I like this line

Two lines under consideration.

1. Flat the bet, and fold to turn barrel.

2. Raise the flop and check behind the turn, call or fold the river depending on card and bet size.

What V1 does will also need to be factored in.

Not if V2 is capable of flatting KK+...

Then he might just check/call us down into winning a decent pot.

Plus we can be relatively certain that V2 isn't min-raising with less than JJ, and the only hand we're likely ahead against is AK.

So why would we raise against a range that we're never ahead of?

I might even fold flop with QQ there tho this seems super nitty. Old man range is likely QQ+ (and if he feeling adventerous maybe AK) so we are way behind.

1/3 live

EP limps, I (middle aged, probably nittiesh image) raise KK to $15 in the CO, young fairly decent male (will probably attempt to "outplay" me postflop, but he's certainly not ******ed) calls $15 on the Button, EP folds, HU. Effective stacks $300.

Flop ($35ish): JT3r
I bet $20, he calls $20

[Thinking preflop and flop are fairly standard. Flop ain't terrific for my hand as villain might just smoothcall JJ/TT against my preflop raise.]

Turn ($75): 7 (no flush draw)
I check, he bets $35

[I wanna keep the pot small, I don't want to be raised off my hand. I hate giving KQ / etc. a free card here, but I think villain puts me on AK enough to bet almost always here. Not too worried about 98 (although I guess it's possible he might call preflop if it was suited).]

River ($145): K
I shove $215...

[I've moved ahead of most everything (JJ/TT/JT/QQ), this could also improve him to some other two pair hands (KJ/KT), plus it could look like I'm overplaying TP. Obviously if he was bluffing with air I don't get paid, but I'm going for max value against decent hands. Ok?]

I hate the turn check. I don't really like the river shove. His turn bet-size makes me think he has mostly medium strength hands/draws. That is a bad card for most of those hands other than KQ/KT.

But I probably would be b/c here anyway. Just think your sizing misses too much value from the mediocre parts of his range.

I guess that's the question. I'm definitely struggling with the mindset of live players

@gobbledygeek

Why bet the flop so small? I think I make it like 30.

Ha, when I was typing out my OP my bet did seem on the smallish side; it's possible there wasn't a limper which might help things a bit.

However, I'm also cool with a 1/2+ish PSB here. It's very ambigious (i.e. is it the nuts betting for value or is it just a typical cbet?) and allows aggroish players to float the flop in order to "outplay" me on the turn when I check (my plan all along if my flop bet was called).

Find myself ok this position more and more often. Hero raises in late position with medium.pocket pair like 99 and flop is 3 low cards. Villain donks into us. Leaves me flumoxed.

Don't like river overbet shove; but results oriented the same result is coming. Your hand looks like AQ a lot here imo, I think a good player folds 2 pair since his odds are terribad and you truley dont look bluffy here given ur range. Against a definite donkey I like it. Too big of a bet for a hands that can call I think. Cooler post spoiler... If I bet $120 or so, I dont see myself folding for that little. THIS time its same outcome.

@gobbledygeek I would play the hand differently on the flop and turn. River might have played out the same but the dynamics would be different. Your chalking it up to a cooler, but i don't see how other than villain hitting his 2 outer gutshot and it causing you to have a 2nd best hand.

On the flop i don't get your reasoning for thinking villain has JJ/TT. Since you have a nittish image villain is almost always calling with a very tight range of pp's 22-JJ(but JJ might be in villains 3bet preflop range), some suited connectors and like AJ+ and broadway hands.

If i have a JT3r flop im salivating knowing that alot of his range is going to be top pair and some type of Str8 draws(majority being a gutshot of some sort). I would assess villain's aggressiveness and then played accordingly. If villain was a calling station type i would just bet $30ish and if he called then on the 7 blank i would bet $75 to $100 ish.

But if villain was they type that u described who might try and out play me then i would bet like you did on the flop and on that turn u should definitely c/r him to $110+. This would leave u with enough room to make a hero fold if he 3bets all in and he could call with worse hands like AJ or KQ or some back door flush draw. But in all honesty the villain's bet size on the turn almost turned his hand face up to what everyone is saying like its a weak made hand/or some weak draw looking to hit a card.

You in essence allowed villain to play perfect cause if a non A or K comes he folds to any river bet u make, if an ace comes you check and villain might be able to extract a thin value bet from u, and if he hits the King he stacks off and goes to value town. Maybe he makes a crying call if a Q hits but i doubt u thin value bet that board.

When people have big pairs(AA,KK,QQ) they mostly remember the big pots they lost stacking off with their overpair to lose to a set or 2pair and they get it programmed in their head to look for all the hands that can beat them and assign it to villain(s). You need to get out of that thinking. Its 50 to 1 to flop 2pair and 8.5 to 1 to flop a set and your HU. Until someone gives you a reason u can't just go giving people credit for big hands.

If that spot is leaving u flumoxed then u need to start paying more attention to the players and categorizing them.

