UTG+2 (~$300): I've never played with this guy before tonight, but we already have plenty of history, because he plays every hand. White male, mid 40s. I'm not sure if he's ever played in a casino before, because he was very awkward when he first sat down. He didn't seem to know how to properly look at his cards and wasn't sure when the action was on him. He also has his chips arranged in stacks of $25 instead of $50 or $100.

Hero (covers): White male, early 30s.

Hand 1: We got in a pot earlier where I raised one limper with QJ and Villain was only caller. I fired two barrels on a J-7-x flop and 7 turn. Spade hit the river and we both checked. Villain showed KJ.

Hand 2: He called my c-bet on a Q-T-3 flop with 43 (after limping and calling a raise preflop).

Hand 3: He called a reg's ~$100 shove on a Q-9-4-T turn with 84 (got there).

Basically he limps every hand and calls almost every raise after doing so.

2 limps, I raise to 14 on button with AA, UTG+2 calls, other limper folds.
Flop (33): J-6-5, rainbow
He checks, I bet 20, he calls.
Turn (73): 5
He checks, I bet 45, he calls.
River (163): 8
He bets 25, I ???

Can we raise this river for value? This guy is so erratic, I have a hard time figuring out what he's doing. Villain has ~$200 behind after betting the river.

I think I could have set this hand up better by betting 25 on the flop and 65 on the turn, given his propensity to call everything.

all in based on history. He may have trips+ but whatever you beat so much.

You beat a lot but I play vs players like this a lot. He hasn't raised you at all so I can only assume he is very comfortable with his hand. I think we are going vs a 5, I think his range is to wide and knowledge of the game is too low to raise him on this river. You have never seen him bet out, normally new-ish players will be doing this with a hand they are comfortable with. So i call and probably burn 25$ for information. But I think we are beat here a lot. We are able to beat a lot of hands but vs the history of the villain i don't think the type of hands he can bet the river with, we are able to beat.

edit: it would be interesting to see you call and he does this with a J, because you did double fire and I assume you didn't show him the QJdd when he pipped you. So he could think you are bluff happy.

Flat river for said reasons.

Your sizing OTF and OTT are too small IMO. Bet full pot. This guy is likely not keeping track of pot sizes anyhow.

I raise to 100 for value. If you think he will call a shove, then I would shove.


You are only worried about trip 5's and maybe 79? you beat a huge majority of his range, and he calls off with a huge majority of his range. Pretty easy raise for value here, just a matter of how much you think he will call.

If he's literally calling just about any raise pre, raise bigger. Make it $20.

Have you seen him lead out on the river before? Is it always 2 pair+? Can it be top pair? If he can be raising a J here, I might just click it back or make it $60 for thin value.

These types of players used to be all over the limit hold em games and are now much more common in the LLNLHE games. They're awkward to play against on the river and so often the extracted value comes from making them pay maximum pf, flop and turn and then deal with the river because they rarely fold particularly when their running above expectation. Against this player your pf raise of 5xbb+2bb is standard. Your flop c-bet needs to be bigger in this spot against this player (he called 100 with bottom pair) and so should be closer to a psb if not a psb. The bigger c-bet maximizes value for your hand against this passive calling station. If your thought process was not to let the fish off the line then give him bigger bait. The same logic applies to the turn and so a psb or closer to a psb gets called as often against this player as does your 45:73 getting your nut over-pair maximum value. Folding 25:188 or ~7.5-1 with AA against a passive, unthinking and inexperienced player who donk bet into you on the river isn't profitable. Calling is the safe line but having seen this line against these players it more often than not has been a top pair hand (Jx). They like to check-raise bigger hands (trips, straights and fh). Since his donk bet was so small a small raise (75:188 giving him 50:263 or ~5:1 to call) can't be terrible and will get called often enough by worse to profitable. Against this opponent with your hand on this board its about playing abc poker to extract maximum value. Yes he's been running above expectation but that doesn't matter here, raise the river. However, shoving might be a little much considering your hand vs his all-in calling range (he has a limit with which he'll call Jx hands and it's unlikely it is all-in (his whole stack)). If you raise the river are you calling his re-raise?

Ya bad players like this need to be exploited with pot sized bets on all streets. A raise seems optimistic as he checked back TPGK in an earlier hand. Players like these call wide and value bet super small, which makes it easy to take advantage of. Don't level yourself you have one pair just call and take your cheap show down.

Given your previous two barrels that kept increasing in size, keep in mind this could be a blocker bet (something fish often do without really thinking about or understanding). In that case he's probably got a weak Jack.

But even still, I'm still flatting here. Even a fish is only going to call with better here, especially if it was a blocker. There's not much value to extract from raising, and when he did connect with 2p+, we're tossing money down the drain. Call for info. The good news is, he has to show first, so if we're beat we don't have to give any info of our own.

Nits ITT. You lose so much value if you don't raise non-nuts hands vs clueless pay off wizards. Big mistake not betting more vs this station in earlier streets though. Pot the flop.

Also for those that didn't notice, the board paired, we beat everything except 5x and 79.

Raise river to 140. Would he really only bet $25 on river with a hand that beats you? Seems doubtful.

It's hard to know how to interpret a $25 bet into a $163 pot from someone I have pegged as a total newbie. If it's a semi-experienced player, it screams "blocking bet," a hand that may be good but certainly not huge. However, who knows what to expect from this guy?

I think the best way to mitigate this dilemma is to pound the flop and turn as so many people have suggested. Let's assume I bet 30 on the flop. The pot is now 93 on the turn. Then I bet 75. The pot is 243 on the river and villain has 180 left. Now if he "donks," I can call and at least feel comfortable that the pot is big enough. Or if he checks, I can make another big bet (possibly shove) and expect him to call fairly often.

I have a tendency to make my c-bets too small as it is, and I especially need to get better at sizing bets according to the opponent, not just strength of hand and board texture. I'm guessing an apparent beginner like this has no concept of pot size. If he has shown he will call with just about anything, I might as well go for max value rather than worry about chasing him away.

Definitely raising for value. The way you beat 200NL live is by getting thin value in spots that others wouldn't, and this is a spot that definitely call for a value raise. He will have you beat some % of the time but he calls with worse a way higher %.

Not getting 3 streets of value on this board versus this villain is just terrible. He is never folding any jack here. Turn bet sizing stinks.

grunch: call

never heard such an extreme example of a calling station. however, when a calling-station villain, even a clueless one, suddenly shows aggression it usually means strength. he doesn't want to risk not getting "some" money on the river. of course the combination of the amazingly fantastic price he's giving plus the fact that he is indeed extremely clueless makes me discard folding as an option. but the bet-out would be enough to make slow down and just call.

good table to be at!

I called, and Villain showed J2.

Oops.

I don't think folding even needs to be mentioned, because if you're even entertaining the possibility of folding AA on this river getting 7.5:1, you should probably quit the game, haha.

This is a raise or call dilemma.

lol. agreed. just trying to look like a genius! (obviously i'm not).

fyi, i also agree op was correct in raising AA pre-flop. lol!

Disagree. Jx is a huge part of his range here, and he's not folding it to a raise. We're really ONLY worried about 5x, and this would be a weirdly played 5x. Flatting river against this Villain misses so much value.

As everyone has said, obv bet larger flop & turn against this Villain.