Villain seems to be too loose preflop, raising around 10% total, may be on tilt. Is apparently an angle shooting scumbag, based on table chat. Has illegally added on to $1200 (max is $1000), but it’s fine because he’s a losing player. Not too many reads unfortunately

Straddle in this hand is playing very loose preflop, has made some big calls postflop but also mostly just folds the flop if he doesn’t connect.

Hero has had to show a couple big bluffs but has also built her stack to $1750 by showing down good hands in big pots. Been fairly active preflop as the table is very good.

There is a straddle in the HJ, villain limps on the button, folds to me with 3 players behind me to act and I open 57 to $50, straddle and limper call.
Flop: K93 ($150)
I bet $100, straddle folds limper calls
Turn: 6 ($350)
I bet $275, limper calls
River: 7 ($900)
I check, limper bets $375 with about $500 behind


Does anyone want to jam the river instead of checking? How about just give up OTF or OTT?

I'm really confused by the preflop action and the straddling in the HJ. I know there are "straddle from any position" rooms out there but I'm not sure how that works. You also say V limps on the BB and you "open" to 50, but I'm not sure how those things happen in that order.

Anyway, assuming you got to the flop like this, I'm fine with the double barrel bluff when you pick up additional turn equity. The river is closer because now you have to decide whether you have enough showdown value to check it down or check/call, or just continue to bluff. I think if river was more of a blank I would be good with jamming. His $375 OTR is polarizing, and I'm not entirely sure what to make of it. My gut says he put you on a hand like AK/KQ and is trying to get a crying call, so I probably fold.

Straddle was in the HJ, starts on the CO, the villain limps on the button, folds to me in middle early position, I raise to $50, folds to straddle in the HJ, he calls, villain overcalls.

EDIT: I apologize, the flop was a spade and a club, that was a misclick when entering the hand

Eh 120 BB’s effective I just toss this from EP. Wouldn’t mind a BTN raise if there wasn’t a ton of 3! going on.

This board is bone dry and he just called double barrels. There is no conceivable draw he could have that would call two barrels. He’s either got a weakish Kx that he’s not folding or he flopped big with 33. I would just x/f now.

So action starts to the left of the straddle regardless of position? weird.

Your raise size OOP leaves a lot to be desired. Without the limp I probably stick to around pot for an open, but with the limper, I could see myself going 7x to make it really expensive for him to continue in position on me.

Would anyone care to disagree? I'd be happy to discuss this because maybe 50 is better than 70.

I raise hands like 75s all the time, but I would never do it in this spot. The main reasons to do it are to steal limps and blind money and to have position on any potential callers. Raising when there are already 2 people who have position on you who are a lot more likely to call than normal because they already have money in the pot doesnt really make a lot of sense. Also, I dont like raising hands like this when there is a straddle. The raise has to to be too big effectively making stack shorter.

Also, betting the flop with basically no equity at all (other than bluff equity) is a losing proposition.

In other words, with all due respect, I hate this hand.

PS..How does that 2/5/10 work? Are you just referring to there being a straddle? When I see people post 2/5/10 I always wonder if that means there's a mandatory straddle or 3 blinds but that doesnt seem to be the case here since the straddle was in the HJ.

Agree with Mike, this hand seems over done given your position. Mostly just your spoiler....fol pre.

I actually dont mind the flop bet AP (looks like a decent flop for our range), but I would have checked the turn (picked up a bit of equity) and folded the river.

You must really enjoy putting yourself in tough spots. Preflop is puzzling to say the least.

You're out of position the whole way (the HJ straddle and button limper make this a terrible time to open this hand imo) and you're shoveling money into the pot with seven high. Sure, you pick up additional equity on the turn with a double gutter, but I don't think that really means anything, since you went from zero to fifteen percent, which is still not a whole lot against a sticky opponent who already called your sizeable flop bet.

Although there actually is something to be said for betting on every street, if you just take a step back and look at the whole hand and the big picture of it, it just feels to me that you're pissing away money for no good reason whatsoever.

Your sizing on flop and turn is atrociously large and btn seems ready to hero down your spew ass when he calls 275 ott, so, you can either jam river (or bet less around 700) to find enough folds from BCs or just ck-give up because your turn barrel got called.

While I hate the hand as a whole, you routinely get called light on the flop at SugarHouse with hands like 9x, 88-55, A3s w/ BDFD etc.

So now that we raised pre, I don't hate the double barrel albeit at a much smaller sizing. We can double barrel any or 6 which is 13/47 or 28% of the deck.

When they call flop and turn their range is pretty strong meaning if we hit either of our disguised hands on the river (running 's or ridiculous runner runner gutters) we are going to get paid. Can probably overbet river in that case.

But I still hate preflop.

if youre gonna play this then you gotta just go all the way with it, jam river. Never checking turn if I cbet flop, and im always double barreling with this kind of draw.

I don’t like the open here. A hand like 75s is going to under realize it’s equity OOP, and it’s equity to start in a multiway pot isn’t great. Based on the posistion of the straddle, my open range is going to be very similar to what I would play in the SB verusus a RFI from LP, and I’m going to be very tight in the spot.

