1/2 NLHE

6 handed. Two regs who love to talk strategy, a whale station, an OMC and a "live" gambler on a heater.

Reads. Strat talker in hand claims to be a 1/2 pro. Always wears cardroom gear. I have played with him several times and he is pretty tight and doesn't get out of line too often. He likes to show bluffs when he does bluff. Based on his table talk, he seems to have the same basic understanding of the game as most 2+2'er. Understands position, playing shorthanded (I think) etc.

I am $200 deep and everyone else covers.

Button straddle to $5 by gambler. SB fold, Strat Talker in BB raises to 15. I look down at A-Qo in C/O. I consider raising but the gambler has chips and starts splashing once he has them so I want him to raise with shyte.

My other consideration for not raising was that Strat talkers know I raise/bet when I have something so my call under reps my hand for later streets.



Pot ($32 after rake)

Flop

AT9

I do not have the queen of hearts


BB bets $20, I raised to $65. V tanks forever and calls.

Pot ($159)

Turn 4

V quickly ships.

I do not have V on a flush because the Ace of hearts of out there. KQ/KJ/KT/QJ/QT are possible I suppose in retrospect but I think he would have go those in on flop with all the combo draws an stack depth. I could be getting beat by a set or two pair or AK. The question is what am I beating? Is the call here standard for my last $115?

Raise/fold $55 preflop. Hate flatting AQo there.

Flop raise is overplaying your hand imo. Call and evaluate.

AP, fold.

Pre if fine. You could 3! if you want. Calling isn't bad.

Call the flop. You shouldn't be going crazy with TPGK. There are lots of draws. You already got value from draws when villain bets the flop. Call and evaluate. Use your position to your advantage.

As played, fold. You beat nothing that takes a bet-call line oop on the flop and bombs a 3-flush turn.

Agree with L00t and Eddie.

If he truly understands position as you claim he does, you played this hand wrong on every street. Probably should have just folded preflop.

For starters having the ace of hearts out there makes it less likely he would be bluffing since people tend to only semi-bluff nut draws. I honestly cant put him on anything here other than some typical donky fancy play with the nuts. He raised UTG basically so his range should be tight, yet he doesnt 3bet the board. A scare card peels and suddenly he's golden? Of all cards that's the one he ships? Seems like he doesnt want you to see the river, but what preflop hand could he have raised with that is this vulnerable to try and get it in now? If he's got the nut flush why make you fold?

Honestly I have no idea. Not a bad spot to work on your fold game, but I probably call it off quite often here expecting to see something like AJ with 1 heart.

Thanks for all of your replies.

These were thoughts at the time fwiw. I called and he had AQ

I honestly think this was a fold though in retrospect. I'm still trying to figure out what was going through his head though. He played it well imo.

he clicked buttons. dunno why you think this should be a fold if he shows up with AQ...

Probably because he is concerned that AQ might be the bottom of Villain's range, and he's still only chopping with it.

My guess is that he instinctively knows getting it in on the flop only gets called by better, so he was "waiting to see the turn". He definitely didnt like the heart and probably just thinks you had some worse pair that gained equity so he *really* doesnt want to see a 4th heart now. Even though nothing changes since he cant possibly make any read on you at this point being out of position, he still gets called by better (i mean AQo is the absolute bottom of your stack off range here) he ships anyway. Not a good player at all, definitely level 1 thinker. Your only note on him should be "plays pretty tight".

This is an auto 3 bet pre. The Straddle is Calling a large percentage of the time if you just flat Would much much rather play this hand heads up with the relative button. With initiative. You're playing 6 handed.

I inadvertently saw the reveal before responding... but clearly the turn shove was suspect. It's not a move he would do with a made flush.... I was thinking he might have AxKh - or AxQh and might have made crying call. I'm a bit surprsed he didn't give you any credit for a made Flush