House game has been going for about four hours at this point. Everyone is very friendly with each other and we play with the same 10-15 people two times a week.
Hero: Probably looked at as a TAG/NIT by this point. I picked up some big pocket pairs when we first started and won a few hundred. I haven’t really had any positions to open raise or squeeze since the beginning. I’ve opened a few pots and normally get called multi ways and surrender.
Villain: Has been drinking some. To my knowledge he has taken two shots of Petron (maybe a third?) in the span of 2-2.5 hours. He’s not acting drunk at all and from previous experience he just likes to drink when he plays. I wouldn’t label him as a maniac but he is very willing to gamble and call PF from a particularly wide range.
H1 History: V open limps, MP raises to 15, I look at 10h10s in the SB and raise to 60. BB (knows the basics of poker…two pair beats one pair, but I think this is his first time ever playing) calls. V thinks for about 15 secs then calls. Flop comes 8h5hAs. BB goes all in for maybe 80, V thinks then open shoves for about ~550, I fold. V shows 85ss
Hand in question: V (~$650), Hero covers
I straddle on the BTN and V is now to my immediate left. V (SB) open calls, MP calls, I look at AsAh and raise to 40. He thinks for 10 seconds and calls, MP folds, heads up
Flop: (~$90) 846r
V chks, I bet $55 and he instant raises to $150 (when I say instant..maybe took him 8 seconds to throw out 6 green chips). Hero thinks for 15 seconds and calls.
Turn: (~$370) 9 (completes rainbow)
V this time pretty instantly says all in (took maybe 2 seconds). He has $435 behind. Hero…?
When you call the flop check-raise your hand is face up. Villain sounds like the type who will almost always follow through ott. So calling the check-raise commits you to the hand unless you want to get owned. This is not a good spot because if villain has set or straight you are smashed. If he has two pair you are getting the worst of it. You are behind and not getting odds to draw. You need to know villain will run at you with pair + gutshot hands to make the hand profitable.
Look at bet sizing. Preflop you know villain is going to call your raise with speculative hands and we don't want MP along with his limping range for a good price. By raising to 40 we are offering V 2:1 (65:30-rake) on a call with MP possibly coming along and 610 behind. I think he will call more $$ preflop. I make it $55 or $60 here and listen to him say "why so much?" Don't be worried he is going to fold preflop. He hates folding to a nit. He will convince himself you have JJ/TT/AK and he can steal from you. If they fold out you win $35 (your $10 straddle is in the pot already). Not a bad result.
You now make more $$ when he check/folds the flop, you get better odds to play to the felt and you become tougher to play against.
Appreciate the replies. For those saying shove flop, why? I don't feel he is ever calling me with worse than 1 PP and we lose out on him spewing on the turn (which he did).
Appreciate the replies. For those saying shove flop, why? I don't feel he is ever calling me with worse than 1 PP and we lose out on him spewing on the turn (which he did).
because we can make mistakes if bad cards come and he could bluff us off the hand. And if he has a hand like 87 he won't fold. You want to charge him to draw with these hands.
Also a turn card that is bad for his range might come - like a K or A and he will just shut down and fold on turn.
Just because you got lucky a good turn card came for you - doesn't mean your flop play was good.
He could be doing this with TT,99,87,85,76,54, tp's and sets.
Given, we're beating half his range, and that's fluffed up due to more than likely he is holding a pair with gut shot rather than a set. Two-pair is more a possibility but a pair with gut shot is more likely.
Either way, we have already invested 20 of our 130 bbs against a lag v who is drinking. Even against two-pairs, we're not a huge underdog.
LOL at the recommendations to raise more preflop. OP has AA, and everyone is relatively short-stacked when the BTN straddle is on. Hero does want action here, and OP shouldn't be worried about speculative hands calling OOP when stacks are relatively short already. No need to over-raise preflop just because you guys read too much Professional No Limit Hold em nonsense about target SPR.
On this flop, I wouldn't fold AA. Villain is more likely to have overpairs in his SB limping range than 86s/75s/64s because the BTN straddle normally forces most players to have a relatively tight limping range from SB. So, I expect Villain's SB limp/calling range to be heavily weighted towards pocket pairs. Now, some of those pairs will have hit a set on the flop. But other pairs may be overpairs here.
Even if you think that Villain still has an overly loose limping range from SB in a BTN straddled pot, adding SCs/SGs to Villain's range also makes it more likely that Villain is CRing with a pair+gutshot hand with 87s or 65s.
In any case, you beat all 99+ overpairs. It is relatively unlikely that Villain would just limp/call QQ+ here, but I have seen it done occasionally. So, if we give Villain a range of 50% 99-TT combos, 66% JJ combos, and 16% of QQ+ combos, plus all sets, then I think that we still need to get it with AA. This does not take into consideration the possibility that Villain is getting very aggressive with a pair+gutshot. If we add some pair+gutshot combos into his CR range, then this is a fist-pump stack off for AA.
How do we get AA in here? I would just call the flop CR and then stick the rest of the money in on the turn. This way, you "trap" lower overpairs into thinking that they still have the best hand.
