... a monkey monkey monkey!

FW 40 saturday afternoon game that's playing somewhere between 5-7 handed. Villain opens from the CO. He's the same guy as in this thread. Only a few more hours with him since then. One hand of note is that I again kr a turn out-of-tempo after capping pre from sb and betting flop on an AsQh5sJc and he open folds a Q, saying he'd have called down if I just bet. Also of note, he's opened CO vs my BB with T3s and 63s.

There's a walker this time so I'm small blind and look down at A2. I'm pretty sure that the big blind was overly tight and trying to play well, someone that I'd expect to fold more than I would. So I raise, BB folds and villain calls. 7SB.

FLOP: QJ7.

I bet and he calls. 4.5BB.

TURN: QJ7 4

What's my plan? Thoughts on any part of the hand so far appreciated.

preflop 3 seems standard regardless of player in the BB. My plan is to continue betting that turn and barrel some rivers.

In the first hand, did you want him to call or fold?
In this hand, what do you want him to do?

Preflop is definitely too loose. Fold is standard, but the dreaded CALL is might be ok. Elite 3-handed bots do have a SB cold-calling range against BTN, and a lot of that range is A-rag suited, K-rag suited, ~9Jo type hands, and some monsters.

Flop: Bad flop for us. We beat very little in CO's range, and his medium SCs have tonnes of equity against us. I'd prefer c / cry call or c/f, but you have to have an image where your donk-check doesn't scream WEAK.

Turn: My standard play is to value check NFD and bluff catch, getting IO if we hit the flush. A-hi is usually too strong to play as a bluff. But here we have A-nut-low, so there's merit to barrel turn, then check river. b/3b seems bad, and better reserved for smaller FD with GS.

Given that I now know who villain is, I might even favor x/r here. I don't think you're getting called by worse often enough on this board to x/call down, and I don't think he bets his Kx on this board.

BTW fold preflop.

You guys want to fold a suited ace against a wide opening range here? I'd c/r now and barrel

Elite 3-handed bots? Please educate me. Do they have a track record of good results v top humans?

There's the issue of having a 2 in our hand and being OOP. I'd fold tiny pairs vs. a lot of people, too.

help me understand the flop preflop
A CO bully has been trying to steal blinds with 10-3 6-3
we are short handed
we have an ace lessening the odds that villian has one let alone a big one
granted its a most weak ace suited nothwithstanding
but isnt a three bet punch to the face the best way to stop a blind bully
especially when that gets us heads up?

I don't particularly care about or want to stop him from being a "blind bully". 3-betting with A2s in this scenario is purely a value play and has nothing to do with sending him a message, imo.

So I included the blurb about the bb just for the inference that villain wouldn't be opening any tighter than he might vs me. I'm open to pf arguments but think we have significant value in this hand, both alone and within my range. Show me some stoves if you think otherwise.

Wacky, I think your questions get to the point--what do I want to do here. I think it's fair to say I'd be happy if I could get him to fold something paired and he's shown me a willingness to fold a pair in a somewhat similar spot (worse board for him and my range is narrower, though). Anyone care to put him on a range and maybe we can figure out whether I give too many free cards to check?

got to be joe right? id check fold turn cause i love joe. i came here looking for jesse888 and saw this.

whats jesse name on here? 888 or something?

i like the 3bet pre. i think the turn really depends on your read. if you barrel the turn and donk check river, will he still value bet a 7? if taking the c/c turn line (and he's induceable), i'd probably c/c a brick river ui. really depends on his bluffing frequency. pretty much, the more aggressive dude is, i'd c/c down ui and the more this guy misses thin value bets, i'd be barreling turn.

If we're gonna be a monkey, we should fling poo. Bet/call turn, bet river with initiative, folding if unimproved.

lol you really need an answer?

Villain opens CO and I 3bet A2 from the SB and villain calls. 7SB.

FLOP: QJ7.

I bet and he calls. 4.5BB.

TURN: QJ7 4

I check and he checks. 4.5BB.

Hearts are clear bets but I'm not sure what to do if I river an A. What other cards have the most clear actions?

interesting hand.

definitely 3b pre vs this villain. a2s has plenty of equity vs. a 40% opener and if this villain has opened T3s and 63s in this spot obviously he's looser than 40%.

i think you have to bet the turn - some better aces might fold, some 6 outers might fold which is nice, the hand is easy to play if you get raised. from a gto perspective A2s is in my bluff range. the bottom of my range is 20 combos of kings (KT, K9s), and i have like 130 value combos if you value bet all pairs.

as played, i dunno, nothing fancy i guess. bet an ace (and call a raise) or a heart, check-call if the board pairs or a deuce, fold the rest.

I agree with this. Also, preflop is not close.

on an A i consider k/c. we may induce a bluff from Khi even though villain's hand looks a lot like Ahi. i'd prefer not to bet an A since if villain raises, we'll have to call. unless you think a bet may induce a bluff raise from this villain.

you say, "hearts are clear bets," but i find a k/r compelling to induce a bluff from hands that would've folded otherwise. if you don't expect villain to bluff often, then i like betting better. it does look a lot like he wants to showdown, which is a case for betting.

on a rivered 2 i like betting for value expecting to get calls from all of his Ahi and maybe some Khi's.

on a 4 i like k/c.

on a 7 i like k/c.

Q or a J probably k/c.

K, T, 9, are a little tougher.

what range of hands would you give villain after he checks back the turn?

Is this against the jeweler?

As always, the crux of it. Start with very few pairs, if any. I don't know if he turns a 4 and checks or folds the flop with 55. Probably no to either. Lots of aces, if not all of them. If he's opening as wide as I think he might be, he probably has to call the flop with a lot of kings, too. After that, he's got some loose peels didn't turn a backdoor, so things like 65d and 86c would have bet turn. Probably very few hearts.

Villain opens CO and I 3bet A2 from the SB and villain calls. 7SB.

FLOP: QJ7.

I bet and he calls. 4.5BB.

TURN: QJ7 4

I check and he checks. 4.5BB.

RIVER: QJ7 4 K

I... check intending to fold?

Against a perfect player you probably should check/call. We should check/fold to exploit someone who doesn't bluff enough in this spot.

maybe bet this particular river? out of all hands you get to river this way A2s is pretty low. you rep AK/AT/all Kx from preflop.

Also tempted to bluff T rivers but that may be too much, though not sure how to quantify 'too much' (for given river card, we're bluffing too much with parts of our range ; or given we have A2s, we're bluffing too many types of river cards)