Villain ($500): 20ish WG, came in with his friend a couple hours ago and is clear he is the more experienced poker player as he helps his friend navigate the live game (what a straddle means, when he must turn over his hand, etc.). He is a decent TAG for 1/2 but seems like he is more of an internet player based on his sizings (very small for live), although he seems to have started adjusting in some spots. Has a serious vibe to him and he's definitely watching the action closely.

Hero ($600): 30ish WG, should have a TAG image to V. We only played one other hand together where he 3! my MP open OTB and I had to fold middle PP on the turn. His 3! was only 2.5x my initial raise.

OTTH... Hero opens AK to $12 UTG + 2, folds to V in BB who 3! to $30. Hero 4! to $100, V calls.

Flop ($200): KQ6. Villain checks. Hero??

4bet seems questionable and potentially catastrophic. Sizing is also kinda big.

As played bet would appear to be standard but I don’t think we ever get called by worse given pre.

Bet $125. Question is do you bet/call or bet/fold, because facing a raise would be sick? Would be nice to get him to fold AK, though, so I bet.

V’s line feels like a hand that would rather take it down pre than play post flop oop. I bet putting him on JJ/TT or Aqs, though I think he’s clever enough to fold Aqs. A check raise would be daunting though....

$100 on flop (not folding). Shove good/brick turns. We'll at least get a flop call from AQ/QJs/JTs, FDs, etc. We're pretty much guaranteed to stack KJs/KTs on brick rivers, and AQ/Axss on A rivers (& get heroed by thinking player w/ these hands occasionally on bricks). Only thing I'm afraid of is QQ/KQs.

Alternatively, if we sensed this guy will just blast off turns/rivers if we show weakness, a check might be good. But don't think we have reads for that yet.

And why do we think villain can have QJ, KJ, or even AQ here?

The 4bet shouldn’t be a dollar over $70, as played you should be betting range here for a 1/4th sizing ($50) as it will put a lot of his middle to underpair hands in a funky spot, when we size up ($100+) it alows him to play pretty much perfectly against us. Just a heads up if V is actually “good” he will show up with AA here a ton.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

X back pot control. V 4b calling range is super narrow. He's never calling with worse on this flop.

What? That's a min-raise. Please never 4bet a legit hand with a min-raise. If you are going for some meta w/ 67s, maybe.

Because it's live LOL poker.

How many times have you seen a “decent TAG” 3bet an EP raise out of the blinds with QJ without any callers in between?

He 3-bet your UTG open from the BB, from my experience people on these stakes do it with a very strong range, I[d give him TT+ and AQ+. He calls a big 4-bet OOP. Again, suggests strength, though if you're playing deep he still might be calling with all the pocket pairs (TT+) to hit a set. He probably folds AQ.

I'm probably just calling the 3-bet with AK in position, we're rarely in great shape if our 4-bet gets called. As played though, I'm checking back the flop, all the worse hands are going to fold. I might go for a thin value bet on the turn if it's checked to me but I still doubt TT and JJ are calling, maybe go for some funky 1/5 pot bet to try and make those hands call. If the guy starts betting I probably call one street and fold river.

Last time he 3bet H, H folded on turn, so maybe he thinks H is weak? Maybe he flatted the 4bet to "see a flop." If he's a true TAG, we are probably screwed, so maybe checking behind and playing a little pot control is wise. If he's playing the player based on the previous 3bet, maybe betting is better.

Interesting spot. I think I like calling pre-flop somewhat better than 4betting with AKs in EP, being 3bet from the blinds with no callers in between, an extremely rare situation to begin with in a live game. I also like the price we're getting.

As played I would bet like 60 or check behind. To be honest, if I got check/raised I'd be really lost, mainly because you're going out of your way in your description to give this guy credit for being a serious player that knows what he's doing, but at the same time I'm thinking "what kind of serious player would ever 3bet 2.5x here oop?"

Anyway, I would want to tread lightly. I'm not too happy about the situation we're in.

