I just played a very interesting hand in a 7-handed 1/2 house game and I'm hoping to get some feedback on how I played.

2 mp limpers, Hero on the button with K5 raises to 15. Villian in the SB cold calls as does one of the limpers.
Villian is a tight and tricky player capable of making thin value bets and bluffs.
Pot=49.
effective stack = 280.
flop: 543
Villian donks out 15, MP folds, Hero raises to 65, Villian calls. Pot=179.
Turn: 9
Check check.
River T
Villian bets 75, Hero folds.

All comments are appreciated, thanks in advance!

I think as played the river is a fold. You could just fold pre, not really much we can hope for besides flops like these and 2 pair.

I don't like the reraise on the flop, i think the hand plays great as a call since we have top pair and hes likely to have overs. Moreover, sometimes his overs hit while giving us the flush giving us massive implied odds. Also when he calls, it becomes an awkward check back turn when we miss and he's probably folding when we get the 3rd club.

Overall, fold pre and call flop, call turn and fold non king and club rivers to a bet.

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+1 ^^

Folding pre can't be bad.

I raised the flop because I felt Villian would go for a check/raise with any monsters. Thus I felt his range was rather weak after his donk bet and that he would fold a lot to a big raise. When he calls the turn raise I think his range contains a lot of over pairs (JJ TT 99 88 77 66) and flush draws.
But then, I'm never sure how to play against players that donk bet. My first instinct is to raise because it looks very weak...

On the turn I think there is some merit to shoving to try and represent big pairs (AA KK QQ) but I think there are probably better turns to shove (any any K and A?)

Folding pre should be the main play here. If you wanna play this hand I think just limping along is better than raising too unless you raise huge (whatever you guys decide as huge in your home games).

See that's the wrong logic that you're going with.
"When he calls the turn raise I think his range contains a lot of overpairs...". We shouldn't raise on the flop then if he's just going to call with better and fold to worse. We want him to continue with worse hands than ours and if we do bluff, fold better hands than ours.


Can you see why I suggest that we just call the flop now?
It seems that you're the tricky player lol

-Cheers!

UpDog, this is a really good point about betting, "We shouldn't raise on the flop then if he's just going to call with better and fold to worse. We want him to continue with worse hands than ours and if we do bluff, fold better hands than ours."
This concept makes sense to me when were value-betting made hands but I find it more difficult to grasp when we have hands like pair+flush draws. Technically were ahead of overpairs on the flop if we just look at equity, and I would be happy to stack off on the flop. The problem is that if we miss on the turn then were going to be behind overpairs... and were usually going to miss on the turn.

fold pre, call flop, shove turn if u raised flop

You are ahead of his range on the flop, and even after he calls you, you are around 50/50 against him (all his pairs, overcards, sets). So it is not the case he only calls with hands that beat you.


You can choose to control the pot to get to the river and win/lose small if you connect or not.

Or you can choose to be the agressor and win/lose a big pot if you connect or not. Plus, you have fold equity.

I would bet all streets (even bluffing the river depending on villain). Your hand is way ahead of his range. You do have very good odds to connect and very good fold equity on the turn and river.

Now, be careful with balance. You can't do that everytime you have a draw on the flop. If you had an overpair or a strong pair, you could just call the flop because you do have showdown value. But with 5, not sure you can win on showdown without improving, so it is a good hand to raise.

Right, but thats just variance. Believe in the long term and youll be good in this spot and scenarios a 50+ percent of the time.

Additionally, your last point is why we don't want to inflate pots; because when we miss we feel compelled to turn, what was once a great hand, into a huge stack-off bluff.

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And just to add and clarify my point, lets picture it this way:

Imagine the same flop being played a 1000 times. We're going to miss around 400 times or so (don't know the exact number but for my example's sake, its a number under 50 percent), and during the times we miss, we dont wanna be losing big pots as a result of bluffing. Because we're going to winning big pots as a result of value betting. Our result after having played this scenario a thousand times should reflect the equity we have on the flop - which is tremendous.

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Thanks everyone! this was very helpful

Not to confuse you here but your equity edge is only valid for showdown equity (meaning you get to see the next two cards). You obviously have more than enough equity to see one card but you're only an equity favorite if you get to see the river. Which others have pointed out impacts your decision.

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folding K5s on the button vs 2 limpers is super nitty, unless stacks are short

Not really. What are you gonna hope to flop?

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you have the button. you will have plenty of opportunities to win without hitting. and of course when you do hit, having position makes it easier to maximize value.