Have a couple of hands to go over.

Game is 500 max 2/5

Hand 1:
Hero (500)
Villain (~400)

Villain is just an old guy, but this is the first hand for me at the table, so I really don't have much to go on beyond that.

First hand at the table I post in HJ, effective stacks probably ~400 in this hand.

Preflop - ep limps, another ep limps, MP (Villain) limps, we check our option with JT
SB completes
BB checks

Flop ($25):QT4

Checks to villain, villain bets $15, hero calls $15, everyone else folds. Heads up to the turn

Turn ($55): A
Villain bets $25, hero calls.

River ($105): A
Villain bets $25
Hero raises to $110

My thoughts: Just a couple of quick points, I think villains hand is mostly face up in this spot as a Queen trying to get to a cheap showdown. While I don't completely discount him having Ax here on the turn, I don't think he's leading flop with just a random Ax or even AT all that often. We also have some decent card removal I think?

Hand 2:
Effective Stacks ~500ish, hero has villain covered. No reads on villain, he's hasn't been involved in many spots/haven't really noticed him very long at the table.

Hero (BB) j9
UTG (straddles)
Villain calls 10.
MP calls 10
LP calls 10
SB folds
Hero calls $5 more in the BB
Straddle Checks

Flop ($50): Q8J
Hero checks
UTG checks
Villain bets $30
MP folds
LP folds
Hero calls $30
UTG folds

Turn ($110): 8
Hero checks
Villain Checks

River ($110): 6
Hero checks
Villain bets $50
Hero raises $175

Thoughts: This river c/r may be semi unbalanced as I don't know how often I am checking both turn and river with T9 combos, but I am not sure if that's something villain is going to deduce in this spot. We don't block missed spades, we block the straight, this is effectively a limped pot, I think stronger Q's or even 8x isn't checking back the turn on this drawy board, and I can have plenty of 8x combos, some straight combos, etc. I suppose an argument could also be made for simply check calling in this spot? I don't know which is better, check call or c/r. Or if one disagrees with what I said above, possibly fold?

Hand 3:
Third hand I am posting where I am relatively readless of villain, this is one of villains first hands at the table. Villain is maybe late 20's, I had the impression he might be ok.. but yeah nothing really to go on.

This may hand quite possibly may be a spew line. Don't judge me lol...

Effective stacks are again (~$500) as villain bought in for max

Folds to villain in CO
Villain limps
Hero ISO raises $20 with 75
Villain calls

Flop ($40): AK6

Villain checks
Hero bets $25
Villain calls $25

Turn ($90): 7
Villain checks
Hero bets $50
Villain calls $50

River ($190): T
Villain checks
Hero bets $140

Thoughts: ok so we bet this flop cause 7 high is bad. We also have pretty good backdoor potential where we can barrel any 3 or 9 for gutshots, 4's and 8's for OESD, any club. etc. We also have a chance to fold out small pairs 22-88 some % of the time, Random Jhigh, Qhigh hands, and given our villain limp called pre I don't think he's going to have too many strong Ax here so we can put the pressure on during later streets if need be. When we get to the turn I am still trying to fold out stubbron Kx's and some other marginal holdings. I think by the river villain almost is always capped at mostly 1 pair holdings, we can have all types of Two pair here, and most importantly I don't think I have too many worse holdings in this spot.

One question though to think about is if maybe the T on the river should be a card I give up on. Villain might play AT like this some % of the time, KT makes two pair, etc. So my question to everyone on this hand is, if we are to triple barrel, which rivers do we give up on vs. which ones do we continue? Would we be better off barreling small brick rivers rather than rivers that have a T, J, Q?

Anyway thanks for your thoughts.

I wouldnt play these hands the way you did, but if I happened to get to the river the way you did....

1) I love it
2) I love it
3) I hate it

What do you mean in hand 1 when you say you think you have decent card removal? I'm not 100% on this concept yet

It will be easier to talk about the hands, if you split them into multiple threads. In general, I don't like stone cold bluffing at 2/5, as most people are not folding better hands, can't really hand read and don't understand what you are trying to represent.

That said, onto the hands.

Hand 1: I would prefer leading. Calling is fine too. Turn hits his range more than yours, but we still have outs and can continue. River raise is great and Q will have a hard time calling. Like the line, as played.

Hand 2: Again, I prefer leading. As played, river check/raise seems great, but I think there are other ways to bluff, IMO. If you check/called flop, lead turn for half pot and bomb the river based on how V reacts to turn bet. In general, river check/raises get a lot of respect, again well played.