His 2.5x 3bet size is interesting, coming from what looks like an internet player. To me, in general, this usually signifies a wider, more depolarized 3bet range, as the sizing encourages the opponent to continue with most of their range. When done in position, the range would be something like {88+, AQ+, ATs+, KQ, KJs}, some other suited broadways/Ax

The confusing spot comes when he does it out of the BB. The BB is a more polarized 3bet spot, and obviously out of position. Given he seems like an internet player, I'm still willing to give him a somewhat wide 3bet range here.

Preflop: I like the 4bet. I probably go a bit smaller, around $80. This applies a lot of pressure to his potentially wide 3bet range OOP.

Flop: I like a small range bet here, around $60. I think he can still have AQ at times here if he gets stubborn. I also don't expect ever getting value from his underpairs later on in the hand, so checking back seems like a negative freeroll. If you think he will get out of line & bluff way too often when you check back, I like that line as well.

The cold call of your 4bet makes me feel pretty good that you're only worried about QQ here--MAYBE KQs who made a move with a 3bet and now will "see a flop." I think AA/KK shoves on you pre most often, and KQ is rare. $100 on flop gets FDs to come with you, as well as hopefully not folding out JJ-99.

When you 4bet AKs, what flop were you hoping for? This one isn't the worst you could have ended up with. On a brick turn I'm prepared to go broke with AK, personally. AA has to worry about KK here on a turn bomb.

A "cold call" is something else, I think.

Also, what flushdraws, realistically there's like one whole combo of 'em. And in what universe would a 100 dollar bet not fold out JJ-99 here? Not that keeping those hands in should be a concern by the way.

Just quarter psb otf, checking here is pretty meh imo. 1/4 sizing in 4b pots is pretty std GTO, and in practice I suspect people will defend very poorly against that sizing than say 1/2 psb, where he folds everything but NFD/Kx/AA/AK/QQ and doesnt have the option to spaz/make calling mistakes. i bet $50-55

4b pre is fine, although i would probably size down a bit but it's w.e.

When I first saw the flop I thought it was pretty good since I hit one of my two cards but then this exact thought above came to my mind when I thought about his range. This possibly speaks to the fact that maybe I overplayed my hand with my four bet and sizing. I lose to the 7 combos of QQ+, although we do need to discount at least AA given the preflop action. It seemed like a WA/WB where giving a free card isn't that bad.

Hero checks.

Turn ($200): KQ6 J ... V leads $60. Obviously one of the worst cards in the deck for us. Can we do anything but call here?

I would have flatted pre. A 3-bet BB vs. EP should be extremely strong. If I have a 4-bet bluffing range here then I'd rather use weaker hands.

Flop check is fine. It's not great for our 4-bet range as he should have more KK/QQ than us. Not many worse hands can call us.

I call for this sizing. Likely bluffing spade rivers.

My thoughts are coming from the fact that in the only previous hand they had together, he put pressure on hero starting preflop and got hero fold OTT. Hero put money in with an OK hand and eventually gave up when pressured. Villain is described as observant.

You are right.

You really don't think villain ever gets cute with a suited A or suited connectors after successfully 3betting hero in a previous hand? (hoping to take it down but playable postflop) I'm giving him credit for that at least sometimes, especially against hero's image and history.

Nonzero percentage of nonbelievers who don't fold to the "same bet" in live poker after committing pre, IME. Again, based on the only read/history we have.
I don't understand the reasoning of this one. Can you explain?

You have no idea what your talking about...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is a finer point which I'd like clarification on. I imagine OP would as well, but I am asking selfishly. The lady is already ahead on grammar points.

Explain? Not seeing it that way, particularly when considering how much more narrow linear the 4b is compared to the 3bet-call.

It's hard to see any advantages checking has here compared to betting w this hand. We are going to have a betting range here, and AKhh is going to be part of that range 100% of the time for me. It's ahead of AA as a bet as it's likely a stronger/better combo to have (blocking KK/AA unblocking hands As) but also quite static and wants to in the pot now lacking backdoors.

AP I just fold turn.

My concern is that villain’s preflop range is quite possibly AK, JJ+