$1800 eff. My image is young TAG grinder, white. In last 2 hours I've played snug, showing down only value or taking it down with 3bets preflop. I used bet-check-bet line with QQ and showed down QQ to win the pot recently. My image is winning, tight and great. I've 3bet out of line but never been caught. V is young TAG grinder, Asian. We play with each other almost every day. We know each other well. We both know we're at the core tight players and generally respect each other's bets and raises. We actually play few pots together - perhaps for that reason. He knows I'm capable of making big calls OTR and he's capable as well. I'd say he's in top 10% of $5/$10 grinders in the room (this doesn't mean I'm in top 10% or anything ) It just means I think he's one of the better players in the room. He's played snug for the last 2 hours, playing few hands, opening wide in LP, standard stuff. He mixes up checking and c-betting but his c-bet % I'd estimate is 60%+ HU. I estimate his preflop range as all pairs, KQ+, AJ+. My perceived range is SCs, all PPs, higher suited Aces, KJ+, ATo+.

He opens to $40 from MP1, only I call OTB with KsQs.

Flop: As4d9c Pot ~ $100 He bets $50. I decide to float with BDFD and overs to 2 cards and call.

Turn: Ad Pot ~ $200 He checks, I bet $100, he calls.

River: Kh Pot ~ $400 He checks.

OTT he's smart enough to know it's unlikely I have an Ace and he knows I know same.

I have 3 specific questions:

1) Was floating flop good and why or why not?

2) Was deciding to continue with the float plan when A paired a good decision and why or why not?

3) Do we check back river or b/f small for value?

any reason why you didn't 3bet pf? You have a great calling hand if there were a bunch of people in the pot but heads up I would prefer to 3bet.

I don't like floating with a BDFD basically you are just calling to hit your cards. instead you could have tested him on the flop and raise/folded about 120 (the plan if I flatted pf).

Once he check/calls the turn with a paired Ace my red flags will be going up and I would check back the river King. He's not folding if he has an Ace and you might take the pot with the King anyway.

By calling flop and intending to bet the turn, we have more information when we try to take the pot and we represent significantly more combos. Raising the flop only represents 10 or so combos.



Villain's line is weird and I think we're ahead a lot but I just check the river. No plausible bluffs we can have here so no reason TT will call.

You werent really floating the flop as you had good equity.

Betting the turn is probably ok but the A is not a great card since its less likely you have one. I doubt V would check an A here, so your K/Q outs may be good.

I bet the river. $175. Hope he calls with JJ. I dont think checking behind is awful because I think most hands fold or we get trapped by the occasional slowplay.

Edit: either you stealth edited your post from 9s to 9c or i misread it. The float is still OK though.

More combos of what? This flop is a dry as they come, unless we are trying to represent just an ace.

looks fine, b/f ~140 now. you might want to examine what your flop-call range is just to make sure you aren't floating too wide and then overbluffing later. calling with this hand is definitely fine, but if you are calling with all bdfds, all 9x, and all 4x, you might find yourself in spots where you are too air heavy. definitely don't raise flop; i would need to be convinced that you should have a flop raising range at all.

What line do you take with sets/2pr here? If you flat the flop do you size the turn bet the same?

on this particular turn i would bet larger (near pot) after being checked to unless i expected him to check AJ+ a significant amount of the time. this board is very static and the situation compares well to the river bluffcatcher vs air/nuts river toy game, so i would similarly like to bet a larger size to be able to bluff more often. also, this particular turn card reduces the number of combos we can valuebet, which further suggests we increase the betsize past 1/2 pot. obviously the more strong hands he checks the worse this strategy performs, so if i didn't think he was checking a relatively capped range comprised of mostly bluffcatchers/air, i would not recommend it.

That was intended as a question for the OP to consider how he plays the other parts of his range in this spot.

interception

Floating flop is fine. I think bluff raising flop risks way more than necessary when you can just float and risk less when he has top pair+. Turn isnt a great card to rep unless you plan to barrel. Just check back and hope he checks behind unless you plan to barrel.
Unless he calls with JJ, TT, middle pair type hands often, betting river is way too thin esp when he could still have a weak ace like AT, AJ where he is pot controlling and letting you bluff off at the same time

IMO a value bet/fold here is optimal. Of course he has some Ax hands that are never folding but he is calling with 9x and TT-QQ.

He also calls some smaller pairs and KJ, KT, KQ.

Considering how this was played and his range, a value bet is likely profitable long term.

I 3 bet pre myself.

Flop floats I dislike. I prefer the small bluffraise myself.

AP I would bet about 60% pot (if he can fold a weak suited Ace here). If not i bet 40% pot only folding out QQ JJ etc.

+1 on potting this turn

PS: People saying raise this dry flop???? Unless you're perceived as a fish, this wold not achieve anything, since we're repping air if we're both on level 3 thinking.

Based on your range (SC+) he is never pot controlling here. If he was then your image is way tighter than you think.

I think the float is good but horrible turn bet. He is never folding. I check turn and call/bet pot on river.

As played, You have to value bet the river the same as you would a set. I would never let a good player see me check back that strong a hand.

Floating the flop isn't awful with the bdfd, checking the turn isn't awful, I'm value betting otr

Also 3b pf is whatever, really depends on who is in the blinds imo

Also raising this flop is so bad

regged 2008, 3 posts
that's 1/2 a pots per year

*tip hat*

What? Why? What are you repping on this flop?



Bet/Fold for value on river smallish unless you have reason to believe that he can bluff rivers with c/r a decent % of the time, in which case, I'd check behind.

NH.

Might check this crappy turn sometimes... but absolutely could go either way.

Bet balanced on the river 180-195.

Rizzo:

Considered but... MP1 open is too early of a position for me to 3b a generally tight player with KQs.

you also said he is a TAG grinder in the top 10% of 5/10 grinders and you guys respect each other's raises, which would be interpreted to mean he folds a lot to your 3bets. I would also think this means he will open raise AQs, KQ, 99, etc., not just aces and kings.