Assuming the straddle is calling you with top 35% or hands and the limper is top 25% ( minus AK and QQ+) of hands which feels reasonable your pretty light in equity preflop.

As played, I don’t like the C-Bet, at all in 3 way pot. The board isn’t terribly wet but versus 2 players odds are reasonable someone hit a K or more probably a 9. So you are going to at least need to barrel twice sizably to win the pot.

When I look at equities in the flop you’ve only got 13% versus the above ranges and as I said you probably need to fire at least twice. So I’m just going to give up and c/f. If it checks through I’d fire any good turn but not scare cards.

As played, I like the turn bet, it’s my favorite part of the hand. You’ve picked up equity both since you’ve picked up some of the limper and the 6 is a good card for you. I think about a pot sized bet to maximize fold equity though, you really don’t want to get called here.

As played, the river is a tough spot. The check is very weak, and you can’t bluff catch with the 7 because their aren’t really any missed draws you can catch. So check/call is out for me. You can check/x-shove but based on An SPR of 1 you don’t have enough fold equity. So I’m either going to check/fold or turn my pair into a bluff and shove. I’d like check fold a lot more which sucks but it’s a bad spot:
1. you’ve got no blockers
2. There are no missed draws
3. you beat no value
4. he’s called 3 bets already
5. SPR is low so limited fold equity

Weird, I've played in only one game when this wasn't the case (action starts to left of straddle), and that was a BTN straddle that started w/ UTG. I thought that was very weird

I would much rather be in position after the flop to the straddle and limper if I'm going to raise this hand -- in that case I wouldn't mind.

With perceived range, flop bet is OK, but could be a little smaller. Turn gives us a double-belly, so I like a bet here, too, but again doesn't need to be quite so big.

I think I would rather 3 barrel here than check and face a bet. By betting a little less on flop and turn, this would have been easy. As played, I doubt you have any fold equity, so I might just give up. If you get the feeling he's betting some type of busted draw (spades?), call an pray. Make him show first.

For those who bet this flop, which hands don’t they Cbet with?

Isn't it just semantics whether we call it 3 blinds or a mandatory straddle UTG? I think functionally they are 100% equivalent but maybe I'm missing something.

If its a mandatory straddle UTG, then yes its the same thing as 3 blinds. This hand seems to just be someone randomly straddling though since the straddle is in the HJ. I was just wondering if "2/5/10" normally means 3 blinds or OP was just using that term to mean there happens to be a straddle in the hand.

Oh okay, the quoted above made me think you were saying there was a functional difference between a mandatory straddle and 3 blinds

It's not a mandatory straddle. You can straddle from anywhere and action begins to the left of the straddler.

Okay I don't mean to be super technical but humor me just so in the future I'm clear on how to label a game. If I see someone label a game a 2/5/10 then I would assume there is a mandatory straddle or 3 blinds (same thing). For the game you are describing I would think it would be labeled a 2/5 game with an optional straddle from anywhere.

Okay so obv pre is too loose given our bluffy image and players left to act; that's been established. As for postflop, I think this dry K-high board is a mandatory c-bet(although a rather expected one to c-bet on). Sizing is a bit big ... I prefer somewhere around half-pot or a hair smaller. Because villain limped on btn after straddle I don't think we can assign him anything remotely strong -- pocket pairs, two paint, even K9 aren't likely to be in his range. His range is most likely Kx and 9x as all gutshots would've raised pre.

As played we get one of the best cards possible on turn(6 would be gin obv). Again, I think a double barrel is mandatory as we may get hands like 98 to fold. Sizing is also too big here.

Once we get to river it's a matter of can we get Kx to fold. Our big sizing on flop/turn has left us with ~pot size bet on river. We have shown some bluffs but perhaps players will doubt we would bluff again. OP says villain may be on tilt. However, I just can't see villain having a strong enough hand to call a jam, so I rip it in there and hope to fade a snap call.

Ranma, I enjoy your hand histories and respect your fearless play. Do you believe you have more fold equity because you're female? I'm interested in how you think men perceive playing against a woman. Also, stop abandoning your hand posts! We crave results.

So my flop / turn bet sizing was 100% to set up the threat up a river jam, I think it is very important to do that in spots like this where our range clearly smashes villain's range and they're going to be forced to call down with top pairs with weaker kickers. In fact, I think my turn bet is a bit small, I'd rather go 330 to set up and threaten an easier river jam.

As for fold equity based on gender, I play in a pretty small room (1-2 games of 2/5 going at a time usually), and I've played there for years, so most of my opponents know me. I think in general my gender causes people to call me down much more lightly if they know me, because they don't want to be embarrassed by me bluffing them. But if someone hasn't really seen me play, they tend to play a bit tighter.


Results


Are there other hands I've posted that you'd like results for?

It looks like villain had a read that when you b/b/x on this kind of board than your range is weak. I actually really like his river sizing but still think river is a routine x/f.