If its an aggressive fish i would raise 100% of the time on 3 low cards, if villain is a TAG i prob call and evaluate the turn but maybe fold if board is super wet 6c5c4d etc, or super dry and the tag would only bet sets/overpairs in this spot.

If its a Lag i raise all day, if its a passive fish i prob go into check/call mode and u just have to use your reads on if your beat but u prob are if he bets big on the turn.

If its an unknown thats the trickiest of the situations and i think u just have to revert to call on the flop and either call/fold on the turn.

As a general rule I would be flatting most of the time. Raising against some players on 2flush boards. Basically always flatting rainbow boards.

Friday evening game @ Potowotami in Milwaukee - not late enough for drunk / wild play

4th hand at the table so no reads. Table seems chatty & happy.

Hero $200 stack - KK in big blind

V1 $110 stack - raises to $12
V2 $80 stack - call
V3 $200 stack - call
V4 $120 stack - call

$50 in the pot. Hero raises to ?

Super easy shove, IMO. Three of the stacks are all shortish to the pot size and calling basically any reasonable raise will commit them, so lets get it in now. Especially with our new-to-the-table image (unknown?), let them put us on a squeezy AK/etc. ("why so much?").

I make it 80 and shove flop.

friend thinks villain should have folded the flop here; not sure what i think

villain is 30s asian who seemed to be in every hand

hero is late 40s and white; playing average.

eff stacks: 250

2/5 NL

hero overlimps on the button with 5s 7s

flop is 3s4s10s

villain leads for $35. hero makes it $100. villain ships. hero calls.

villain has As9x.

i think is going to be pretty standard as i'm new to $2/$5. i think $1/$2 players tend to check/call this flop with the nut draw. they're not betting out to build a pot with this draw. (which is funny because they might do it with AsXs on a two spade flop).

anyway, my friend thinks villain should have folded the flop.

thoughts?

Why give an opportunity for $110 and $120 stacks to fold flop, missing out on $30 and $40, respectively? If they are calling $80, they're calling their stack off preflop, so let them, no? Or are we concerned about possibly getting the larger $200 to play?

65 imo, might encourage two callers which is probably the sweet spot there

I did skip over that admittedly. Make it $120 then. But not $200. No need for that.

This is the kind of range I was thinking might be good to pick up an extra call. Only stack I'm worried about playing after the flop is $200.

Does $50 represent a bet I might fold to a push? Does it represent 99-JJ, AQ better? Possibly too many callers though...

Does a push look more like AK to anyone?

Actually made it $100 which screams QQ-AA,AK imo. No way I'm folding. I'm a mid 40's white guy so I got three "nice raise NIT" folds. Happy to get a call from V1 with AQ until she caught the river A.

Dont think this deserves its own thread

1/3 plays like 2/5

Hero (utg 1500) has very laggy image, but has only gotten out of line (caught 1x), when I c/ccall, check /ccheck, b river when flush/straight repping the flush. I mucked and was called down by 77 which was a 3rd pair (?). I have been opening wide all pots Ive entered into but have tightened up last 2 orbits. I have been 3 betting pretty frequently and rarely playing oop to a raise except vs the other 2 deep stacks. I have been cbetting a lot, have b/f 3-4 times and have only taken 1 passive line where I trapped with bottom boat on a 4 flush, 4 straight board.

Villain 1 MP1 (235) (mp-typically very tight, raises premiums, but tonight is tilted, has shoved light 2x, once with K hi and was caught, another time on a striaght draw with little equity. He is on his 5th buy-in.

Villain 2 MP2 (1050)-plays Lag, aggressively attacks limpers, floats a lot, cold calls too many 3bets much pre, usually has a plan and follows through. Has gotten the best of hero over last month or so. We have some metagame and have each 3/4bet each other light, floated and made bluffs. I have since tightened up my range vs him and since he sat down I am playing 12-15% of hands instead of 25-30%.

Hero returns from bathroom to see 2 black QQ's. Hero limps 3 with intention of picking off V2 who is going to raise most of the time if there are limps to him. I rarely ever limp/raise and never do it with aces (usually do it with sc's and suited A rags trying to pick of a late position steal) except when there is a bn straddle and I am sb/bb/utg.

Folds to MP1 who raises to 25. He typically would raise 30+ I think with AA/KK, this seems weakish to me. MP pauses for a few seconds then rasises to 90. Folds to hero, who takes 7 seconds and raises to 250. MP1 tank calls-for a few less ( I know I am ahead when he hesitates). MP2 tanks 10 seconds and calls.

Thoughts preflop?

Main pot (~710) Side pot (~30)

Flop
9 10 5 rainbow.

Hero bets takes 5-7 seconds and bets 250.

Thoughts?

Depends...

Is your $250 a bet/fold or a bet to induce raise or at least a call?

Never folding flop, I think villain will shove shove hands like 9t, qj, 89, 78, 99, TT, AKs, JJ, AT, AA...obviously not all combos