1/3 mostly passive and nitty table. a few fish and maybe 1 lag who is feeding the game. this particular hand came up about 3 hours into hero's session.

Hero(~400): mid 20's hyper tag. has been solid the whole session. never out of line. folded a lot of hands pre. has won a few uncontested pots. has been aggressive pre with premiums that were not shown down. half the table may view him as lag and are getting sick of being pushed out. hero lost a big pot about an hour earlier where he shoved with KK on a 10 high board and was called by a lady with A10. sure enough she binked an A on river and got a high five by an older gentleman in the 10 seat..lol!! has not tilted or spewed since then.

Villain(identical stack thereabout): late 20's regular. standard tag. only have played with him the night before throughout a long session. doesn't get out of line. lost a 1700+ 3way all-in pot last night, where his KK was called by a 67o for 100 pre and got stacked. seems to be over it. has folded probably more than hero.


A few EP limps to MP who makes it 15.
Folds around to V in SB who calls.
Hero looks down at AA and 3bets to 50.
One EP limper ships for 27 total.
MP shoves for 75 total.
V calls 75.
Hero calls 25 more.

Flop J 6 3.

V checks quickly. Hero?

V's range is relatively narrow. Calling MP's original raise and flatting my 3bet is sneaky(polarized?) Unsure what to do. I hate these situations in protected pots. Hope this isn't standard.

I think a bigger raise pre would've been better maybe something like 70-80 on that flop you need to bet, this isn't a tourney so you don't need to check it down. You'll have the best hand here almost everytime but there are some scare cards the turn can bring so I would be around 150 hoping to get it in

$125 on flop and jam all turns.

I'm assuming we can't re-raise after all the shoves, cuz obviously do that if possible.

Looks like pot is ~$250 with effective stacks being $325, so obviously we are committed. I'm not too worried about the flush draw (did he call preflop with KQs or something?), although it's possible it kills our action if it comes in. I don't think checking back is all that bad because at this point I know I'm getting in the rest of my chips and I'm just hoping a worse hand can pay me off. TT/99 might make some sorta hero calldown if we check it back. AJ/QQ will never make a hero laydown if we check it back (not that they would regardless). It would be nice for AK to catch a K on the turn, or perhaps bluff at pot to get us out and take their chances against the all-ins. We can still easily get the chips in on the last two streets.

And if we're coolered by JJ, whatever, we're never getting away from our hand.

ETA: I don't hate the obvious line of betting the flop to easily get the rest in on the turn. But the dryer the board, the more we can get tricky here to try to extract some value. Apart from the flush draw, this is a pretty dry board.

GcheckingbackthenutsG

Paying attention to stacks when not involved presents itself here. We have a guy with $75 opening to $15. When we have a caller in between, and a hand we want to get our stack in with, we need to size it so that the action will remain open if he jams.

$45 pre. This makes our raise $30 and if he puts in his stack, its still a full raise and if the villain wants to call the $75 'all day shove' we can overbet.

Was the betting closed pre when it came back to you? I'd have raised pre to set up a flop shove.

yes guys, the betting was obviously closed pre. otherwise I would have clicked it back. we're only 133 BB deep. this wouldn't be a spot to flat pre.

sorry, didn't mean to sound like a d*%k either :/

*raises hand* I saw it was closed and that's why I suggested the sizing help.

+elventyone11!!

Nuff said...

If I did the quick math right, then you have about $325 left and about $250 in the pot, so you still have plenty of room to work with. Here is what I would do. I would ignore the main pot (for now). I would play this as a heads-up situation where you and your opponent are both fairly deep here.

Like you said, his range here is pretty tight and the strength of your hand is concealed by the fact you couldn't re-open pf. It is really good situation to be in. I think you can always manipulate him into stacking off with KK/QQ maybe even TT/AJ (if AJ is in his range).

I would bet, but not huge. Maybe something like $50. If he calls, I would bet $100 on the turn and then shove the river. By that time, the side pot and main pot are so huge that there is no way he is folding his overpair.

You have him crushed here and you need to take max advantage of it by slowly reeling him in.

go at least 60 pre.

like GG's reasoning for checking the flop. your committed no matter what, so checking allows you to extract some extra value from hands that may fold to a flop bet

Not sure why this is even a thread, such a favourable board. Just sort out your preflop raises vs shortstackers so you can keep the action open.

As played bet/shove turn.

As its such a dry board you'll get it in vs like all PP's, all club clubs and sometimes AK/AQ. Checking it is a waste I think.

I like betting smaller than checking the flop. By betting small, we might convince him to call with TT/99/AK/AQ while building a bigger pot. The bigger pot might level him into calling it off with those hands that he would normally fold.

The $50 bet leaves us with $275 to get in over two streets as opposed to $325. It is a subtle but important difference.

I shove flop.

The last thing I want to do is give him implied odds to hit a straight/flush draw, which betting $125 does, and I struggle to think of any hands that will call a flop bet that we want to call. QQ/KK almost certainly reraise the MP shortstack preflop, is he calling with tens??? AJ ??? I doubt it.

^That

Preflop is fine but agree that you should have paid attention to short stack's stack size so you could keep the action open and re-raise if he shoved and other people called. What exactly is a hyper TAG?

Way too much info in Op that's unnecessary.

Bigger pre. Bet/get it in.

Yes this is super standard

What I find interesting is that whatever V is holding, he made at least one big mistake preflop. He calls a raise while in the SB for $15, then after it gets three- and four-bet, he flats for $60 more, with only $575 in possible winnings out there. So if he has KK, QQ, or JJ, the first call is awful and the second call is only pretty bad, as he does not have set-mining odds but could be flipping/ahead vs. AK. If he has suited cards, the first call is bad, the second is awful. If he has a lower pocket pair, his first call is OK but his second call is awful.

So we have a V who, whatever he has, we know will make mistakes. This inclines me to shove the flop, as he probably will call with pocket pairs, flush draws, and AK enough to make up for the times where he has JJ, 66, or 33.

P.S. Not too much info in the OP, IMO. I would always rather have more than I need (which isn't even the case here) than not enough.

Ugh. He is never going to call a shove with 99 here unless he totally levels himself into it. Shoving the flop is going to force him to play perfectly and only get it in with KK/JJ/maybe QQ or AKcc.

If we massage the pot with smaller bets, we have a chance to get it in with TT/99/AK/AQ if we get lucky and he hits.

When we have a range crushed like this, we need to take a line that gives us the best chance to maximize. That is not shoving unless we get really lucky and he is holding KK.

I think I still like a check back on the flop, which makes it more likely that your ******o bet of $50 on the turn (although I'd go more) plus our easy river shove will be called.

shove pre, you don't want a chance to get cracked by 3 hands, at least try to get V out, even if he has the potential to double your stack, if he's a solid tag hes not shoving against you with less than a set. As played, a standard 2/3rds pot bet is enough to get info off V.

You're seriously shoving 400 preflop against a 15 open + call ?

I like a raise to 45 pf to keep betting action open seeming how MP only had 75 left. That would leave V calling the shove by MP, and then you clicking it back. Hell, even a min-raise to 105 is good here, and I don't think V is folding when he has 75 invested and only has to call 30 more with all the dead money in. My choice would of probably been to around 115-125 click back. That leaves villian with around 275-295 left, and a 80-100 bet on the flop, and easy shove on turn.

Like art.

pretty nitty and probably too careful. i fold more than most.