1/3 600 effective..

Hero been here about 45 min up about 100 sitting with six hundred


Villain hasn’t done anything really since I been here so no real reads, he has me covered. Seems tight but it’s only been 45 min so he could just be card dead. Doesn’t seem like the type to spew.

Button opens to 15, villain calls in SB, hero raises to 60 in BB with pocket queens, button folds and villain calls.

Flop (135) Kc8s9d... villain checks, hero bets 50, villain calls

Turn (235) 4c... villain checks. Now since I have no reads i don’t what is optimal here. If I check my hand is obviously face up, I can easily rep AK and bomb this turn but I’ve been noticing most villains just flat AK in 1/3 so I could easily be up against that. Stupid spot to put myself in but I check.

River is a 3d and he bets 150. Hero???

I'd generally check back the flop. Not a lot of point betting.

As played, I guess I fold. I can beat JT. Struggling to come up with other hands.

I'd raise a little more pre (70) and bet closer to half pot otf.

AP must call. You block his most likely top pair (KQ) and he may just be spazzing with A9, TT-JJ. You don't block JTs or 76s if he's spewing pre (this is a pretty common leak ime). You also are close to the top of your range.

It's close. If we give him { 99-88,AKs,KTs+,QTs+,JTs,76s,KJo+ }, I'm there giving him AKs and KJo, but not KTo or AKo, and I'm having him put ALL his JTs, QTs, QJs and 76s hands through this line. That gives us 28.6% when we need 28%, so that would be a thin call. If I make him a bit tighter and remove the 76s and QTs hands, but also remove the KJo, we only have 22.2%. So the problem I have is that given this description:

If I make him as bluffy as I can imagine him being, given that description, then I can make it a thin call. But then it seems to me like what we'll get is a range of players between that and people who just always have value here. I acknowledge we're near the top of our range here but that's the nature of LLSNL, people don't bluff enough.

I'm also rejecting the notion that 150 into 235 here from an apparently tight guy is ever going to be A9 or TT/JJ.

You shouldn't. Being tight preflop for 45 minutes says little about how he plays post. Many tight players don't understand postflop play at all. They bet because they have a pair and you checked. The thinking doesn't go into "what am I repping?" "what can my opponent call with?" etc.

I would check back flop and maybe call river bet, but not happily.

I'm with you so far - although a lot of players just check their hands down, too. I'm not sure I buy that a button clicker picks 150 for his sizing, though.

I thought about checking flop, I just thought that would be to weak and allow me to get bluffed easier on turns and rivers. I thought the king is definitely better for me and he could have a lot of draws. As the night went on and watching him play, Im pretty sure he could have been bluffing even though I saw him win a pot limping AK. I 3bet him with Kings about 2 hours later and
He called out position, flop came 2d5c10d. I bet he checked raised I called yada yada he jams turn I call he has 34d river bricks I win. So JT was the only bluff I was giving him doing that with so I folded but definitely could have had 67s so I think I should have called too. He said he had AK but I don’t know, I think with the line I took I have to call any brick river. Thanks for the feedback.

Just given his pf action I would not give this player so much credit for being decent at poker. This is a pretty unusual start to the hand.

Minor nitpicks:

I'd bump it up larger given that you squeezed. Given the smallish reraise I can see a looser V tempted to flat this with a wide range.
Flop I'd bet larger to avoid looking weak, which you do when your cbet is smaller than your reraise size.

I would call the river as played. You've kept in all his junky hands at every point in the hand and he bet small into you after you showed weakness. +1 to everything AllTheCheese said too.

Yea I agree. I usually downbet most flops but obviously it does look weak especially after checking turn.

OP,


All that. Checking the flop is also fine imo.

Whether I 3bet depends on how deep Button opener is; the more shallow he is, the more I'm 3betting. If we're all deep, I'm cooler with just seeing a flop knowing that we'll only be 3ways.

I don't hate the flop cbet since we're not quite WA/WB with an overcard that could come and some draws. I like our smallish sizing.

I don't think our hand is face up if we check back the turn as I would also mostly check behind AK/AA here. So I'm cool with the check.

I think I mostly fold the river even in spite of our weak looking turn check. He called a raise and a 3bet out-of-the-blinds and he doesn't look like he's spewy. This really does reek of setted pocket pairs or AK. I mean, we really think he has JTs here enough?

GcluelessNLnoobG

Agreed. These hands are much more likely in full check/evaluate/call mode or *maybe* very small blocking bet mode.

GcluelessNLnoobG

Gg,


That approach makes it much harder to win really big pots playing deep.

I agree.

But we also have to factor in how comfortable we feel in playing big pots UI OOP when deep.

As I say, deepstack is not in my wheelhouse, so I typically take a very small ball approach to it; it definitely wins less on my big hands, but big hands are very few and far between, and meanwhile it keeps the pot small on what I'll most likely end up with (which is a small to mediocre hand where I don't want to be facing commitment decisions).

GplayingtomystrengthsG

gg,

That approach also just wins you less money overall.

Have you considered playing a smaller game and working on improving your postflop play?

I'm not convinced it wins me less money overall, but I may be wrong.

GplaysinthesmalleststakesavailableG

gg,

It might not win you less money overall based on the way you play. But it wins less money than is possible to win by playing better.

More pre and more on the flop unless you are just going to go into check/call mode. Remember, he is a field caller not the original raiser, so he has less Kx in his range than if he was the raiser.

I might actually b/f this turn. It is a nothing card and if V calls again then we can re-evaluate the river. I would rather bet the turn for value (vs JJ, TT, JT, A9), fold if V C/raises, and then check behind on the river instead of turning my hand face up (I HAVE NO KING) on the turn which lets V dictate sizing on the river and may increase his bluff frequency as well. Just me...

I'm sure everything I do wins me less money due to me not playing better.

Gobviousstatementisobviousthough,no?G