After a few years of playing live SSNL I have just recently started to take the game seriously and work to improve my play. This hand came up last night at 2/2 and would like some constructive feedback on the way I played the hand.

Full table Hero has $230 with 3 villains 150BB and the rest with 50-100BB. MP2 calls, I'm in the HJ position with Ac 7c and raise to $7 button calls and SB calls and MP2 calls. Button has about $175 and is a TAG reg, SB has about $225 and after playing with him for 4 hours has a wide range he calls pre flop with and he would also chase most of his draws and MP2 has about $150 and is more on the nitty side. Pot has $30

Flop is 8c 6h 9s. It is checked around. Turn is 3c. SB bets $20 MP2 folds and hero is trying to put SB on a range which I come to the conclusion he has a pair of nines or hit his 3 (which he showed a few hands in which he took down the pot by betting when he paired the turn after the flop was checked) or he most likely has a draw. pot is $50

Since The turn gives me the NFD to go with my flopped open ended str8 draw I think with a raise here I can get him off his draw if it is a big enough raise, I decide on making it $65 to go. Button folds! After a short pause SB calls. Pot is $160

River is 2s. SB checks and I shove for my remaining $158 and SB insta calls and shows he turned two pair 9,3. After some thought I should have checked behind on the river since I should have realized he was probably not drawing when he called my raise on the turn. What should i have done on the turn? Based on the info was my ranges/line correct with my villian based on the actions. Any constructive feedback is welcomed as I just really want to improve my thought process and hand ranges that I put villains on. Thanks!

All a $7 raise is doing is bloating the pot for no reason. If you're going to raise pre-flop at $1/$2 it has to be $12-$25 depending on table dynamics.

With A/7s, I like to limp because it keeps in all the fish in who may flop a smaller flush, straight, 2 pair, or top pair/good kick that can't fold to a made flush. You can bloat the pot up when you need to.

You should have cbet this flop, it was good for you, you had a straight draw, bet it... after the checked flop your TURN/RIVER play don't tell a good enough story to get your opponent off a hand. You showed weakness on flop.

AS played I would call the turn.

But You raised, and you got a good flop for your hand... open ended, over card, back door flush draw = bet flop

and check back river.... when he calls a raise on the turn, he hates folding the river... if he missed a draw, ur Ace might be good

My line would be a call behind on the turn and a 3/4 pot bluff on a scary river(K,Q,J,7). If you hit your draw, make it a 3/4 pot value bet.
As played, check behind river.

Instead of putting him on a range "he has a pair of nines or hit his 3 or he most likely has a draw." Put him on actual hands (67-A7, T9-A9, Kxc).
On the turn, you've weighted his range towards draws, but you're ahead of most draws and the ones you're behind of aren't folding. So a bet here folds out weaker hands and gets called by all stronger hands (not what you want). Also, folding out a club draw is a disaster for you because you get his stack if a club hits the river.

As played, on the river the 2 is a brick. When you bluff (in low stakes) you've got to:
a) have some sort of read on your opponent that he might fold
b) represent some sort of hand.
c) have some sort of idea of what hands you're folding out.

Your river shove puts your perceived range around (busted flush draws, busted straight draws, set of 3s, flopped straights).
So his hand range is:
-busted draws with no pair (A7-J7, club draws) (you win the pot regardless)
-busted combo draws (37,67,78,79, paired club draws) (best action depends on reads, usually a pot bluff will fold them out) (betting flop, small part of range)
-TPGK (A9-Q9) (check behind) (Betting flop, small part of range)
-Nut hands (two pair, sets, straights) (best action check behind)

Essentially, if you think you can bluff them off a single pair hand AND he is more likely to have that then one of the nut hands, then shoving the river is good.
You're not really repping much though, so I wouldn't be surprised if he called you down with 78 or 79.

It seems my best line here would have been to c-bet the flop for $20 in which the button would have still folded and the SB would have mostly likely called, which would have been consistent with his play all night, then once the 3c hits the turn he would have checked, to trap. I could have checked it back and when the 2s bricks off on the river he most likely would have value bet $20 and I could have gotten away for $27 loss instead of the disastrous stack off. Argh!!!

I agree with everyone who said to bet the flop.
1) This is a very good flop for you.
2) The 8 clubs that don't complete the straight are good barrel cards for you.
3) If the turn is a 10 or 6 it is unlikely that you can get paid.

On the turn you have 9 clubs, 6 straight cards (and possible 3 aces) so you can't fold. The main question is whether you should raise or flat call. With 15 outs on the turn so you only need to make 2.1x the bet for the call to be profitable. So you have the direct odds to make the call. Since you checked the flop I would flat here since it doesn't make sense for you to check a wet flop with a made hand and the turn only helps 33.

To sum up, I think you made the wrong choice on all streets.
C-bet flop.
Call turn
Check back river.

Great post.

Clubber-thanks for the feedback. Just c-betting the flop in position would have made future streets decisions easier. I see that now.

Thanks to all who posted.

Also it's generally better to limp behind with Ax suited hands. And TheClubber is spot on.

I would have rather overlimped preflop; we'd love a multiway pot with this hand, keep in dominated flush draws, and get paid off when we hit twopair+. If I'm raising, I'm raising big to make sure I have a good chance of getting this HU in position. We took the worst route, IMO (didn't get it HU, and all we did was create a bloated multiway pot with a hand we'd rather not do that with).

As played, I think I'd cbet this flop (probably about a typical 1/2 PSB or little more). We could possibly take the pot down now, we could fold out dominating Aces (a coup if one hits on the turn), could fold out better hands (small pairs), and will have options on the turn (possibly barrelling a scary overcard or taking a free card if desired, plus could pick up flush outs).

I just call the turn. First, SB is showing quite a lotta strength betting into the world. Second, our play makes no sense (he's supposed to buy we have a big hand when we checked back the flop?). We're getting good odds to chase our flush/OESD, and both are fairly well disguised so our implied odds don't suck.

Once our bluff is called on the turn, I give up (especially combined with how strong SBs play looks plus how weird our line looks). We also have A high, which still could win at showdown versus busted draws (much better to bluff with a hand that has little chance of winning).

Overall, I play each street differently.

GcluelessNLnoobG

My thoughts:

What was the preflop raise supposed to accomplish? Were you trying to sweeten the pot, or iso-raise? I'm not sure if you know. If you weren't trying to iso, IMO just overlimp and let flushes stay in. You don't need to bloat the pot to stack lower flushes.

Flop is an easy bet IMO, especially if the pot is limped. Guys aren't going to check/raise big hands on a drawy flop.

Turn, I don't like the raise because you rep absolutely nothing. If you had an overpair you'd bet the flop. If you flopped a set or something you'd bet the flop. The 3 isn't a scare card. Fish don't think through hands, but even fish can realize when it looks like you're bluffing.

Also, why are you trying to fold out his draws WHEN YOU BEAT THOSE DRAWS! The other thing to consider is that a lot of his draws get him stacked when you hit a backdoor flush.

River - Once you raise the turn and he calls, he's not folding any made hand. Again, if you think he's drawing you win if you check. Unless you think he has a draw that ran into a pair like 56cc or something that you can get to fold. Or unless you think he has a hand like 67 that you might fold out. But IMO I don't think villains at this range can fold once they invest that much $$.