Playing in a reasonably lose 2/5 (max buy $1,000 or $75%) NLHE game that started about 3 hours ago and has already seen 4 or 5 $1,200+ pots. Hero in the game for about $650, starting this particular hand around $1,500. Played bigger-ish pot with Villain 2 earlier where Hero shoved the river on a 4 flush board with nut flush and Villain folded after betting $215 on turn with an assumed medium flush.

PreFlop
Villain 1 (UTG+1, 1k): Raises to 15
UTG+2, $450: Calls 15
Hero w/ A:diamond Q: (Hijack, $1,500): Raises to 65, but due to a rule where any chips that cross the betting line are automatically included the raise actual ends up being $76 (weird to me that singles less than $5 actually play)
Villain 2 (Button, $2,200); Calls $76
Villain 1 & UTG+2 both fold, Heads up to the flop, I'm the effective stack around $1,425

Flop ($189) - 256
Hero($1,425): Leads out for $75 with Nut Flush and 2 overs.
Villain 2: Calls $75

Turn ($339): 256J
Hero ($1,350): Checks
Villain 2: Bets $165
Hero: Calls

River ($669): 256J2
Hero ($1,185): Checks
Villain 2: Bets $350
Hero Calls

Please assess how I played the hand on each street. Will post results of the hand later today

there are no reads on the villain, which is important in this type of hand.

I like pre

cbet bigger 110

I would raise the turn, nothing too big maybe 425

as played otr, again, we need to know something about the villain. Is he a nit? A slag? Why would he flat the flop with a set?

Bet bigger on the flop, don't check the turn. Don't know about river, I never get there with this range. Could bet $300 to get called by TdTx or something like that as there are almost no hands he can value bet that you beat except KdKx that he somehow flatted preflop.

Personally, I don't care about the results. So far, agree with Playbig2k.

The 3 bet is good.

I'd size larger OTF. Unless we connect, we're never going to have as high equity as we do OTF so I'm all for building the pot as big as we can get at that moment. Pending reads, I might go as high as $140, but certainly more than 40% of the pot.

I'd also continue betting OTT. It's feasable that we have an overpair w/ a diamond. Either way... we want to get stacks in and potentially giving a pass to one round of betting would be a disaster.

Agree with all assessments above. Bad sizing OTF should be closer to 2/3 PSB so yeah 100-120 range.

The turn we are always betting. Mixture of sizes IMO. I wouldn't just peg one size here and go with it. Mostly 1/2 pot bet, maybe sometimes a weird 1/4 size bet to induce a raise, sometimes go full pot, maybe big overbet works against the right villain if villain thinks you are making a move with a big pair and a redraw to a diamond like AdAs, then they might fire all in with a set.

river is fine AP when board pairs we get scared.

Villain 2 is a White male in his 40's with a slight country-ish accent. Playing at the meadows Casino in Pennsylvania and he seems to be a regular there (I am not a regular). 2 significant pots at this point about the Villain 2, 1 involving me. 1st pot is the one I mentioned briefly earlier. He UTG straddled my SB, Action folds to me I make it $35 in the SB with A6, He defended and we went HU to flop. Flop was 962 I bet $35, he raised to $105. Turn was 4, I check he bet $215 I called with pair + NFD. River was J and I ripped it all in for about a 2/3 pot bet. After a moment he folded and claimed he had 78

Other hand of note with Villain so far, I was not in hand. 5 way pot at $15 per player with villain on the Button. Flop comes rainbow J48, action checks to villain and he bets $60 & Gets one middle position caller. Turn is 9 putting backdoor spades on board. MP leads out for $75, Villain 2 makes it $155, MP jams all in for about $850 and Villain snap calls with a covering stack. MP shows 107 for Jack high straight and Villain 2 flips over Q10 for Queen High straight. Villain bet the flop with 1 over a gutter ball to the nuts.

Also saw him check call a $300 bet on the river and get shown the turned Nuts by another player. In general, he seemed like he was there to have fun and play good poker while potentially getting out of line when the time calls for it or making some light calls. I would say he is a Loose Preflop player that mixes up his play a little bit post flop playing mostly straightforward with a little bit of trickery up his sleeve.

my 1st time playing him though, so I don't have an extensive history.

