I've been trying to work on my game recently, and have been trying to think through hands from previous sessions to evaluate and consider better paths or decisions.

On to the hand:

New to the table, no reads, effective stack is $300.

PF, folds to Hero in MP, he opens to $14 with AQo.

The three previous raises to $14 from other players had received a number of cold calls, so I figured I should play the table dynamics and get value with a near 5x raise if it's available.

Button calls, all others fold.

Flop comes A 9 3 rainbow. Hero bets $18. Villain calls.

This is probably one of the easiest boards to continue on, and I pick a number that seems as vanilla cbet as possible.

Turn is Q and a backdoor flush draw, we don't have a card of that suit.

Hero bets $28. Villain calls. Again, super easy board to continue on, I size up on the bet, but maybe could have gone even larger. I'm trying to keep every A in this hand, though. Not worried about draws.

River is offsuit 5. Hero checks. Villain bets $40. Hero?

Now, of course I'm never folding. I checked to allow Villain to bluff at the pot but I got jammed up figuring if I should raise or just call. I've used the rule of thumb that one ought not raise if a reraise would cause him to immediately vomit. Obviously, I'm only concerned about losing to 99 and 33, but does villain call my raise with enough worse hands for it to be profitable?

I mull it over and ultimately opt to call the bet. Because I'm a nit.

Villain insta shows A5o and says he's sorry for running down my AK as I'm flipping my hand over. He then expresses shock, "when you called I was sure I was good."

So villain had the perfect hand to get max value from in this spot.

But generally? What do? How do I get more comfortable getting thin value in these spots?

Please post pot sizes. And please don't post results as it biases responses.

In general, turn bet is WAY too small. You're targeting an Ace, so I would bet like 50-55.

AP, I would not check river. The most likely hand he's calling you down with is a smaller ace. You should be bombing like 70-75. He's not folding an ace. If he raises, you call.

The smallish bet on the flop is fine, the turn we need to play catchup get it near pot 55+

If we check back the river to allow opponent to bluff, we should be CR. The worst would have been if it went check check. I agree with the above that we hit him with a larger bet on the river.

I always find preflop tricky an unknown tables. Anyway, good result in that we narrowed it to HU with a biggish SPR of 12 which leaves us lots of room to play, although we did end up OOP.

I would mostly check the flop. An SPR of 12 allows stacks to go in with 3 very large bets or with a raise somewhere along the way. Very few opponents (other than the most clueless calling stationish of them) do we want to play for stacks postflop with this big an SPR, especially as the aggressor. We're ok with the flop checking thru, and we're ok with underrepping our hand.

Our hand on the turn now moves ahead of some hands, so I'm fine with betting it again. UI, I wouldn't be as thrilled with two consecutive bets. Next time post pot size on each street, but so far I'm ok with our sizing.

With top two pair I'm betting the river; we allow far too many hands that could call a bet to check back the river (noting that many opponents insta check back AK here, at least in my experience). On top of that there'e no real busted draws (especially on the flop) that we're checking to induce a bluff out of. If we get raised, we can re-evaluate. Pot looks to be $120, I'd probably go $80 ish.

Another benefit of betting the river ourselves is that we set the price. I think we're in a bit of an awkward spot now that I'm not sure how many semi-competent players do call a check/raise with worse here, so I would probably just call at this point. Although in the end it turns out opponent is a complete idiot (but this is one of the drawbacks to playing an unknown).

GcluelessNLnoobG

Turn bet of under half pot is pointlessly small.

River if you’re checking to get a bet from missed draws, you can raise.

pot on the turn is 64 and a BDFD came out. i'd be going 35-40 here.

river - i generally don't check OOP in 1/3 with premium hands because most players aren't aggressive enough to bet their missed draws or go for thin value. the river is 130, you easily missed a bunch of value by not betting yourself.

and you should c/r the river after he bets. LLSNL players are notorious for letting you know when they have a hand. there is a solid chance he would have raised OTT if he had a set.


also, bet in increments of 5, it makes the game go faster because the dealer doesnt have to make change. plus you're going for value. if V is calling 18, he's calling 20. same with 28 and 30. preflop is meh, i wont argue with it because the pot is small.