6% and 8% or 12% and 15% or 30% and 35%.