Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 804
2-100 SL Game
Both villains and I are very well known to one another. We've been playing in this same game for a couple of years, so our reads of each other should be pretty well defined.
Villain 1 (UTG - $300): 30s Hispanic female. She's been a long time loser in this game, but lately has drastically improved, and may even be a slight winner now. Previously, she played very straightforwardly, betting strong hands, check/calling medium hands and draws, and check/folding missed hands. But the last six weeks or so she's completely reinvented her game. She's opened her preflop calling and raising ranges from all positions. She is by no means a superstar now, but she is definitely tougher to play against than she has been in the past.
Villain 2 (UTG+1 - $700): 40s white male. Very solid tricky player, probably the player I hate playing against the most in this game. Very aggressive, opens wide from all positions, capable of double and triple barreling. He doesn't c-bet into five and six way pots without hitting the flop in some way, but otherwise bets and calls could mean anything. In this hand, he's not going to have absolutely nothing (i.e. unimproved overs), but could have almost anything else. He varies his preflop opens from $4-$15 in all positions with all sorts of hands, making it hard to put him on a range.
Hero (BB - $500): 30s black male. Viewed as a very solid player. I've been called the best player in the game (though I'd challenge that V2 is better than I am). I've previously been viewed as pretty tight and solid, but I've been opening my game more and more lately to work on my postflop game a bit. V2 has definitely noticed that, not sure if V1 has.
Other villains in the hand are typical loose/passive players.
Hero in BB with 9h9d
Preflop: Villain 1 calls $2. Villain 2 raises to $6. CO and Button call $6. Hero calls $6. Villain 1 calls $6.
Pot $31
Flop: 258dd
Hero bets $16. Villain 1 calls pretty quick. Villain 2 tanks for 30 seconds, then calls. Others fold.
Pot $79
Turn: 6
Hero checks. Villain 1 bets $40. Villain 2 tanks again for 30-45 seconds, then calls. Hero?
My thoughts: Preflop, I thought about popping it up for a nice squeeze play, but Villain 2 would most likely have called me with his entire range, and I'd have been OOP in a bloated pot with a medium strength hand. I'd squeeze there with the top of my range, and complete garbage, not in the middle.
On the flop, I decided to lead for two reasons: I want to fold out the random QT type hands that are out there, and Villain 2 will raise everything that beats me except possibly a set. I didn't need to bet too much to accomplish those goals. Villain 1's call is probably 8x, 67, or a diamond draw. She probably doesn't slow play hands that beat me, but I don't know that for sure anymore. Villain 2's call takes overpairs out of his range, and probably hands like AKdd, as he pops those, otherwise, he's still very wide.
On the turn, I felt completely lost. 34 got there, a couple random gutshots got there, and there are definitely some random two pair hands. I decided to check thinking it gets checked through a fair amount. I'll feel sick if a diamond comes, but I'll feel even sicker if I get raised. Of course, after a bet and a call, I'm sick anyway. So lost. Help! Thoughts on all streets appreciated.
