H 40 something long haired hippie look. At about hour 15 of this session so far, but doubt villain knows that. Playing mostly tag, switching gears towards lag for a few periods of time due to good winning image. Don't think anyone has noticed though as I've gotten away with the switch each time without showing weak hands. Have changed seats several times due to changing lineups to gain more favorable positions. This actually caused a running joke at the table and several times my seat change caused 2 or even 3 others to change as well. Got to be where the new guy coming to the table would have no idea where he would end up getting a seat.

V mid 20 educated white kid. Obviously better than most horrible 1/2 players. Solid fundamentals but also obvious he struggles against other good players. C-bets nearly 100% of time regardless of field size which I think is a leak for him. Probably a little scared money. Wearing winter hat pulled so low it was touching the top of prescription glasses. Also had a hoodie which he would pull up to cover his face when involved in a pot. Was sitting 3 to my left, but when I came back from a 50 minute dinner he was sitting on my direct left. 2 hands later I moved to be 3 to his left again. I got the vibe that this villain was not comfortable playing pots with me.


V (~500) raises to 17 over everyone else ahead of him limps.
2 random calls
H (~800) 10,7dd calls on the button
1 field limper calls as do both randoms between me and villain.
Flop (75) Jd, 9d, 3x
Field player checks
V bets 60
2 random folds
Hero thinks for a bit checking out villain, hoodie pulled up so that only his eyes are visible. Eyes darting around like crazy between looking at me, the dealer and off into space. Then hero ultimately calls. This took maybe 90 seconds
Turn (195) 9s
Villain thinks for maybe 60 seconds then checks
Hero does?

Always appreciate comments on all action.
Thanks

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If we weren't so deep I would just raise and try to get it in on the flop, but because we are deep I like the call.

Is he c-betting 100% of the time even in bloated multi-way pots like this? Have you seen him check fold the turn to a bet multiple times? If he IS always c-betting in this situation, and check folding a lot of turns, you can definitely argue betting here to take him off his hand. And situations like this are a big part of the reason that position is so valuable.

But if you bet ~ half pot and he calls, we are in a huge pot deep stacked against a competent opponent with <30% equity going to the river. You can still make it profitable by shoving all rivers that hit, and about half that don't. But it will be a high variance play.

So if you don't mind some swings in your bankroll, make the play. If you want to avoid some variance I think peeling a free card and re-evaluating river is fine too.

Calling the flop limits your options significantly on turn, because most people consider that board to be wet: flush draw and straight draw with broadway cards.

So by flatting the flop, you will have a tough time selling to V that you have a value hand without history.

And from the tone of your post, it doesn't seem like playing for stack is in your plan...change that.

I like a bet here against described V, unless you think there is any possibility of his raising.

A check behind on the flop is fine, too. You are deep.

Sounds like an argument to raise, not the other way around.

The other player, especially playing with scared money, literally has to be holding the stone-cold nuts to be willing to play for stack. Threat of playing a big pot and against someone that intimidates him equals big FE.

As I wrote, I like a bet. However, having to bet/fold stinks, and I'm not playing for stacks here.

A raise on flop might have been good, but we are past that.

I would be the turn on the smaller side (~$80-$100). I'm assuming that one of the reason that you flatted T7 pre-flop was so that you could take the pot away at some point during the hand.

If he c-bets 100%, his range is very weak on the turn. Most of the time, he's not even going to have a pair. If V is scared of hero, a c/r is almost never going to happen.

I like the smooth call with your image/dynamics.

This isn't a great barrel card for you though. He's shown a lot of interest in this pot, and I think his plan is either to check/call or check/raise you.

I prefer a check here. If the river is a brick, I'd consider betting if he checks or raising if he bets. He's likely to fold if he's taken out of his comfort zone. My hunch is that check/calling the turn is well within his comfort zone. Bet/calling the river might very well not be. (This depends a ton on physical table reads, though. If you can't get a read on him or if your read is that he's trying to trap, just check behind.)

I don't like the board pairing because hero can hit his hand and still lose. Given the relatively deep stacks and weakish combo draw, I might check hoping to hit. If river blanks, I'd probably bluff the river if V checks again.

How has V responded to his cbets being called/raised? He's obviously cbetting with missed hands a lot. Against this V, I may bet to try to win it now. I think this hand is very read dependent.

All the choices are pretty close here but I think Pf, this is probably a fold though I love making this mistake and seeing pots in position with hands like this.
OTF, you have to raise. V Cbets too often and has shown fear AND you have a big hand, so raise. You can win the pot now or create a bigger pot for when you hit or set up a play to take it away on the turn. If you get re raised on the flop, you have a lot of equity and position. V is unlikely to shove to your raise given his tentative profile. And if he does, your hand has a ton of equity.
As played, bet turn. I think you have a lot of FE, and plenty of outs if called, again, Vs tentative profile likely means he's not check raising. If he does, you can fold to a shove, possible call a min raise if the odds merit. Bet 120, that leaves V w 300 if he calls but probably takes down the pot very often.

Results;

Hero cuts 20 from a stack of reds, adds them on top of a full stack and slides out 120 without saying anything.
V tanks for a few minutes which was very hard on me. The only part of his face I could see were his eyes behind those precipitation glasses. Man they were darting around like crazy going from me, my bet, my stack, the pot and the dealer. Thought he was going to make himself dizzy. Was very hard for me not to laugh. I probably did crack a slight very genuine smile. He ends up sliding his cards into the muck, but wasn't happy about it.

A couple of hands later he tried to get me to tell him what I had. I didn't answer, but did say if he called it could have been fun to see a 1k pot in a 1/2 game. He responded that he thought I was willing to go all the way with it and he didn't want to play that big of a pot. Think my comment helped shape the rest of our session together.

Late on I was able to seat change to be on his direct left. We chatted a bit and he mentioned he wasn't happy about me changing to be on his left. I responded that I wasn't happy to see him sitting on my left when I came back from dinner. When he was racking up to go home he told me he had A,J and asked what I had. I told him straight and flush draws. He said that was what he put me on as most likely hand, but wasn't sure and didn't want to play for stacks in that spot.

My thought process:
-This deep in position against this villain with bloated pot I'm perfectly fine calling PF. I can sometimes win the pot without hitting and on right board could play for a huge pot.
- If we were shallower, I would have raised flop. However this deep still had enough left to maneuver on later streets. He could be c-bet with two over cards. Also, sometimes a flat call looks stronger than a raise against some villains. If checked to on the turn, I can safely fire 100% knowing he is never going to c/r me. Worst that he could do is check call when I bluff on a turn brick. If he fired turn, I would evaluate based on what I thought his bet size indicated.
- betting turn as a semi-bluff if missed was the plan, choose 120 as it was double his flop bet, which was about 2/3 of pot. Against most 1/2 players 120 looks huge from absolute size standpoint. Thought this villain would judge size relative to pot size and not be sure if I was bluffing missed draw or betting for value.





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