Bellagio 2/5 on a Saturday night

V1 (800): MAWG. Tag player, likes to take stabs at pots as the PFR with a wide range of hands.

V2 (450): Old middle eastern man. Tournament player but playing a looseish style but may be on tilt. Saw him punt 100bb with QTs on a Qxx board OTF which was no good vs KK so may be on tilt.

Hero (1000): Young 20s asian kid playing relatively tight. Took down a large pot earlier with 87hh on a 873Q8 board. Did not show down on the river as my bet took it down. May be seen as a winning or atleast competent player at the table.

Preflop: V1 UTG+1 raises to 20, V2 flats in the CO, I flat OTB with AQ, rest fold.

Flop (65): Q67
V1 bets 35, V2 min raises to 70, Hero....?

V1 could be testing the waters here with any pocket pair, but given that he only bet half pot we may be good here versus his range. I'm ranging V2 on a top pairish type hand and nothing too much more, given that he only minraised on a wetish board. What is the best course of action?

I 3-bet here pre-flop expecting V1 to fold a lot and to isolate/get value from V2.

As played it's kind of a strange spot. If V2 is raising most TP combos and V1 would fold KK+ to significant action then I would raise to fold out V1 and then stack off vs V2.

I think with position I'm more inclined to flat here. I expect I'm good and I know its a pretty wet board - but I don't like raising and potentially facing a re-raise from 2 spots. A 3 bet from V1 would be KK+, and my hand doesn't figure to improve.

Your 3bet looks so strong; aren't you folding out everything you beat? Stuff like KQ also.

Against V1, yes. I would only do this if V2 was not capable of folding TP.

Sqz pre makes sense.
The flop Im very much inclined to fold TP.
V1 has overpairs and some sets to raise, V2 likely has all sets/maybe 2p and several FDs for semibluff. Even if V1 folds we dont have valueraise against V2.
TPTK is good bluffcatcher but here we are 3way, facing raise to UTG range. Either call or fold, dont raise.

Since you got no hand OTF and facing the prospect of playing for stacks if continuing, it should be an easy fold before getting much involved in this mess with a small hand.

Hero has TPTK.

Call. Lets play turns and rivers, we're better at it than our opponents. Also raising blows out worse hands

What exactly is the plan going to turn and river? Call down??

I like the call. This may seem passive, but we have position and a hand that would like to see a showdown with a moderate pot. Reraising here potentially puts us to a stack commitment decision with minimal information, plays directly into the hands of any hand that's beating us and would like to get it all in now, and folds out many hands we could get value from.

Plan is to evaluate the turn. I'm inclined to check it back if checked to me (to get to a showdown). If there is significant action before me (bet and raise or sizable bet and call), I'm likely to lay it down. I'll min raise some turns, again to get to showdown with a reasonable pot. And on other turns I'll call and eval river.

Grunching ...

Call flop ip, given described range and V2 image. Evaluate turn. I'd likely commit 90 bbs HU on blank turn/river vs. V2.

Pre - ok, given EP raise. I think 3-betting folds worse, builds pot vs. better.

Depends on bet sizing, tells, and board run out, but yes I am calling down here fairly often.

We really need more information on how V1 plays in order to continue here.
Does he raise pre-flop from early position often? When he does, is he stabby multi-way on the flop?

Without any more information about what V1 might be c-betting with, this is a super easy fold for me. UTG+1 raisers that continue into two people on this kind of board rarely have a worse hand than AQ.

3! to $70 pre.

Tough spot post flop. Is V2 really raising with a trash hand like QJ? I probably let this one go.

:Grunch:

I 3! this preflop. I am really wary of a TAG's EP raising range and seeing how V1 reacts to the 3! gives us a ton more info and makes the flop easier to play. As played I'm iffy. I think I lean towards bumping it to around $200ish. I can still fold if V1 comes back over the top. I'm happy to get the money in the middle against V2 here.

3betting ensures that we only play vs a stronger range, and we get blown off our hand some % of the time. It is nice because we pick up some dead money, but we have a very playable hand in position. Lets play flops, turns, and rivers - we are better at it than our opponents (I hope)

I like flatting pre as a tight player opened from UTG1 and our hand is too strong to to waste/fold to a 4bet. Also we disguise the strength and it plays well multiway.

Flop: flat and reevaluate turn. hope that V1 folds to V2 raise as it makes our hand a lot easier to play.

I thought cold calling the raise would be awkward and wanted to see where my hand was at. I raised large enough to commit myself vs villain 2 if he shoved because of the history and dynamics of the game thus far but small enough to get away if villain 1 decided to rip it. I agreed with the other players in that AQ was a strong enough hand to play in position but not ideal to 3bet vs villain 1's early position raise. Honestly I didn't even think about flatting villain 2's raise at the time because that's usually not in my arsenal to cold call a raise with just TPTK but definitely an interesting thought to consider. Maybe care to elaborate more on that play?

I just think it leaves open a lot of options - and it protects us from a reraise. By calling - you definitely keep FDs and straights in your range... that could be useful. If V1 happens to have a big hand and re-raises we can get away cheaper. If he doesn't raise then we know we likely have his hand beat.

OTT - if the board bricks and we get checked to... we're likely ahead and can bet for value/equity realization. If the board flushes or straightens and we get checked to - we can represent it (but might have to bet river too). If we get a bet to us... we can evaluate (e.g. turn card, V1 or V2, sizing)

My thoughts...

V2's flop minraise is interesting. If he's got a big hand, why so small? He's giving any draw a great price to continue. If he's got a big draw, why so small? Wouldn't it make more sense to raise bigger to increase his chance to win the pot now? It could be a "see where I'm at" raise, in which case we're probably ahead of his range. Both players put out a small bet or raise on a very moist flop. I feel like there are a couple of modest hands out there -- maybe an OK draw or overpair or something that connected moderately with the flop. There's also some chance someone is milking a monster.

If we flat, I think we can play with significantly better information than V's on the turn. If V1 and V2 start getting hot and heavy, we can slide out. If they continue weakly, we can put in a value bet or raise. It's true this doesn't charge draws more (as a raise would), but it also lets us maintain control of the pot. I'm certainly not looking to stack off here.

With position and a TPTK hand, I don't mind playing small ball and continuing to let my position and (hopefully) better decision making work for me.

Flop seems easy. Our hand is too strong to fold. It is too weak to raise. So lets call. We have position and it'll be nice to have some TPTK in our flatting range here.

good spot to squeeze here pre this deep but flatting is good too

when he minraises his range is pretty polarised. in this spot i would probably flat the raise and fold if v1 re pops it.

on the turn if v2 barrels im probably just folding. if he checks and the turn is dry im value betting. your range looks really strong when you flat the flop raise so i'm less inclined to think that we're ahead of v2's range if he barrels again

I raise to GII vs V2 OTF, but calling is ok as well.

I 3bet super small, that will be enough to get V1 to fold his equity.

->

3bet to 120
fold if V1 raises
gii if V2 raises

this is a classic raise or fold spot and I like raise better

155

What makes it a raise or fold spot?