Hand one: I just sat down with 2k. Villain in hand is a very good but very lag pro, and he raises a lot pre and will get it in fairly light if he feels committed on the flop. He views me as a nitty reg. He covers me. Nothing really notable about the others in the hand. No short stacks. It uses the rock, and villian is the rock in LP.

I'm in the CO and first to act pre with AdKxTx7d and I call $10. 5 calls, to the villain who makes it $70. He'll usually have a decent hand, but definitely raises more hands preflop compared to other regs, especially hands like this where no one raised. Basically, he'll push pretty thin edges. Anyway, I call, as does pretty much everyone else.

Flop AT9 rainbow, $350ish in the pot. Checks to villain who leads $240. I feel like folding is bad, but I'm not thrilled about getting in here. On the other hand, it's a multi-way pot and there are so many draws, that I hate most turn cards. What's the play on the flop?



Hand 2: Villain is bb and the $10 rock, and is a passive fish that's been winning. I have about 2k and he covers. A few folds to me, and I opend from MP to $40 with Ax9c4cAx. Guy to my left calls, as does Villain.

Flop 9d9hTd. Pot is $125ish. Villain checks, I bet $100, other guy folds, villain calls. Turn 4h. Villain checks, I bet $175, Villain check-raises to $500. My impression of this villain is that he does bluff some, but I don't know if a bluff-raise here is in his arsenal. I considered all three options of folding, calling, and shoving, and I think folding and shoving are the two best. Thoughts?

Hand 1: If he views you as a nit, does he fold 99xx to a re-pot? Does he think that ragged AAxx are in your limp-call range here? Fold seems weak as hell, and I am pretty sure I get it in here almost all the time, but I think that long-term fold might be more +EV than raising. Calling sucks as well, since we basically need an A/T or low diamond to feel good about our hand. Any other card 7 or higher simply sucks.

Hand 2: Does he call off all 9x to a shove? In that case, shove. Why do you feel that call is bad, is it because he will not continue bluffing and/or bet/call a 9x on the river? Can he have a wrap or a hand like KQJ9 here?

Hand 1 I feel forced to raise. We definitely can't be folding, and a call makes later streets hard to play. Its not a fist pump if he puts it in, but I expect to take it down here a lot and be flipping most of the time he calls.

Hand 2 is a fold based upon the read.

First off, thanks for the response. He definitely knows that AAxx could be in my limp-call range, with how deep we are. I could only repot to about 15% of my stack, and he would expect I would limp the first time around, since he knows I limp a lot in these loose, live games, even as the first in with bad AA.

As for hand two, now that I've reflected on it a big more, calling isn't as bad as I originally thought, and it might be better than shoving. If I think he's bluffing some of the time, a call makes more than a shove, even though most of his bluffs are draws, since he might bluff the river. I'm not sure if this player plays K9xx this way, since he would be worried about draws on the flop. I feel like he's got a huge hand or a draw, and I'm not sure he has the check-raise semi-bluff in his arsenal.

Hand 1 - So we're 5 way to the flop? This is very, very close to me between a raise/gii and a fold. The problem we're facing is that we're 5-way to the flop with top two pair, and nobody has capped their range yet. 3 players checked to the raiser, which presumably they would do with all two pairs, all sets and nutted kind of draws (AKQJ, QJT9, QJ87, etc.). So they could still have everything. V bet 2/3 pot, which presumably he does with all the hands that beat us and good draws too, plus some bluffs. If we raise and get called by any of the remaining players, we're either drawing to make top boat or trying to dodge a lot of the deck. So basically we need to get through 4 players which I think pushes it to a fold, but it's very, very close and raising may be better than folding. Calling is a disaster, there are almost no good turns and we may go 3- or 4-way to the turn in which case we have to dodge like 2/3s of the deck.

I would definitely raise if we were 3-way or head's up, and I would also raise if we had better relative position on V. If for instance we were to V's right, and the other players had all folded or called (which removes sets from their ranges generally) I would raise.

This is also one of the spots where I may say it should be a fold when not playing, but in game I'd definitely raise.

Hand 2 really depends almost entirely on the meaning of the read that V is a passive fish. There are a lot of people who are just never raising turn without a boat. Probably a fold if our read is that he's one of those players. If it's not a fold it's a call, never raising.

Thanks for the response. My hunch is he would not fold 99 for a few reasons. The board is draw-heavy enough that I could have hands other than sets pretty often. Even though he knows I could have AA, it's not that likely since I would have raised preflop more often than not. I feel pretty much the same way about it. I wasn't happy at all getting it in, but felt like it was the best of a bunch of bad options.

The more I think about hand 2, the more I think folding is right.

Hand 1: shove

Hand 2: fold

But there was 350$ in the middle and he bet 240$ with less than 2k behind right?If you meant preflop agree akt7ss should not be reraising.

I really dislike shoving hand 1, I think its close between call and fold

Hand 2 I'm not sure how much we are risking, I don't like fold but calling might be better than shove

Hand 1 is a call against this villain. I may be wrong but I doubt a pro is betting flop with a dominated range here. I call and see what he does on certain turns. Calling keeps your range disguised and thus protected from him barreling turn scare cards
Hand 2; I’m inclined to call. Ask your self what would villain do with a naked 9 and Ah or a bunch of higher kickers? Same question with 4s full? Same question with 9T and TT.


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Not questioning your advise, just your argument. If 2 players over-call you are getting almost 4:1 for your 2:1 "dodge" chances. And when you do "dodge", say offsuit 5 on the turn, your hand looks like a winner more than half the time. I've been out of it for a while; where am I thinking wrong? Excepting of course one of these others may raise.

Hand 1: Yes, the problem here is your position vis-a-vis the other players.
[A1] If they correctly check-to-this-raiser because he's quite aggressive, then top two is a big favorite against him.
[A2] If they are incorrectly checking to the raiser, then you have 3 opponents who could have any set and a LP better who, at worst, has A9. Ugh.
[B] If they don't auto-check-to-the-raiser then you have a no brainer raise.

Lets go back and review "position" in the books. This squeeze is foreseeable before the flop and argues for folding to the pre-flop raise, since the nature of your hand is such that the most common good flops are indeed top-two pair. Non-nut hands play far better in position. Play pre-flop hands early that flop big hands or big draws.

For those who cannot decide between folding and raising, I think it desirable to put in aggressive action when its close as this encourages you to get action with your better hands. Especially if you are perceived as a "nit".