First post under this Alias, as I forgot my password to my other account and no longer use the email (if mods can help - I would be much appreciated!).

Btw - game is rake free.

£0.25/£0.50 NL (4 handed)

CO (£300)
Button (£70)
SB (£300)
BB Hero (£500)

CO straddles to £1
BTN straddles to £2

Hero is dealt 77

SB raises to £7.25, Hero calls, CO calls, Button calls.

Game is late into the night and table has been straddling to £2 95% of the time. SB is a professional older player who plays pretty conservatively. He hasn't been raising many hands in straddled pots, instead electing to call pre flop to play pots with CO and Button. CO is drunk and not particularly a great player. Calls too lightly pre flop and bets big when he has TP plus. Generally folds when he hasn't connected on flop. Button plays almost every hand and is a Pay Off Wizard post flop making hero calls with any pair when obviously beaten. I elect to call to entice calls from CO and Button and play a multiway pot hoping to hit a set. I also think SB's pf raising range is 66-AA, AK, AQ, AJ, KQ. KJs

Flop (£29) 552

SB bets £25, Hero ??

I think SB is betting this flop with near-enough 100% of his range. I figure I'm 50:50 vs his range here.

Hero calls. CO folds, Button raises all-in to £59. SB calls. Hero???

Pot at this point is £172. I have to call an extra £34. I'm getting 5:1 on a call which means I have to win 16.6% of the time to be +EV. I think there is a significant chance the SB will check down unless he has AA, KK, 55 or hits a pair on Turn or River.

Hero calls.

Turn (£206) 8

SB checks. Hero checks.

River (£206) 4

SB checks. Hero checks.

Thoughts on play (including Turn & River).

Thanks in advance.

bump

Thanks for the bump. Will write something up after this meeting, but in the mean time I took out the results, as they tend to bias people's advice, even in spoilers.

seems ok as long as you think there's a good chance of getting checked down. If villain blows you out on turn, you'll have to go. I don't expect to be good too often on river, but good often enough to justify the flop call.

So you're really playing short-handed 1/2, with one short stack.

I hope you mean that SB is a professional as in a doctor/lawyer-type, not that he's a professional card player. If he is a card pro, I hope this is a friendly home game, and not his main source of income, because the idea of a .25/.50 pro just fills me with sadness.

Pre is fine and super standard, imo.

Flop, I don't really care for the call on a paired FD board with loose players behind. Do you really think SB is c-betting here 100% four-handed? If so, I might raise/fold and try to get everyone to fold their equity against me with SDV to fall back on if we get call(s). Usually, I'd fold vs a player whose game I respect.

AP, I really don't care for the second call either. BTN basically just said "I have a five, a combo draw, or an overpair." You're only 18.76% against that range alone. Then SB said "I don't care what you're repping, I call and I feel no need to isolate." Looks like TT+/AcKc to me. Against those two ranges, you're not even getting to 9%
equity, plus you have to worry about SB's future bets.

If I ever got there, I guess I'd check back turn and river with a dry side pot too.

No, SB is a professional poker player. The casino has just been opened and only has .25/.50 or .5/1 tables. I believe the pro is a regular at other higher games at local casinos but wants this poker room to take off. I recognised him as a pro, as he used to present a poker channel programme here in the UK 10 years ago.

SB has been c-betting the majority of flops but that was when the game was 6-8 handed and he had position. After thinking about the hand, sb betting into 3 players, 2 who are fishy, looks like his range is narrower than I initially thought. Looks like a fold to me on flop. I felt at the time, the call was wrong.

Then when the button shoves, again, I was enticed by the odds but again felt wrong. I was fairly certain it would go check check but even still, I don't think I'm ever that much ahead.

Pre seems fine given stack size. I fold flop to the first bet. If SB is a good player, he's not c-betting 100% of his range into 3 players on a paired, low flop. Assume he's betting all overpairs though and suited clubs with overs, plus some of his overs that missed, but certainly not all of them. Also, if he's good and assuming that the short stack folds, he'll double barrel some of the overs on the turn, especially on scare cards even if they miss him. Think that turns it into a fold, because even when you're ahead on the flop you either fold some overcards when you're still ahead or pay him off when his overcards hit.

Fold to short stack shove as well. Once SB calls him hard to imagine he has many bluffs anymore other than overcards with 2 clubs, which is actually a great hand here.

AP turn and river seem fine. No need to bluff a dry side pot.

Garick, tried PMing you back but not allowing because of post count.

Ahh, gotcha. It should unlock pretty soon. I think it has a few days before it unlocks, as well as post count, just to keep scammers from signing up, running up post count in a few minutes, and then getting busy with the PMs. Drop me a line as soon as it unlocks and I'll see what we can do about your old account.

Okay will do