1/3 - 300 eff. w/ $6 straddle UTG.

I've been playing PLO lately so I feel my hold'em game has been slacking. This hand just reinforced that impression.

It's maybe my 3rd rotation at the table. I pick up two black jacks UTG+2 and make it $15 (in hindsight maybe $20 is better, but nitpicking here).

Two very loose players call - one in the CO and one in the SB and the straddle - a recreational player, calls.

SB - Asian woman in her 20s, very loose pre haven't really seen her get out of line.

Flop ($60) is Th9c7h

SB checks, and the straddle leads out for $35.

Here I decide to call, CO folds, and the SB calls.

Turn ($165) is a 4c and the SB leads out for $70. The straddle calls and I call.

River ($375) is the Ah.

SB leads out for $100.

Straddler folds.

I have to call this right? Any point in raising the flop?
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Commentary on all streets welcome.

Pre sizing is crucial here. If we know we have very loose players left to act, and there's a straddle which essentially halves effective stacks, I'm looking to see a HU pot with intention of stacking someone early. I'd open for $25+ to avoid the situation we found ourselves in. AP, I probably would have gone the bluff catch route that you did, but still wouldn't feel good about it. Our calls get more trivial as each street plays out, but that river is cheaper than...

I agree with QuantumSurfer, I wouldn't be doing anything less than $25.
AP Call, but I wouldn't be surprised if we run into AT a lot here

yeah, pretty much spot on. It got 4 way here for no reason.

Post flop, donk bet could be weak made hand or a draw. 98, 87, Tx, or 7x are most likely. He couldve flopped the straight, but tyoically youd see a check raise.

You ought to be raising that entire range for value with how vulnerable that hand is. Id make it about $100 and plan on shipping most turns.

My favorite part of the hand is when the donker gets donked on the turn. 4c changes nothing, i wonder what SB has here, what a complete mystery line to take. I guess id treat it like check calling a cbetter and then leading the turn...Im thinking SB must have a stronger made hand. With the $100 river bet on the A, im gonna put him on exactly AT as far as hands that actually make some amount of sense although he couldve spazzed with T9 or A8 or something, so I guess the river is a fold, I mean, what do you beat?

I'm shoving turn .. already $300 pot after straddle calls, super drawy board and you will hate just about every river card.


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I don't know how your table works, but with a straddle on at my table I would rarely raise < $30 as it will *easily* get action. Depending on how aggro the table is, I would often limp/raise here. But since we "only" have a $300 stack (which is quite short at a loose table with a straddle on) I'm also fine with a $30+ open to setup a trivial stack off postflop with no overs. FWIW, my typical open on a non-straddled pot is easily $20 at my table, so yeah, preflop is way too small although admittedly table dependent.

The result should be totally expected (imo), and going 4ways gets us in a meh spot imo. It sets up a very small SPR < 5 where it will be difficult to move (i.e. by the time we figure out we're beat we could easily be committed), all the while offering 3 opponents excellent 23+ IO preflop. Meh, imo.

I mean, we're almost facing a commitment decision to the flop bet. We have an overpair on a drawy board vs a loose player, plus have some outs if behind (gutshut, could counterfeit two pair). If we feel committed (which we might), then I would raise to setup a turn shove.

The problem if we don't feel committed is that calling doesn't setup all that great a turn situation when facing a bet (where we will likely be facing a committing bet, as we did here). I mean, we're going to have less than 1/2 PSB on the river; are we folding if a blank comes? If not, we probably should have committed beforehand.

As played, this river probably saved us as I doubt SB (who doesn't get out of line) is betting into 2 opponents on this horrible card with something we beat (although it is actually a strange bet because rarely will people bet a made hand on the turn and then bet it again on the river when the obvious draw comes in, and we are getting awesome odds).

In my opinion, this whole hand goes back to our preflop sizing (others will disagree).

GcluelessNLnoobG