As far as my image at the table goes. Mid 20's white guy, very friendly and chatty type of player. A bit on the loose side and not afraid to mix it up a little bit, had done some light 3 betting pre-flop that had not gotten to show down. Did not have to show any river bluffs at this time, and when forced to show at the river I had the winner. There was one hand where I was in the cutoff and with 4 limpers to me and I made it $30 with 62 I got 3 callers and went to the flop of 862 rainbow. I bet $75 and get raised to $175 from an older man who I had a decent sized pot with earlier in the day. I called the raise, called $100 on a 7 turn and $100 on a K river. He showed 99 and I showed 62 for flopped 2 pair.

Pre is fine
Flop - bet bigger - or check - I like bet bigger. $110 looks fine - Your size will sometimes set up awkward turn and river spots. But since you just drill the nuts on the turn, you kinda got bailed out. Betting 1/3rd pot is something a lot of high stakes online reg players are doing, and i'm not really sure I understand it fully - but than they over bet turn. It might be something they are doing because they aren't very deep?

Turn - Checking is good, you usually don't have a lot of flushes so this will be a good card for him to bluff. I don't mind the check call - it keeps strong hands in your check call range. Check raise is also good if you don't plan on playing there a lot - no point in balancing.


River - River is fine.

I am more concerned about the As6c hand you decided to play. That looks like a massive leak.

Yea, the A6 is a sketchy hand, probably should have folded on the turn with that bet size. Probably the worst played hand of the day by me in a 10 hour session and I got bailed out on the river. (4.5 hours tournament, 1.5 hrs 1/3 NL and 4 hrs at 2/5)

Villain 2 ended up having JJ for a turned Set against my turned Nut Flush and he rivered top Boat.

he might have folded to a raise ott

Do we have a read that AQs is likely ahead of V's UTG raising range? If not, I don't like the 3b; I'd flat and play a deep-stacked pot IP.

Why so small on the flop? Were you hoping to induce a bluff raise so you could come over the top? I'd have bet at least 100, maybe 125.

I wouldn't check the turn without a good read V will bet. Three-flush boards often tend to chill the action. I'd lead out for about 250. AP, once you check, I think you have to x/r. We've got the effective stonies, but we're hardly invulnerable. Board pairs or another diamond will at least freeze the action even if they don't beat us. Also, we'd love to get it all in against a smaller flush or non-believing set. I like popping it to 450.

AP, I think I'd b/f the river. Boats are going to extract fat value, almost everything we beat is going to check it back. Let's capture at least some value from his checking hands and even getting a little blocker action by leading out ourselves. Obviously b/f. I'd go at least 200, maybe 250. Big enough to get treated as a real bet.

After results: we don't want the set to fold. We want him to put as much money in as possible as a 3.4:1 dog.

I was being results oriented.

We're not 3betting for value. There are hands that are ahead of us pre that will fold to a cbet.

Agreed. I think it's somewhat a matter of style and overall playing approach. I typically use small suited aces for light 3b that I'm hoping to take down with a flop cbet, preserving borderline flat/3b hands like AQs to keep my calling range a bit stronger without sacrificing too many of my premiums to do it. But I play with the same group of regs for hundreds our hours per year, and some of them are canny enough to figure some things out.

OTF bet is smallish. I bet ~$95-$120, closer to 120.

OTT I like the x/c. X/r would probably take down the pot, and leading might not get a call. Out of the three options, I like the first one.

OTR I don't think we can do anything but call here. Because of the betting on the first two streets, we can't rule out 55, 66, JJ, or 22. You also appear to have slowed down from villain's perspective after the flush draw completed, so we can't rule out flushes either.

I'm guessing villain has a PP with a diamond or a boat. With 22/55/66 some villains are going to raise the flop to protect against flush draws. JJ makes sense. PP hands like KK/QQ with a DIAMOND make sense unless you expect them to 4bet pre.

I kind of expect you to win this hand as often as you lose. Certainly can't raise here, as we're only getting called by boats.

EDIT: Villain did boat up on the turn. While we could have taken down the hand with a x/r, we miss out on value doing so. Villain had 10 outs and hit one. Happens.

I definitely agree with you guys on the flop sizing bet, should have been 20 - 30% bigger. Appropriate Flop size betting is part of my game that can use some improvement.

I did get the feeling that if I showed weakness on the turn, he would pounce. I debated briefly between the x/c and the x/r, but I settled on the call thinking he would also bet the river at which point I would check/shove any non board pairing card. I do think it's a close one between x/c and x/r and either option is appropriate.

If I check raise on the turn, what size would you go here? I'm thinking $450-$475

I have two thoughts on bet sizing. Option one is to raise it up to $450-$550. If we raise it to just $450, villain has to put in $285 to call a pot of $954. If he has a set like we hope he does (OTT anyway) this puts villain in a difficult position, but he can fold this exploitatively.

