Hand 1: looks fine. You could also probably just c/f it against most villains who are going to be pretty happy to get to SD with whatever random crap they have.

One thing to consider when deciding to cbet is your ability to improve and the double barrelability of the flop. In this hand, you're not improving that often to the best hand (or a hand you're willing to put much money in) and there really aren't any hands you can rep on the turn or river to get better hands to fold. So, I'll often not c-bet this against a total station even though Axx flops are decent to c-bet.

Hand 2: I'd fold at some point. I know with his bet sizing it is tough, but with the flush draw getting there, you really aren't beating much. He slows down with most weaker Ax hands, so you're just calling to chop really and I don't see him having complete air that often here.

Hand 3:

With the fact he's been pwning you, I'd just 4-bet here and hope he shoves. If not, there are decent amount of flops I'll still get my stack in on. As played, were you c/r that flop? I'd lead turn probably, and I guess fold to a shove depending on what he showed down in your A7 hand. As played, i fold that river too.

Hand 1 I probably wouldve check called if it was the 3rd hand in the sequence but as is I like that line but bet a bit more on the river so it could be interpreted as a bluff if you're b/fing, your hand looks like exactly the type of hand you have with a half pot bet.

Hand 2 I like til riv but fold the river I cant see a hand you beat taking this line, at best a chop.

Hand 3 DEF 4bet, you have the nuts, esp vs this guy. As played I think lead somewhat small on the flop as the way he played the other hands would lead me to believe he can spew pretty easily and might interpret the lead as nothing, he can check back and cause some problems as seen before. Bet turn as played. Fold riv

Second and third what everyone has said.

Only thing I'd add is that donking the flop in hand 3 after the previous 2 hands looks good. He hasn't folded to any of your flop bets so I don't see why he'd fold to a donk. He's also much more likely to get his stack in when you donk rather than trying a check raise.

Poker Stars $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked

BB: $175.70
UTG: $112.95
Hero (MP): $208.05
CO: $585.65
BTN: $239.00
SB: $186.05

Pre Flop: Hero is MP with A K
1 fold, Hero raises to $8, 2 folds, SB calls $7, 1 fold

Flop: ($18.00) 6 2 K (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $14.95, SB calls $14.95

Turn: ($47.90) T (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $39.95, SB raises to $163.10 all in, Hero calls $123.15

villain has been here for 20 hands so nothin doin him for that

Readless I'd fold, if he was inclined to c/r draws he'd do it on the flop, and most people wont float oop with air. Id expect to see alot of made hands here that want to see a safe turn before jamming and you dont fare very well vs the made hands that stack off.

Sorry to be simple, but I don't understand the turn check here. Pot control w TPishK, but: we have a nice str8 draw; the FD is possible for him; we have to assume that we are still ahead him or we are dead to the str8 draw, or he's drawing to the flush. If we are ahead, I like to bet the turn, ditto if the flush draw is there and we have TP ditto if we have a nice concealed draw where we can get paid well on the river if he has a set. What am I missing? You get smalled pot w the check, but possibly a tricky river decision; you get a free card at your draw, but so does he and his is better. So it seems that at the turn check we are already deciding how much we can call if he bets the river flush card, which IME normally means paying of his value bet ... sigh.

Thanks for the replies - I forgot to mention the improtant fact that in hand 2 he had AsTs (repped a good hand and had it) - but...he might be playing off it. Still 4-bet AKs in hand #3?

Someone trickier than me might have a reason to not 4 bet the AKs, but I cant think of a good reason not to. I'm 4betting and looking to get it in preflop if possible. I'd lead that flop as played for reasons DD said.

Do semi-randoms really get it in that often with dominated hands for 100 BB at $200 NL for this to be good? Or is the added value of people seeing you get it in with AK part of the equation?

Villan has been raising a lot in his ~15 minutes at my table. I've 3-bet him once in LP, (he raised 4 BB UTG, I 3-bet LP to 13BB). I'm content folding PF, but I also want to mix in some wider 3-bets, get practice in 3-bet pots, etc. Is this just spew? FWIW, I took my normal 5-10 seconds to Flop CBet and he insta-snap called. My original plan was to fire once on most boards and be done - do "normal" TAGgy types ever float Ax here? Do I get looked up much by higher PP's with a club? How helpful is the snap-call rhythm on narrowing his range? Also, I took maybe 2-3 seconds on the Turn.

Poker Stars $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em - 4 players
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Hero (SB): $253.85
BB: $332.30
CO: $196.00
BTN: $197.00

Pre Flop: Hero is SB with 4 4
1 fold, BTN raises to $6, Hero raises to $20, 1 fold, BTN calls $14

Flop: ($42.00) 9 9 2 (2 players)
Hero bets $31, BTN calls $31

Turn: ($104.00) A (2 players)
Hero bets $202.85 all in, BTN (has $136 left)

well you're repping AA there but he's probably not smart enough to fold a flush. seems kinda spewy to me.

I think you have FE vs some pairs, you have good pot equity against any reasonable range and if the 4 bet gets called you want a smaller stack to pot ratio with a hand like AKs, especially oop (so its easier to get stacks in if you hit).

