Hey all, I have a friend (just a rec) that recently played 1/3 at mgm national harbor. I gave him some advice and just wanted to hear if my rationale is good.

H#1- Ok my friend is what $425 deep probably (not sure on exact #). button opens to $15, friend in SB makes it $40 with QQ. villain calls- J83 flop. Friend leads $40 into 80 pot? villain calls. Turn 2. friend bets $80, villian shoves (started hand with $500). My friend tank folds. Villian showed 22.

My thoughts on hand- I told him why is he 3betting so small? I feel the 3bet should be to something like $55-65? I'm probably making it 4x OOP. I told him this and he tells me the table was tight and folding to bigger sizing. I told him that doesn't matter, you shouldn't look to give everyone a great price to play against you in position. Flop , Turn here- I think the bet sizing is too small. I also found it a little meh he folded here. I may be wrong but I think you just have to get this in when you put so much $ in w/ an overpair. This friend irritated me by trying to slightly argue with the sizing thoughts. Think its never bad to go 4x with QQ from SB vs Button exchange but whatever.

H#2- Not much specific info- UTG Straddles to 6, friend makes it $20 from MP. 2 callers. flop 237 - friend bets $25, call call. turn 6. Friend makes it $45, a guy with $62 left calls, fold. River is a blank, friend checks, guy puts in $17 and he calls- guy shows k2 and my friend complains to me.

My thoughts on hand- Sizing pre can probably be like $24 but i guess i'm fine with 20. Flop- I would just play face up and start with a check. No reason to fire on this board against 2 villians. maybe i'm wrong but I think you are setting up a bad spot if you bet this flop and plan to continue. Also with betting- sizing should probably be bigger as you should have overpair when you do have a hand that wants to bet flop. Betting the turn to $45 when someone has $60ish left seems like a massive mistake in my mind also.

I think at 1-3 against 2 villians, people call too much- no reason to turn AQ here into a bluff and fire bullets. Just play face up and start with a X. I would be a bigger fan of cbet semi bluff here if we are against 1 opponent or even better- in position against 1 villian. Against 2- just shut it down in my opinion.

H2 is missing some info (suits, position of callers, etc)

Regarding H1 - I think your friend played it well save for some small sizing discrepancies. I agree that 3-bet should typically be bigger from SB but this is not terrible esp if button opens and calls 3-bets wide. Small flop bet on this texture is good. We are targeting marginal hands (Jx and sticky pairs that want to peel one in position - which is exactly what he got value from). If anything I would size up turn for value since we have narrowed his range after he calls and this (seemingly lol) is a brick. Good for him for folding to the turn c/r. This is classic Baluga theorem. We have 3-bet from the small blind and fired two barrels. V doesn’t care. Do you think he does this with AQ that floated flop or TT?

H1: Your point about 3 betting too small is right. Particularly playing from a blind you don't want to give the button reasonable odds. Taking this down preflop is fine.

On the flop the bet is OK as long as no flush draws are possible. It's a dry board but if flushes are possible I would step it up to $45/$50.

Turn sizing I don't like the same size bet because it will often induce a bluff raise from an aggressive opponent. If your nursing along a weak fish then it could be OK. Reaction to the check/raise is a live read situation but basic low stakes theory says that when raised on the turn one pair is now a very questionable hand.

H2: I'm assuming hero has the AQ you mention. C-bet is OK on such a garbage board occasionally. Continuing on the turn when the flop gets 2 calls is generally suicide. It's unlikely both are drawing or you can get both to give up.

The flop sizing is OK.Bet flop small/hammer turn is becoming a popular option in this situation so using it as a bluff can make sense. You need to hit the right targets though. Against clueless fish it doesn't work, it's a tactic to use against opponents with some sense about poker.

River is a live read. Villain putting in his last $17 in such a big pot could mean anything. Hero beats almost nothing but the amount is trivial compared to the pot.

Villain's play here is absurd. One of the key skills at low stakes is learning to recognize and adapting to these opponents. Normal logic doesn't apply and you have to get a sense for how these people play.

H1. NH, friend. You got your money in good until the turn when the villain hit his 2 outer. Looking to get folds pf reduces your EV. You want someone to call the 3bet. 40 is fine.

H2. Give up after 2 callers on the flop. Tell friend that if he had 88, would he be upset that someone called him down with a pair of deuces? That's what LLSNL is all about. Going after fat value with made hands.

H1- bet sizing to $40 seems terrible to me but maybe i'm wrong? I'm not a cash player so idk. I feel from SB, we can 3bet/fold a ton of hands so we should be betting bigger with our whole 3bet range (value/bluffs) + we want to discourage flats from oop. Personally, I would make it $55-60 in this spot- nothing wrong with inflating a pot with the 3rd best hand and we wanna charge for villian having access to play in position against us.

Making it $40 seems terrible. I feel if my friend in this instance makes it $60 and hammers flop, villian is find a fold with 22 but thats just me. I know in a vacuum- we don't want to think about how we do in 1 hand but I feel we wanna make SPRS smaller with hands that make overpairs quite often on flops and we are light years ahead of a button open range.

While most have agreed 3-bet sizing is on the small side OOP, your reasoning here is results oriented and wrong. We don’t size up because want V to “find a fold” with a 2 outer.

Also isn’t it better to have an spr around 3 vs 5 when we have a hand that can easily make an overpair to the board? Idk man I know this is being results orientated but I find bet flop, bet turn and the then find a fold is unique even at spr slighty under 5.

I’m always leaning toward betting too big here vs making it $40 which I think is a massive loss of ev long run in this game. My friend doesn’t study / understand even proper bet sizing to though so what do you expect- this is the type of mistake a lot of recs will make.


Me personally- I’m 3bet folding much wider than the avg population here. KJs, Q10s, 78s,76s, plus many other other hands are going to be 3bet here with no worries playing post flop against the standard 1/3 player. I think a lot of live players are 3betting these hands in this spot and just playing weak tight call game.

It’s ok to post and discuss. Occasionally OPs post and simply debate the consensus and keep repeating why they think they are right. This becomes annoying and pointless.

You are obsessed about the preflop sizing. Most have agreed with you but this is not a catastrophic sizing error.

Again, on this dry board, a small bet size is appropriate based on our value targets. A larger bet may fold out hands like V’s 22. We don’t benefit from this.

SPR is a fine variable to guide how one approaches post-flop play and the threshold for stacking off. It is not dogma that should dictate exactly how we play every spot.

Bet flop and b/f turn with a one pair hand is certainly not unique. Look up Baluga Theorem. When an opponent becomes aggressive on the turn after being passive on previous streets, hero should reconsider the relative strength of one pair hands. Now this is old school and exploitable as well but certainly still has merit.

This hand epitomizes the theorem.

Live trying to bet/fold a lot from the blinds is bad. It's rare that your facing an open from the button, usually your facing multiple opponents already. Even when it is a button open too many raises are bad. Button open can be super light but it's rare that you have any firm idea what the button's range is and if your raise too high it becomes counter productive in the cases when you are called.

That said, $40 is too small. It's only another $25 for button to call for a pot that is $58. For those odds and getting position he can call with any legitimate opening hand, it folds out only his air bluffs.