1/2 NL. Slightly more tight passive table. 8 handed.

Villain (UTG) ($110 stack): Loose player, late 20s/early 30s. Regularly calls people down with second pair, good kicker/top pair, no kicker. Plays in about 50% of hands, maybe a little bit less. Overall he is a losing player, but when he wins, he wins BIG.

Hero (HJ) ($180 stack): Tight aggressive player, has not been showing down lots of hands and has not played in too many hands thus far.

With one limper, hero raises to $8 with T T. BTN, SB and UTG call.

Flop comes 3 7 7. SB and villain check, and hero bets $12. BTN and SB fold and villain calls.

Turn comes J. Villain checks, hero bets $15 and villain raises to $45. Hero folds.

Was firing a second barrel on the turn a bad move? I was correct to fold to his raise, correct?

Your bets are very small relative to the pot, which could be perceived as weak and bluffable. I would bet at least 1/2 pot on flop and turn. As played, if you have a read that he is likely to be bluffing, you can call it off but you have to be ready to call river too. I would probably just fold though because check/call then check/raise usually means a strong slow-played hand.

Prob ok to bet again against this guy. Pretty routine fold now.

Appreciate the advice and insight, TripDoggs. In the future in this same situation, I will definitely bet a higher fraction of the pot on the flop and turn.

The flop sizing of $12 into $34 is a bit small. $17 is half pot and I would go with $17 to $20 personally vs 3 Villains.

On the turn, we need to think about a few things.

Why are we betting?

A. Value?
B. Protection?
C. Read it in a book?

Does this turn help my range?

Does this turn help Villain's range based on the actions?

Is our plan to blast 3 barrels here or get to showdown?


OP, if you wouldn't mind. Put some thought into these questions and reply so we can see where to go from here.

You bets are too small. Even preflop. You got to bet bigger in order to read opponent at the flop. When the flop comes down you got to read him based on your preflop raise and the texture of the flop and his reaction to that texture.

On that flop of 3,7,7 your preflop raise should blow away 33 and any hand with a 7 in it. The 88, 99 will play but you beat those. The JJ+ will have re-raised so you can eliminate those too. When the flop comes down paired like you have in this situation, there's 8% per villain against to have trips. With one villain only 8% he's got one card to match that pair and 92% he's not got it. With two villains there is a 16% one of the villains got trips and 84% they don't have it. So, you play the remaining of 92% or 84% against them and bet at that flop and if you have position on him/them you call and float and bat/raise the turn.
You actually play the big chunk of percentage they don't have it.

Do you understand what I'm talking about?

I appreciate the response, paratrooper99. I was value betting the turn, but I should've realized that it was very possible that he held AJ and floated or had a hand like JJ or a 7, being out of position hoping I would bet again.

The turn very possibly could have helped his range and with a call, and a check on the river I would have checked it back. In the future, as played, against the same opponent, I think I will just check back the turn and see how the river plays out.

Thank you again.

Outdonked, your response was very informative and helpful. I appreciate it and completely understand where you are coming from and how what you said can help me going forward.

In the future, I will absolutely raise a higher amount pre flop and bet higher fractions of the pot. The one thing that has really stood out from everyone is to bet higher fractions of the pot, and doing so did me well today at the table. Thank you everyone for your help!!