They will fold small-medium pairs, sometimes stack off with AQ or AJ (even if its not often) and you have blockers to every hand you are worse than 45% against, so 4-betting and getting it in is good. Seeing you stack with AK is also good for getting value with JJ+, but really you're doing it for value + AK is v. hard to play OOP postflop.

pre is ok some % of the time, in position never though. Postflop looks good this is the worst card in the deck for his range, since most of his AX floats will have the Ac in them on this flop and he will raise the flop a lot w/ flush draws.

My thoughts--take it fwiw: I don't think they will generally stack off with dominated hands but I think we've determined that he may be playing back at you or being semi-aggressive with non-monster type hands. When we 4 bet here, we will get a lot of his better hands to fold (pairs thru JJ and even QQ sometimes) and we've got blockers vs AA/KK, and now the pot has the equity neccessary for the times we do flip against a PP. Plus they do occasionally get weird and show up with AQ or JT or whatever. You generally aren't getting flat called when you 4-bet so you take away positional advantage for him and stacking off with AK is better with 5 cards--especially if we would be playing the pot OOP the rest of the hand.

FD, was wondering if it would be ok if you and villain had really deep stacks like 200bb or more? Say same hand but effective stacks are $425 and you are in position against an aggressive player 4 handed like this.

That's the thinking that led me to do it - I wouldn't be surprised to get called by JcJ or TcT (should I?), but am I ~correct in assuming he'll "usually" fold 5c5-8c8, etc.? My feel in these spots is still in it's infancy.

nah, especially if he's aggressive you're gonna make too much set-mining to do anything but call. If you play better than him postflop and can take away some pots when you dont flop a set then that's even better. Also if he's aggro you're never going to showdown the best hand in a 3-bet pot w/ 44 without putting way more $ in than you want to with bottom pair or flopping a set.

K, this was the key, if I would ever 3-bet 44 it wouldn't be to set mine anymore...not that I think I'm better Post flop but it would create a lot of scenarios to take the pot (essentially bluffing) when you don't flop a set, plus create some huge pots when you do hit and get paid off.

I agree with FD regarding making 3-bets with small pairs like 44. In position I think you are much better off flatting almost always.

OOP I like flatting EP raises especially from tight players (assuming full stacks) because you stand to have good implied odds.

I think 3-betting them from OOP should be reserved for LP raises when you know the opener is on a wide range thus you don't have great implied odds plus its hard to win a huge pot OOP.

Occassionally 3-betting them gives you a decent shot to win the pot preflop plus you will have initiative postflop.

Poker Stars $0.50/$1.00 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked

UTG: $169.15
MP: $288.85
Hero (CO): $113.00
BTN: $98.55
SB: $369.15
BB: $100.00

Pre Flop: Hero is CO with 9 9
UTG raises to $3, 1 fold, Hero calls $3, 1 fold, SB calls $2.50, 1 fold

Flop: ($10.00) 9 6 7 (3 players)
SB bets $2, UTG folds, Hero raises to $12, SB calls $10

Turn: ($34.00) 4 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $25, SB calls $25

River: ($84.00) 5 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero...?


I flatted the UTG range because he is fairly tight and most of his raises seemed to be coming from LP.

SB is 42/7/0.55

Of course 8's are in his range but so isn't stuff like TJ, smaller sets, two pair hands, maybe TT or JJ because he's so passive, and rarely something with the case 9.

I check behind on the turn. You'll should still be able to get 1 more bet out of KJ, KQ on a non club river and if a club falls a worse hand almost never bluffs.

Okay, I've noticed this "3-bet defense" from HH examples in threads I've skimmed over the past year or so - that is, some players mix in some wider hands (I think) and 4-bet pretty small, but just big enough to kill your set odds, etc. What's the best defense/approach to these players? Should I be flatting AA/KK in position to get them to stack off with worse hands they might fold to a 5-bet/shove? Ever small 5-bet light to get some folds/have the initiative? (that seems like spew, but maybe not)

In this hand, UTG is a limpadonk, and MP is a player on whom I have the SNG notes of "floater/playmaker." I decided to proceed and try and flop. Is shoving and/or folding preflop better? Obv. once I call I'm going to war here - does his shove narrow his range more towards some behind hands like AK/JJ/99, or is this the "standard" play for "these small 4-bettors" to merge their flop shoving range (big/medium/and some airish hands) since it's a nice shove size (little more than pot) and they can induce opponents into big mistakes PF and postflop against their range?

Poker Stars $2/$4 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked

SB: $774.10
BB: $80.00
UTG: $68.00
MP: $406.00
CO: $170.40
Hero (BTN): $394.00

Pre Flop: Hero is BTN with A Q
UTG calls $4, MP raises to $20, 1 fold, Hero raises to $62, 3 folds, MP raises to $112, Hero calls $50

Flop: ($234.00) T 8 Q (2 players)
MP bets $294 all in, Hero calls $282 all in

shove, it's closer with bottom set but there is too much that can pay you off and too little that beats you

fold or shove pre, usually shove at 2/4 but with no history you can maybe fold it. after flatting post this is a snap-call and pray he has AK/JJ/something weird he was bluffing with pre.

edit: flatting pre is also an option if UTG is bad, no problems going multiway to the flop with position.