He will. He's good, and very good shorthanded. He is known to run big bluffs so he is always polarized.

My first thought was that this V will Cbet 100% of his range so I should flat with the top part of my range and 4bet with the lower to maximize preflop FE and continue with the most value. After sleeping on it, I think that's a mistake. What I should've done is just widen my 4bet range to include more of my weaker holdings.

Maybe I'm missing your point here. But yeah, I agree he either has me crushed, or he's trying to get me to fold a 1 pair hand.

This is also a good point.


I agree that I should've 4bet. I know some people mentioned the 3rd player and that is something I downplayed, but also is a mistake. He had a massive stack ($2.5k) and was looking to play bingo (that was why I mentioned his speech). He was capped and any peep from him was going to be a turbo muck.

My 4bet range short handed, versus this V, utg SHOULD be something like JJ-AA, AQs-AKs. Like I said above, I was trying to break up my 'bluff' and 'value' hands and I shouldn't have done that.

The reason you are missing the point is because you chose not to ponder the question that was asked of you twice.

WHY DID YOU RAISE TO 6X FROM EP AND WHAT RANGE DO YOU DO THIS WITH?

I wanted you to think about this 1st. My read is your range is QQ+ AKs. Think you are lying to yourself if you think you are wider than that. See your own description of yourself and how you played this hand.


IF? You are making this play with this range only and are getting action, then more power to you. Problem is you are insanely easy to play against. IF? I'm in position and we are 200 bigs+ deep, I'm calling you with all PPs, middle SCs, middle sooooted 1gappers, and I'm lokely 3!ing Ax suited wheels and Broadway hands that block you from getting to the river with better than the hand you currently have pre-flop.

As MUBSY as you are, all of the above should be insanely profitable. You will perceive me as loose passive. Which is true, but you will get selective amnesia when I start piling all of my betting discs in the middle of the table, because people said you have to call it off vs. my range.

Top set bet just the right amount for you to be priced in to call it off. A smidge deeper, I don't hate a call, but in this spot against this V..... well you already realised not 4!ing was a sizable mistake.

Point being, occasionally you need to profit off of your image and raise wider pre or 3! light. You rarely need to show up with some show down hands OTR that will have your Vs scratching their heads.

Not saying to go full on LAG, and not just this thread but others you have commented in, you seem wary too tight.

By opening 15-20, we can keep the pot small with a much larger range and get some Ax, Kx sooooted etc. that have significant equity to fold. When called (say we raised 89hh) and flop comes Ac7d4s. We can fire the flop since we raised or 3! And can tell a reputable story. Or we can x/r if you think that has better fold equity.

And we can have all of the nurtured hands to get our check as well depending on Vs tendencies. Looking at your cards and saying to yourself 'I Haz QQ, how can I blindly stack off here is not winning over IMHO'

I appreciate the comments. I did ponder the 6x open and it has to be the table dynamics that night. I use a very similar open size with my whole range so I would have raised J10s or 88 the same amount (give or take 1bb). Maybe the whole table was calling 3-4x raises so I was trying to find a sweet spot of 1-2 callers?

And I am tight. And I am MUBSy. BUT, I have been working on that aspect of my game and haven't really mentioned it here. I've literally had a few regulars make comments that my game has changed for the better and I'm opening up my range/float/bluffs and seeing good results.

Part of the MUBSy problem is I assume people can't possibly make an obviously horrible mistake for their whole stack. But 9 times out of 10 it's exactly what's happening and it just takes a second for me to accept it.

For example last night.

Utg+1 raises to 20. Call, Call, I call with 44, call, SB raises to $55, BB cold calls $55, I call and maybe one other caller.

Flop Q3h4. SB bets out $80, BB calls. I call. Everyone else folds.

Turn 8h . SB bets 200, BB shoves 600.

I think for a little bit because one of these two guys has to have QQ. No one in their right mind would ever overvalue KK/AA/AQ here on the driest flop of all time OOP with 'me, the tight guy' calling. I of course shove (me and SB were $1200 eff) and SB grumbles and folds his overpair. BB never shows, but I saw the Ah when he mucked so he shoved on a backdoor flush draw. MAYBE with AQhh.

But in general, I do know how I'm perceived and win a lot of pots because of it. This QQ hand was more about how to play against a better player.

And to that end, let's say I 4bet to $400ish. Do I fold to all shoves? Stack off on the same flop if he calls?

Read in your Mom's voice: Just because everybody else is jumping off of a bridge doesn't mean you have too.

When you raise as large as you did with your stack depth, you set yourself up to stack off. Yes, at this point maths say you must call.

But, $15 raise, 3! $45, LP call. With your call, the pot is $135 and you have a $1,155 stack behind. NOW, we have options. How I would proceed from here OOP would be largely read dependent and what MY image is at the table. (Trust me I'm way wider than you are. )

Again, with your sizing pre, your only real option at this stack depth is 4!/call. Pretty boring poker. And I don't really have the stomach for the fight when 90% of posters are going to say if you can raise your AA to $35 pre and get 1 caller, it is a dream table. I disagree because the way you play a single hand in a vacuum optimally is rarely the best way to play the hand in the current game environment.

Best analogy I can come up with is sometimes you have to lose a battle in order to win the war. Translation, I am absolutely losing value and may have to x/fold flop by raising to $15 pre OOP with the best hand in poker. But, I can expand my first-in-the-pot OOP range to top~ 30% of hands as well. Just think about how often we actually get premium hands vs. all those other hands you want to play but everyone says those hands are -EV and too just dump them pre.

Appifiny. I know that wide of a range OOP is likely B/E or slightly +/- EV depending on your post flop skills. Think about how you would describe me as a V. Probably not a glowing review and likely someone you are looking to play pots with. I said it earlier, but now you can con your brain into calling me down when I am IP and am shoveling my chips in the middle. Basing your decisions here when I am IP based on how I played OOP is simply flawed logic.

Not picking on you specifically BTW, but I know you might actually consider other lines that may be more profitable than one's you take now. And my image in most games is rec/whale, so my lines are obviously going to be different than yours. For example, I have check/raised river as a bluff and gotten snapped off by middle pair. Also have done it with the nuts and snapped Vs AI in 4K plus pots. Based on your image, your 1 pair hands will rarely be good.

Starting to ramble... Patience grasshopper. Don't try all ^^^^ at once!