2/5 nl at the Isle and we're down to 6 handed. Unfortunately I've been super card dead this session, but the lineup is pretty juicy. I start the hand with about $450 and I'm the effective stack. Looking for a line check/discussion on all streets.

Hero is UTG with KJ. In a tougher lineup I might just open fold here, but I know that there are several players behind that will be calling with almost ATC. I open to $15. Fish in MP calls, V1 who is a young reg calls.

Flop ($50): J85

Hero leads for $30, Fish folds, V1 calls. I debated checking this flop oop against two players as it appears much better for their ranges than mine, but thought the board was draw heavy enough that I could get value.

Turn ($110): J85K

We turn top two, but I honestly don't think it changes our hand much against villain's range. I think he would have raised most sets and 2-pair combos on the flop as it's a wet board and his image is LAG.

Hero leads for $75, Villain calls.

River ($260): J85K8

River pairs the 8, but I imagine these are not really art of V1's range. I think he primarily has missed flush and straight draws, and J's, specifically JT, QJ, and AJ.

I have about $330 remaining in my stack, so about 1.3x pot. My debate here is do I bet again and target the J's, or do I check and let him bluff with missed draws?

Check esp. with the blockers you have

I like 90 to get a call from a J. He'll bluff once in a while with 67 and non Ahi FD but not enough to make me want to check.

if there are several players behind who will call with ATC, why only 3x UTG? Raise more, like 25 or 30 depending on the game. You don't want a lot of callers with KJ!

if we check he's almost for sure checking back a jack. Do you know for a fact he bluffs missed draws? Since he called the turn, I would pretty much discount an 8. He probably won't call twice with just.

I would target his Kx hands and bet 165

we have the K in our hand.

I will vary checking vs betting depending on villain tendencies here, but I agree with Ava that this is a pretty good combo to x/c with since we block a J and Ks

My baseline at 2/5 is 3x+1 for every limp. A UTG raise to $25 will only get my opponents to continue with a very strong range. Even the players that are wide open notice when you open to 5x UTG. While I don't want to go 6- ways, I do want them to continue with worse.

I still think they will flat 25 with a lot of hands, and I would rather be heads up vs AJ or 88 than be multi way and OOP with KJ and have to ck/fold the flop.

I can't imagine a tough enough 6-handed 2/5 lineup that would make me want to open fold KJo. I'm sure they exist but not in my neck of the woods.

I think I go for the c/c. Along with the obvious flush draw, there are many straight draws on this runout, all of which bricked (76s, 97s, T9s, QT with BDFD (1 spade, or QdTd), and none of which we block. We have a K & Jack blocked, blocking his most likely call (KsXs) and his hero call. Also, his value bet range will be pretty narrow on its own (Basically KJ, 55, and an 8x that somehow got to this river), since we block KsXs ourself.

This means that even if villain isn't particularly bluff happy, he can still end up over bluffing this spot pretty easily since his range has such a sheer quantity of busted draws in it on this river.

He has T9, 67, missed flush draws and J's that are now a worse two pair that he can bluff with. I'd let him bet.

I think I'd just go ahead and bet $100. It's so easy for him to check behind with a J.

If your read is that he'll definitely bet a missed draw, go for it. However, I'd need to be pretty sure of that.

The problem with checking is.. what if he bets like $250 on the river? Are you still calling or is your calling range inelastic to his bet side?

I agree...there's still a good amount of value to be had from a jack. I'd rather bet river for value like 90 than bluff trap unless there's a compelling read for the latter.

What about check/raising the turn? If we think he bluffs whiffed rivers, why wouldn't he bet the turn?

I think we need more reads to say on the river to really say value bet or trap. Could he call turn hoping to bluff as your hand looks like a double barrel? Does he fold his Jx on the river to a bet? You said the table is juicy and this guy is a reg...a fish I'm betting but a decent reg I'm calling most sized bets as there aren't many hands he can have to beat us.

Does he bet big on river bluffs? What concerns me about a large bet is he could have rivered a boat with J8s/85s and it's hard to tell whether he wants us to fold a jack or he's getting max value when he reps bluffs. Although I think those hands are pretty unlikely given how the hand played out.



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^^

I also think that if he's good, he realizes that his hand looks like a missed draw the way he played it upto this point, so is he really going to bet river with a missed draw? Because it really looks like we're going to c/c here.

i interpret having the Ks blocker as a reason to bet and not check, as we block a chunk of his missed FDs that would bluff if checked to.

can you expound on what you mean by your comment?

the KsXs combos would not be whiffed flush-draws because they would have paired their K.

If we unblocked the Ks then we could include KsXs combos in his range of hands we are betting river to get value from, but since we block those we are only betting to get called by Jx (which we also block)

Bingo. We'd want to bet here with red AA before we'd want to bet KsJx.

well AA > KJ on this board so not necessarily the point you were trying to make.

Choosing to bet AK over KJ here is a better example.

oops did not think about the hand enough. should've thought about it a bit before posting thanks.

The J blocks Jx = we should check

The K blocks spades = we should bet

Don't these two neutralize each other?

The K of spades is not like having any other spade, though. We block a hand that will likely call a big bet or make a bet itself in position (KsXs). Having it really weaken's villain's range, while having other relevant spades generally strengthen's villain's range.

See my post #15

That post is a bit complicated for me. All I'm saying is if the Ks is out there, he has less combos of spade draws just the way he has less combos of Jx since the J is also out there.

So from a blocker point of view, I'm saying it doesn't really matter, right?

Think about it this way: all of his hands with the Ks in them are not a missed flush draw. There is a K on the board so a hand like KsQs is actually top pair not a missed draw

Hero has the Ks.

Yes thats the point...having the Ks actually blocks MADE hands not missed draws