Apologies for the hand conversion, I tried to re-create the live hand.

Both drunk players have been calling stations and frequently fold on the river. TAG-ish reg is young, wearing sunglasses, and has been talkative for the two hours or so I've been at the table with him. He raises position, probably close to 75% of hands in the Hijack-button, and has shown two large turn bluffs. I haven't been talking but if the reg has been paying attention it would be apparent that I have been playing fairly tight, raising in position and c-betting 100% of flops so far (I was card-dead for a stretch and had only been playing 15/5 or so up until this hand).

I call preflop with the intention of bluff-catching against an expected cbet from TAG and expect a call from at least one drunk on almost all boards.

Flop is a dream, and I think is pretty standard (let me know if my reasoning is off in spots like this...)

Turn I decide to check-call again, I'm not sure I can value bet here (it feels more like a semi-bluff and I can't think of much worse that calls, though in retrospect I think drunk would have called most of the time here).

I'm confused where I stand on the river; I find that aggressive players put me in difficult spots when I try to bluff-catch. This hand turned into one where I felt the two villains had something they might call a bet with. I figured TAG would fold and was cbetting the flop and drunk had something like mid-pair that I might get a call from. While his range is still wide in my mind here, I feel like it would be a bad call when I'm faced with the raise. Am I thinking about the hand correctly up until this point, or is there a better line I could take here? Is KJs appropriate to call with in this position against a TAG; is a 3bet or fold better? As played, call or fold?


Hand Information
, 2 BB (8 handed).
Hand History converter courtesy of pokerhandreplays.com

Table Information
Seat: 1 hero ($249) Small Blind
Seat: 2 seat 2 ($200) Big Blind
Seat: 4 seat 4 ($200)
Seat: 5 seat 5 ($200)
Seat: 6 drunk1 ($125)
Seat: 7 tag-ish re ($250)
Seat: 9 drunk2 ($400)
Seat: 10 seat 10 ($200) Dealer
Dealt to hero
**

Preflop (Pot:3)
seat 4****FOLD
seat 5****FOLD
drunk1****CALL
tag-ish re****RAISE $8
drunk2****CALL
seat 10****FOLD
hero****CALL
seat 2****CALL
drunk1****CALL

Flop(Pot: $21)
***

hero****CHECK
seat 2****CHECK
drunk1****CHECK
tag-ish re****BET $30
drunk2****FOLD
hero****CALL
seat 2****FOLD
drunk1****CALL

Turn(Pot: $81)
****

hero****CHECK
drunk1****CHECK
tag-ish re****CHECK

River(Pot: $81)
*****

hero****BET $50
drunk1****FOLD
tag-ish re****ALL-IN
hero****?

call pre is fine, flop is ok, turn is ok, river is a fold..

might lead turn, but rest seems okay, fold river imo

Pre is ok, but 3-betting is probably better.

Flop/turn are ok.

I'd check river because it's really obvious what you have if you lead out for that size. Check and bluff-catch vs the drunk most likely.

why are we 3 betting pre? seems spew to me

and i don't think too many 1-2 players are good enough at bet size interpretation and hand reading to be too worried about b/f river

If your plan was to bluff-catch, by definition and purpose, you should NEVER lead river


1) TAG raise size isn't strong
2) TAG raises a wide range in LP
3) It's hard to play KJ well oop. We end up folding the best hand alot of times (i.e. on a AJX board)
3) There is FE here to a 3bet
4) hand is super disguised when we hit
etc

Its a raise/fold situation. Calling is terrible, you can't bluff catch oop with a marginal hand. You can easily get outplayed by an aggressive opponent.

Meh.. How many players at 1/2 will outplay you on the river raising your lead? Considering there are two drunks in the hand calling here is not terrible.

Its not about the river. Its the entire hand as a whole. Hero called flop, tried to let an aggressive player hang himself ott and he checked back. Then hero leads river and gets raised. HH clear example of getting easily outplayed oop. 3bet or fold pre. Bluff catching should be illegal oop with KJs,lol.

I'm pretty sure someone playing 1/2 is not capable of raising preflop, triple barreling, and then raising you river bet all-in as a bluff. You played the hand fine, the river is a clear fold imo.

As Pokah and Sabr said, raising here is better pf than calling. You want to isolate against the drunks and in one of the few meta-game activities that are worthwhile doing in LLSNL, you want people to learn that they can't steal your blinds at will, they let you keep them.

On the river, I'm more inclined to treat KJ as the bluff catcher it is and let someone bluff at it. With two drunks and a bluffy player, someone is likely to. As played, you beat only 1/2 of the possible Kx hands and most of those are unlikely. Easy fold.