1/2 NL, 9 handed, four hours into session. Hero has one of the tightest images at the table. Villain is the only good villain at the table and is a TAG. Effective stack is $500.

OTTH

Villain opens $12 UTG and only hero calls OTB with A 4.

Flop ($27): K T 3. X-x.

Turn ($27): 5. X-x.

River ($27): 2. $16 and hero folds.

What would you change? I didn't want to 3 bet pre because it seemed like a bad idea vs the only good player at a table with a whale and a few other really bad players. Maybe bet flop, fire all turns that we pick equity up on?

whyd you fold what is known as the wheel

Obviously fold pre.

River fold seems questionable.

why are you folding river lol
Stab somewhere, after he checks flop and turn he has given up with the hand
not folding pre with 40:1 stack ratio and IP as well

River is an easy raise. What the heck are we scared of, 6,4?

Pre is fine at these stackdepths.

Flop is ok-ish with only 2 backdoors, but you do need to realize we have little to no SDV. I'm definitely betting if there is at least 1

Turn: Clear bet. We picked up a gutshot and have KJ/JJ/JT that we checked flop with as value.

River: You either made a typo in the HH or the monsters under your bed are scarier than anything i can imagine.

Sorry yeah, was very tired when I made this. River is supposed to be a brick, not a rivered straight lol

Fold pre unless the blinds are massive whales.
Why are we hoping to play a pot HU with the best player at the table?

Pre is fine. You have an acceptable hand to play in position against a good TAG, who should have a fold button.

Flop is fine.

B/f turn.

As played fold river.

This hand is a good example of how as your knowledge and skill progresses, your thinking about a starting hand changes.

The beginning player looks at A4s and thinks, "Wow, if I hit my flush, I'm going to be able to stack the villain. I'm calling." So they will call if they have the flush draw or TP, raise if they have the flush or straight or fold if bet into. TBH, most of the villains at 1/2 and a majority of 2/5 players never progress beyond this point.

Observent players start to realize, "I don't hit my flush often and when I do, everyone folds so they don't pay me off. My IO aren't as good as I thought." Then they start folding A4s because they realize they were losing money with their previous strategy.

The next level of understanding comes when you recognize patterns and figure out how to steal pots that the other player doesn't want to fight for. A classic pattern is someone who is checking across several streets. Maybe someone will check on this flop with a strong hand hoping to get you to bite. However, it will be extremely rare that someone won't bet with TP or even SP HU on the flop and turn. Your bet on the turn and if necessary, the river will take it. So now you've created value even when you didn't hit the hand. The value of the hand swings from unprofitable to profitable. You want to play it.

There are more interations to this, but they don't become necessary to beat LLSNL.

This was very very helpful and I took literal notes on this. Thank you!

3 bet or fold pre.

3-bet pre if villain is actually a good player. If you don't 3-bet, fold.

Bet turn, but otherwise post is fine.

Fold pre is the best line, even on the button.

Turn is a must bet. We picked up a lot of equity and it’s unusual at LLSNL for players to have a x flop x turn range that can go around calling bets OOP. You need 50% folds vs a pot size bet to make a stab break even (well actually you need a bit better than this with rake), in this scenario you will get more than 50% folds for 2/3 PSB, so it’s printing money.