Hi All,

I am slowly getting my edge back since I have been away from the game for several years, so bear with me here.

Played a session this weekend and this hand kinda stood out even though it wasn't a big hand but it was one where I felt alittle lost.

Background: Hero is middle aged, had a good run of cards and made some good plays, been at the table for a few hours and ran 300 to 600$ at 1/2. Table is typical loose passive with a few big stacks. Everyone is talking and having a good time, it looks like I am running over the table but I really just had a good run this past hour

Villain sat down two hands ago, older gentleman, well dressed, bought in for 100$ and folded the first hand, this is literally his second hand at the table. I feel he sees me as a loosy young punk, but absolutely no history yet.

Hand:

Hero raises in MP to 12$ with AJ
Villain calls on the btn
BB calls

Flop (35$): AT3

Hero bets 20$, Villain thinks for a few seconds and raises to 40$ (min raise), BB folds and hero is confused??

Please choose one and give me your reasoning...
A) Call and evaluate?
B) Fold?
C) Get it in?

Again, this is not the most exciting hand in my session, and not a super difficult spot but I feel it's a spot that comes up often enough that optimizing my line here should result in lots of value.

B) Older gents usually don't raise without a strong hand. While he may be bluffing with a draw, not enough info to determine this. Besides, you haven't crossed the commitment line.

Cbetting is good here, so at this price calling and evaluating seems fine. Villain could be doing this with a worse ace, lots of draws. FWIW I rarely see v’s who buy in for 50bb’s min raise sets, that’s just my observation.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's my thought, as well.

In a lot of scenarios, call and evaluate would be fine. But we are playing a guessing game against a complete unknown. If V shoves the turn, he'll shove $48 into $115 and create an awkward spot and give us a good price to call. But you avoid the situation altogether if you just fold to the raise and wait for more info.

I'd imagine that anyone advocating to call and evaluate the flop would also say we are priced in to call most turns.

Simply fold, burn $32, and move on instead of risking $100 on, what? A guess?

Probably fold. He doesn't do this with Ace-rag often and his range is weighted towards AQ+. He will sometimes have a flush draw but he's not folding now.

There may be some metagame reasons for jamming for a meagre 50bb if you think its helpful to show the table you can get stacks in light here. I would only do that if there are some deep stacked players who you think will make mistakes against you (pay you off light) from seeing you make this kind of play.

Pretty close. I think AK is a clear GII, AQ is probably a GII, AJ is the best hand I’d be folding here. This can be a possible leak on my part but I tend to give unknowns a little too much credit until they prove they’re clueless.

A) it's kinda hard to call and evaluate when V will have $50ish behind after the call.
B) Not a fan of especially 50bbs, but those min-raises be pretty nutty sometimes.
C) Top of his range is 33, AT, TT? V can have a combo draw here and shove (KQhh, KJhh, QJhh,) naked draw and is shoving...

Although V semi-bluffing is less likely, given that this is a 50bb pot, we have $32 of $100 eff comitted, I just GII

p.s. if villain started the hand with 70 or less, i think you should be willing to commit on this flop.

SPR of about 2.5 with TPGK on flop says call.

Or, fold and wonder what he had.

H could be ahead, could have redraws if behind, V could be on a pair with heart draw.

Calling and then folding after the turn would be stupid, so just get it in now and see what happens.

Prob a jam without a heart not deep. You can dump smaller aces.

You also could bet more on this flop, less had it been rainbow.

32% of the eff stack is in, I thought anything over 30% of eff stack in the middle is entering commitment territory?

I'm either shoving or folding, but I'd have to be at the table to know which. I'm fine with either, though. If you fold, never show!

Are you middle aged or a young punk?

You’re way to shallow to consider folding absent better reads so rip it in.

I'm not folding, he started with 50 big blinds. He could be seeing where he's at with Ax. I would jam now rather than lose him on a 3rd heart. he's prob not folding an ace.

lol at call and evaluate

and lol at old guy profiling you on his 2nd hand at the table

soul read him and rip it or fold.

don't think i'm folding to the guy who has bought in for $100 and has patiently waited one hand to gambol tho. I'd slide my chips forward and after he snaps i'd tell the dealer "no deuce, please"

After V raises there is $90 in the pot after the rake, so you're getting 4.5:1.
You don't have the J so there are 6 combos of flush draws w/o considering 98s & below.
He could have the same hand as you.
I think a short-stacked guy with AK/AQ often flats pre & goes for the gold post-flop when he hits.

I can't fold here. I shove & hope he's trying to get to the river cheap with a draw, rather than actualizing his equity with a set, 2 pair, or an ace with a bigger kicker. If I had the J my decision may be different, but I doubt it.

Based on what I have read, 40% is the line.

Pot commitment line is fuzzy, not really a line and not really a thing. Can be a nice rule of thumb, if you need it, to avoid weak-tight folds and maybe to temper button clicking aggression.

These are the situations where I'm playing my best I find a fold. What hands are we beating soundly? Almost zero. We are either way behind or slightly ahead.

OMC types are never going to make that play with a combo draw, they will almost always call. The question is, is he doing that with AQ+? or just some rando A?

He is so short stacked that you don't have any FE is you shove, so flatting doesn't have any merit either.

tough decision. In a vacuum I would lay it down. You only have 32 invested in the pot the min raise really looks strong. But if you have any table reads, I might rip it.

In my experience these short stackers are never folding TP. I think a jam is best at this stack size. If he was nutted id think hed raise bigger/jam since these guys are always afraid of "the suckout" when heart come in.

In most games, I am dumping this against an old guy. Shortstackers, especially older ones, are usually scared money. They aren't there to call preflop raises with A-7 off and get it in.

The flush draw to me, means he is raising all of his made hands to prevent a bad beat, rather than that he has a draw.

However, I have played in games, like in Windsor, where people routinely stack off top pair bad kicker and even second pair, and then I might shove.

The fact that this is his second hand and that he is well dressed might incline me more towards getting it in, as this might be someone who just came to gamble with some pocket money.

It's really just a judgement call. Very much an "it depends" hand. But I think saying you go all in here all of the time is probably a bigger mistake than folding all the time.

How is that guy an OMC? as some other poster said, he patiently waited for his second hand to gamble it up.

Anyways, I don´t see how we can ever fold as played with TP on a somewhat drawy board and SPR of 2.5

That´s what you created by 6xing it pre against a 50bb stack.

shove it in, nh.