The guy to my left was playing about as tight as I was. I find out that he lives in Vegas and I deduce that he makes his living grinding limit. He does raise on or near the button in a couple of spots that look like steals. My blinds are getting pounced on by the two most aggressive players at the table.

Even though (or because it was) it was my first time taking a shot at 10/20 and I was in Vegas(!!!) I managed to fold a lot of horrible cards and horrible spots. I looked tighter than the old man falling asleep at the table.

I get JJ in the BB, UTG raises, gets called in a couple of spots, I reraise, he makes it 4, folded around to me and I call.

Flop comes T-high two spades, there were two baby cards, maybe 6 and 3 or 5 and 3). I check raise, which confuses him and he calls.

Turn off suit King, I check, he bets, I call. Could he still be betting AJ here? pair of nines? Chances are that I am behind at this point, but I don't really see folding. I look so tight that I am probably folding a lot on the turn from his eyes. I am guessing he thinks I'm on a flush draw, but clearly not giving me credit for AK of spades

River is a blank, I check, he bets

is like announcing "I had a pretty good hand for the T high flop, but now my hand isn't so good anymore." So of course he bets. But I can't tell if he is bluffing of if he has the K or something else that beats you. You put yourself in a tough spot.

Had you bet the turn, he might fold. He might be scared of the K. Show no fear. If he calls the turn, that costs you the same as your check-call line. If he raises the turn, well, then you have a decision to make. Might he be bluffing? I'm going to say probably not. His UTG raise is not a blind steal, so he has good cards. His 4 bet preflop is strong too.

I'd bet the turn.

Your check might have encouraged him to rep a K with something like A/Qss, but its really unlikely.

I think I'd call the river but not expect to be good very often.

Idk, I think the turn check is fine. I doubt we have value in a bet and I don't think we have any fold equity at this point (against hands we want to fold out).

Tough Spot really, without more of a read I guess I call down.

Is this a five bet or four bet cap? I think from what ive heard an utg cap or four bet is serius biz in this game? Especially from a local taggy grinder yes?

Anyway I'd just call otf and I might even just cf ott but most likely getting to sd cheap as possible.

Does he 4b TT or 99 AQ OR AJs? you are playing in a tight game. You are playing tight. A taggy reg caps utg. The K drops and we really don't beat much... And your instincts tell you that which is why you checked in the first place. I don't know why he would be confused when you cr otf. he's drawing to six outs and he hit it or he was planning on raising you ott.

I will say however If you're gonna cr otf you have to bet fold ott. Let's fold QQ one time!

I usually just donk this flop.

A few general observations about llhe:

Very few players are going to 4-bet pf UTG w/o a very strong hand esp since he's already been called in a couple of spots. He doesn't have A-J (!) or even 99 once you 3-bet pre. I think that you were behind from the get-go but he was surprised and froze when you startled him w/ your flop c/r since most players don't do that either at llhe w/o a very strong hand. OTOH, once you took that line pf and flop you've got to bet the turn and take it from there. As played I think that I'd fold to his turn bet.

If his preflop range is really AK, QQ+, then you don't beat anything. If you think that's what it is, then I would have just c/c'd down from the flop.

If you're not sure what his preflop range is, then call down and find out.

Once the pot is HU over 10BB the focus should be to win the pot, so unless he's hyper aggressive your turn bet:


- won't get raised unless you are drawing effectively dead

- protects against a crazily played Ax letting the turn check around

- doesn't allow a crazily played worse hand to take a stab at this pot making you think of folding

- allows QQ to misclick fold maybe one out of 9 times

It felt awkward to not lead the turn, but I thought I might get a free look at the turn. Boy was I wrong there.

There hasn't been a ton of talk about the flop c/r. It felt kind of strange, but also felt like I might get the free card there. Did I get too tricky there?

Free card? You're the aggressor, what 'free card?' If anything you're giving a free card to UTG or the chance to bet you off your hand. IMO, once you set off down the path that you did, you've got to bet the turn for the reasons Chasqui listed.

1+
I think b/f on the turn would have been a better plan.

At any rate, not sure there's a ton of pure bluff left in his range, given he capped pf. Majority of his range is tied/ahead now. We're hoping to catch the odd AQ bluff (or 99???), or maybe a FD, and I'm not sure it's worth the price of calldown. Whatever you do is gonna feel icky now. (edit: I kinda lean toward fold, but it's very close).

C/r flop, b/f turn>c/c down from flop

B/f the **** out of that turn.