10/20 online. Both villains playing roughly 60/20 over less than 100 hands. No other reads.

Hero is BB w/ 83o

V1 limps UTG, V2 limps CO, SB folds, Hero checks.

Flop J43r

Hero bets, both call.

Turn Jo

Hero bets, both call.

River 7

Hero checks, V1 bets, V2 calls, Hero folds.

If V2 had folded, I probably would have called.

Against limpers I think it's a pretty safe check fold on the flop.

Any merit to not betting flop? Are these guys really that big of peel monkeys to call twice in this small pot w/out a pair?

It's a weak hand in a small pot. Check/fold. I would check/raise a J here. Betting is fine if you don't think the villains will bet.

If the flop was something like A73 I don't mind betting since this Is a spot I may stab at the pot with nothing.

Your equity against two 60% hands with the top 10% lopped off is about 33%. You might do a little better if we can safely lop off 20%, but being out of position tips this to a check/fold on the flop. J84 would have been a sweet flop for your line.

Donking air against limpers works surprisingly well as a steal, (although these guys may be too loose).

So an alternative line would be to donk air, but check-call the present hand, then see if they still mean it on the turn.

As played, I like the river.

I like donking straight draws here. C/R any J or even A4. Bottom pair with 8 kicker, I would like to check the flop.

Multiple people limp online at $10/$20? Sign me up!

First of all, it isn't a donk bet. You are leading out into limpers. There's been no aggression shown.

Second, I recommend you plug this hand into Equilator against limpers' typical ranges. I think that will establish that you should check here.

What you do after you check depends on (1) whether anyone bets, (2) what position the bettor is in, (3) whether the bet gets any callers, and (4) what the bettor's range is.

What would you say are "typical ranges" for the limpers? If we use the estimates in the OP (60/20), then 83o is kicking butt, equity-wise.

I doubt this very much. But if I'm wrong, I'd like to see it.

EDIT:

Nope, you are right. 38 percent. Maybe this is a bet.

Lawdude, if you are going to be a tool about the use of the term donk bet, I'm going to be a tool and remind you that the software is called Equilab, not Equilator.

And I check the flop.

nh i play it the same

Have a plan

If you lead all pairs as weak as 38, your check range is really weak. Do you care? Will you get exploited?

What are villains calling with. Unpaired junk? How often? This will guide your turn betting frequency. Definitely ok to c/f turn after getting called twice.

The J is bad for your hand. You're going to get called down by more 3s 4s and PPs, possibly unpaired junk. Rivers will be hard to play.

Do villains bluff too much if checked to? If they do, can you still profitably call down with this awful hand? (If they consistently bluff and barrel high%, you should tighten your call down range)

Alternately, against some villain types you can x/r bet turn take it down. Or flat x/r turn take it down.

I use the older version, which was called Equilator.

And not misusing donk bet is important.

OP: You seemed to have taken an old school, exploit-your-opponents approach to this single hand. My initial reaction was that I agreed with how you played it. lawdude's Equilabolator analysis (and he suggested that based on that 38% equity) that betting the flop was also correct.

Then I read a a more new school, game theory type approach that considers more than just the single hand played:

I think which approach you take depends on how you read your opponents. As phunkphish mentions from the start, do you care about your checking range or fear being exploited if your range is so weak? In some games, the answers to these questions may be no. In which case, I continue to agree with how you played the hand. I would guess, however, that most 10/20 online games are played at a somewhat higher level, and such a weak checking range will be exploited. In which case, I check the flop as phunkphish and others suggest.

Either way, the hand seems pretty straightforward after your initial decision to check or bet the flop.

Why would you tighten your call down range vs somebody who bluffs and barrels too much? Seems like you should do the opposite.

I misphrased what I meant.

Against ordinary opponents, we call flop with some weak showdown hands, fold the bottom of our SD hands on the turn, fold the bottom of our SD hands on the river. If he barrels a high%, we can't do this: we must decide immediately on the flop what we want to showdown with.

Effectively it boils down to calling 2.5BB into a 1.5BB pot. Depending on his bluffing frequency, this can mean we call down tighter or looser.

Agree