Hand 3: This one is hard. Flop c-bet is good. I would give up on turn, as most Vs will have AX and they are not folding unless you put a lot of pressure. High variance and probably -EV in the long run to go for this.

He means that he has a T in his hand, so there's less chance of opponent having a T and in turn having a hand like AT. These are called blockers. Checkout this great thread on this. https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/1...ffects-231591/. A more recent article on this by Upswing folks (I am not affiliated in anyway) is here. https://upswingpoker.com/blockers-po...al-situations/

Im IP in this hand, can't lead out. Villain lead into me.


I thinnnk I might like your line better here, especially on this type of drawy board multiway I def would prob be leading with a decent amount of nutted hands given there are so many bad turn cards for me that either have villains catch up or kill my action. At the same time, I don't know if we are too strong to just start running a triple barrel right off the bat? maybe c/c bet bet is the best line. interesting.

yeaaaaah. maybe. I don't know how I feel about it. Could have been fancy play syndrome, but I see my range here as played being something like, A6 suited, AK, A7 suited, 76 suited, 3 combos of 89 suited (betting all the ones with bdfds, 9high turns OESD on turn and rivering straight). So thats like 18 value combos, pair of 7's is like super bottom of my range here. I think it's obv important I am not over bluffing obv so don't know which worse hands to do it with. other than not getting in this spot to begin with But yeah maybe too optimistic to think villain is folding here.

so because I have JT here villain for example is going to be less likely to have a hand like AJ (assuming he limps that pre, which totally is possible live), 25% less likely to have KJ, less likely to have TT's full, etc. Obviously this is a small amount of hands overall compared to all the Qx's he could have, but in choosing spots to bluff it sometimes is a good starting point if you know villain is less likely to have particular value hands. Gives you greater chances of getting folds. Of course, finding the right combos and lines you take with these types of hands can be tricky which is why I'm asking some of these questions myself.

which part of 3 do you hate the most? are there certain runouts you could consider more preferable to barreling?

Not him but i agree with him. It just smells wrong. You're basically representing an underplayed top pair+ or a picked up 2p, which i love when that's what you have. That last bet feels like a needling value bet. And he seems like a tp meh kicker or king who already doesn't believe you.

4bb seems great for the suited gapper you're playing. Probably merges with exactly the AJish/mpp you're representing. Seems like there will be better spots to risk that much both in terms of bigger pots to steal and less muddy waters for you to skew what you're representing. It's not about runout so much as the fact that he's followed you all the way to the end and you're skewing to borderline desperation shove with a busted draw because you wanted him to fold on the flop or turn bet.

The line started fine. It didn't go well. Trying to save it is probably not worth the risk.

I think its much too likely that the guys has a hand he's not folding after he calls the flop and turn on that board. He most likely has a big ace. Even if it worked this time, I wouldnt try that one again. I dont think it will work often enough to be profitable.

my issue with hand 3 is that you are read less on villain and you are running a triple barrel bluff on him

Aah, sorry. I see it. Then, I like this a lot. Typical weak-passive play from V. Raising turn also would be ok, but raising river is better with the run out. Love it. I need to do this more.



Leading doesn't mean you have to go all the way with triple barrel. I feel like leading makes it easier to play and people give up on the turn quite often, when they don't hit.

what are your thoughts on the turn bet? is it better to bet bet and give up or just give up on turn?

grunch

hand 1: Seems pretty decent. I think he rarely has a full house with his line and you can have AT here or a somewhat trickly played KJ. Think your hand doesn't have as much value as a call here so raising is good.

hand 2: I think this hand is better as a call than a raise. I think the amount of hands he bets on the river that both fold to a raise and are better than your hand are pretty slim.

hand 3: this is pure spew. Just check behind the turn and fold that river. You have so many better hands to bluff with than this one, namely hands that contain a Q or a J.

I think I am agreeing with you on hand 3 for the most part. I assume a good chunk of JT would make a good bluffing candidate? Outs to the nuts on flop and turn and by river we block various two pair combos villain can have that would have played this way, such as KT and AT. We have plenty of combos to do that with as well I guess. So yeah, I think I found a better bluffing candidate than 7x.

Alright results time for those interested

Hand 1:


Hand 2:


Hand 3:

Hand 1 we can just fold turn, but if we're going to call turn river is good

Hand 2 seems fine

Hand 3 is just spew in these games we're so rarely getting villain to fold Ax OTR just check turn and fold river.