The other option is to polarize our range by overbetting. This is what I prefer to do in my game, which is a home game with a lot of history between players. It allows me to take hands like Ax and bluff off strong hands in situations like this. I also get players to call me from time to time. The key is I don't do it very often, so most of villain's calls are wrong and I rarely get caught stealing. Whether it carries over to 2/5 NL I'll leave to you and more experienced casino players to decide.

As a recreational player, it also feels good to jam the nuts in. (Phrasing)

With what hands would he do that?

Good question Kelvis. I think we can rule out AA, KK, QQ, AKs, AK as he would have Bet/Raised preflop. I think the absolute top of his Calling range is AQ and JJ. Going down the list with PP's, JJ, 1010, 99, 88 I think are are logical hands he could have. I'm struggling to think about whether he would call with 77 or below, as he does not have any money in the pot even though he does have button position. I do think he would call with some suited connectors 67s - QJs are all in play, and I'll add in AJs as well.

So I guess his calling range preflop would 88 - JJ, AJs, AQs, and suited connectors from 67 through QJ.

On the flop with my relatively small bet in compared to the size of the pot, I think all PP 88 - JJ are calling and 67s is calling as well. 78s & 89s are probably going to call with the various straight draw. 78dd and probably 89dd is raising this flop bet by me, so I think we can rule that out for his hand. 910 and J10 are in his range to call with and potentially mix in a raise as well. Club and heart suited Ace's are most likely going to fold, I could see him floating with AQss or AJss with 2 overs and backdoor flush draw.

His in position flop calling range would include: 88 - JJ, 78s, 89s, 67s, AJ, AQ, 910 and J10

On the turn with the Jack of Diamonds coming and completing the flush I checked and he bet.

Obviously eliminates J10 I think he would bet AJ thinking his top pair could be good and doesn't want to see a 4 card flush come. I think he would take a stab also with AQ since he has little to no equity at this point. 88 - 1010 is probably checking back with the over card on board, especially if they have a diamond in their hand, so we can probably rule out those 3 hands. JJ is betting for sure with top set. 67s is probably checking back, so we can rule out that hand. 78s & 89s I think he is stabbing with to see if he can get an Ace high type of hand to fold. 910 is betting for sure with a flush.

His turn range after the bet includes: AQ, AJ, JJ, 78s, and 89s, 910

When the river comes completing the 4 card flush AND pairing the board I checked.

910 is for sure a check back here with 4 card flush coming, AJ is probably checking back as well since he has some showdown equity. Let's rule those hands out. JJ is obviously betting with top boat, I do think he would bet again with AQ if that's what he had on the turn. 78s and 89s I think are on the fence. If he bet those hands on the turn, I think about half the time he shuts down and gives up and the other half he continues to fire another bullet.

river hand range after bet: JJ, AQ, Maybe 78s / 89s...

Does this range look right to you by the street? Do you think I should include more lower PP's into his range PF? Also, this was really helpful typing this out and making me think, I appreciate the question.

I wouldn't rule out QQ/AK preflop since many live players aren't going to 4bet this with stacks this deep and they have position. Since it's live he probably flats QJs/KQs as well together with 77-JJ. Total range would be something like 77-QQ/QJs+/AKo+/AQs+ preflop when considering him a reasonably standard TAG.

I don't see good players cold calling 67s and stuff here, but if you're going to put those in there he is also going to have all pairs. Either he is too loose and has all of those or he isn't and he has none of them.

On the flop with the narrow range I don't think he has a raising range at all. To protect pairs he has to have some sort of draws that he can bet/bluff turns and rivers with because if he raises draws he is going to end up with one pair on the river if he calls the flop. He should call all pairs, some spade backdoors like AKss and AQss and all diamond draws. Since you have AQdd which blocks every single diamond draw he has he's just left with one pair and backdoor draws on the turn. If he also has ATs or AJs these also can't have flush draws.

This means on the turn he has no flushes at all. He has two combinations of ace high spades and the rest is either a pair or now top set. By checking you give him the opportunity to check behind with all his pairs and you only induce bluffs from two combinations plus top set. Maybe some pairs will bet, especially if they don't have a diamond but you have more chance of getting money in the pot by betting against those hands. The problem is that he just doesn't have too many hands that give a ton of action when you check so you miss out on a bigger bet on the river.

He needs to either have way more dodgy hands in his range that make mistakes against a check but otherwise checking is probably not the right play.