this hand happened last night.

Playing 1/2 at Star Casino

Villain in this hand is a reg - Asian girl in her mid 20s. I've played with her once before and she is a tough opponent - aggressive pre and plays hard post flop. Doesn't give up on hands, particularly in position and has a mathematical knowledge of the game. One of the better low stakes opponents.
She has been at the table for less than an hour and has more than doubled her stack. The table in general is loose passive pre flop with 5/6 limpers and limp/callers on most flops. Villain has raised twice in the previous 5 hands. Another reg next to me commented that she often raises with weak holdings to punish limpers.

Hero is 40 year old white male. Stack is $430. Since Villain arrived at the table I've won one pot with a C bet and have been talking to 2 other regs. She recognises me, but don't have a clear perspective on how she rates me as a player. Villain and I have caught glances a couple of times smiling at the play of one of the idiotic donks at the table.

2 limpers to Villain in middle position. She raises to 20.
Hero is in SB with Ah Qc.
Hero calls, and there is one other caller.

Pot $64

Flop A 10 6 all spades. I check, 1 more check. Villain bets 35. I raised to 80. 1 fold, Villain tank calls.

Pot $224

Turn was kc. I checked, she checked behind. When the check raise gets called, I am planning on folding to any bet. (Interested in thoughts on both my check and my plan to check fold? - am I too weak?)

River 7s. Villain checks her cards and I'm certain she doesn't have a spade.


What is your play here? Check call, check fold, bet? If you bet, how much?

How in the world are you certain she doesn't have a spade? I was thinking we were good until the spade hit...

just something I picked up from her face when the river hit. can't explain it but I was confident in the read.

What was her normal raise sizing pf?
What was her normal cbet sizing on a wet flop? On a dry flop?
What kind of hands she has tanked with in the past?
What kind of hands has she checked back ott after her cbet gets called?
How has she reacted to a c/r in previous hands?

Do you remember any specific hands she has shown down and how she played them?

I can't answer all of those questions. I played with her only once before about 2 months ago.

$20 was a normal size from yesterday's play, although she had only been involved in about 6 pots to this point.

She had folded to a flop check raise in the previous orbit after calling pre and then donking the flop - from memory it was about 60% of pot. She tanked on that occasion too, which was when the reg next to me mentioned that she often raised to punish limpers and then c bet with air.

she had doubled up after 3 barrelling a fish with a straight when he called down with top pair.

Ok I suppose with your read, dunno how tho...

Given your reads on her I like to 3-bet this hand a LOT (like 50%+) vs her pre-flop since we are ahead of her "punish the limpers" range and we take the lead OOP or take down the pot and don't have to play OOP.

If I had flatted pre I like the flop CR, I probably raise a bit more however to price out flush draws.

When the K hits the turn after we CR, I am rarely checking, and when I do check I'm not sure that I give up often either as this is pretty weak. I mean, what are we losing to that is just flatting our raise OTF? We have put a lot of money in by CRing and if we have a hand like we do and are behind to her flush/set she wouldn't want to let another spade hit and kill her action.

In the rare instance I give up the lead on turn and get to the river as you did, I usually like to check this card since I have showdown value, especially if my V is capable of bluffing the spade with worse than our AQ, easy CC. BUT, since you seem sure she has no spade, then she is folding like 90% of her hands that we are behind to if we bluff big.

So, if I think I will lose at showdown - I bet $120-$200 on river. If I think I am good at showdown, I check call almost anything with these reads.

Bolded is why I like the 3-bet pre. If she folded before to a flop CR, than she has something here for sure and likely wasn't planning on trying to blow us off our hand with air or a hand that turns into a bluff. I really think she plays this hand like she has a big spade or MAYBE a set/two pair. Why else would she just check back turn when you are obviously giving up??? Which is why I don't give up on turn btw!

Tank calling with a spade wouldn't really make sense unless it was the K of spades. A check raise on that flop is a flopped flush most of the time and I think she has a set here often and is trying not to lose a big pot. Maybe she had a big ace, but I think for her to flat a c/r, her hand is probably stronger than yours. If you weren't behind on the flop, you're behind on the river. Your best bet to win the pot was probably betting 2/3 pot on the turn and if the river bricks, value bet it hard.

A fold pre isn't that bad. You're oop obv and you know vs. this opponent that every street is going to be a serious decision. Even if you nail the flop it's likely that your line will make villain notice you have a strong holding and I can't see you making a ton of money off of her not inc. coolers.

AP, otf, I wouldn't take the lead. c/c and c/r are both better than donking imo.

Why did you check the turn? You took the initiative with the flop c/r and now are shutting down. c/r and then checking the turn is pretty weak. If the point of the c/r were value you should lead again for value. If it were a bluff then this is what it looks like. I would have bet the turn.

On the river b/f is the obvious play. If she doesn't have a spade she'll fold, if she does she'll raise. And checking leaves too much in the air, it could be a bluff. Because villain is a consistently winning reg, I'd make a bit of a move and c/r the river. It's going too be pretty difficult for her to call without the first or second nuts here. You can only bluff thinking players.

If she calls or 3bets you, she'll think you're a loose/spewy player, use it for the future.

All of this +1 EXCEPT the fold pre part. ElDiesel do you think that we should fold pre even though we are ahead of a LOT of V's range when she consistenly punishes limpers? I agree with not wanting to be OOP vs her, but how many hands can we fold just because we aren't IP if she is raising a lot pre? AQ isn't in my folding range vs any open from described V, which is why I would often 3-bet to get a better definition of her range, calling is ok and folding is losing a lot of value IMO since AQ+ doesn't happen for me that often at the table

I agree 3bet is best. I was having a tough time deciding if folding or flatting was 2nd best. The fact that she's known to isolate/punish limpers helps us.

I wouldn't consider folding to a LAG. I'm not thrilled with the fact that she's a regular winner and known by Hero to be of the toughest 1/2 competition at this venue; I'd consider folding to a very good LAG. If you're playing in HSP you can't just avoid certain people, but if there are 5 dangerous players at a 100 table poker room and your table has one I think it's reasonable, especially oop.

I'm 3betting pre all day.

As played OTF I don't like a c/r unless you plan on following it up big OTT, but even then I don't like it. Because of position and board texture your playing bluff catcher the whole way : c/c c/c c/c. Maybe the river is a c/f unless we have some sick read. You really got yourself into a bind pre though IMO.

I agree, if I'm CRing the flop, my plan is to empty the clip (for value and FE) on almost all boards. My least favorite thing in this post is that we shut down on turn, could you elaborate on your reasoning for this line OP?

really well thought through advice in this thread so far IMHO - thanks.

Yes, looking at it now, a 3 bet pre is better and I do think to Eldiesel's point that a fold isn't really bad. Villain is capable of calling and then floating/raising a c bet and if we miss, we find ourselves 50bb in, OOP against a thinking villain with 2 streets to go.

as played pre, I think the flop check raise is still OK although yes, maybe $95-100 is a better size.


I agree that my turn play is weak and understand the reasons for betting the turn, at the time I didn't have the heart to fire again. My reasoning at the time was that I check raised the flop for value (and probably to close the hand down), but when villain called, it seems more likely that I was behind. One of the hands I was behind was AK and so when the K hit the turn, it means I'm less likely to get villain off AK no spade.

If you are betting turn, what is your sizing? Flop is $240 and effective stacks are $300.

apologies - Pot is $224 on the turn and effective stacks are $300