2/5 $1k max buy. I made 1 really bad call in the heat of the moment against a fishy reg that was playing unusually snug for the session. I don't need to post that hand as I could see clearly afterwards how bad it was. These next two are much closer IMO. Are these both folds?

V1 - Is main V and is younger Latino male. LAG with PFR 20%+, usually in position. Often raising 2 out of 3 hands when in HJ, CO, BUT. Shortly after sitting down the player to my left got into a big hand with him and shoved the turn on a paired board. He got a tank fold from V1 and told me V1 was essentially a maniac (not sure how this justified the shove but whatever). In a different hand V1 raised pre with something like 57s. Floated a $100 flop bet with a gut shot 36Q maybe, then turned a double gutter 9 and called $200 OTT to hit the 4 on the river and scoop. He's been caught triple barreling air and gotten paid off light when barreling value.

Hero is middle aged but may look to be 30s something with nitty image. Although I try to adjust to the table.

OTTHs. Hand 1:

Hero is the effective stack at about $600 and has been folding to V1s aggression for about a dealer and some change (40 mins?). Coupled with tip from the player to my left I decide to start defending a wider range. A couple of limpers in front of V1 and he raises the CO to $25. Button folds and Hero decides to call in the SB against V1s wide range with QJ. One call from MP.

Flop (~$85): Q8 4
V1 is barreling a huge percentage of these situations in position so Hero checks, MP checks, V1 bets $40. Hero decides to call against this V since he has tons of air here and will call all his draws creating a bloated pot with a marginal hand. MP folds.

Turn ($165): Q8 4K
Hero checks, V1 bets $70. Obviously we didn't want to see the K but the club gives us second pair and the flush draw. I felt raising here would fold out Vs air and only get called by his Kx, club, draws, heart draws, sets, etc. Also raising here is essentially playing for stacks if I get called or raised. Plan is to check call non heart rivers against his range. And check raise the club flush.

River ($305): Q8 4K3
Hero checks, V1 bets $200. I range V1 on Kx, Qx, and hearts mostly. He's definitely bluffing river on missed hearts. Given our super passive action is a call out of line here? Hero?

Hand 2: Much later in the night. V1 has shown not to be a full maniac as suggested but definitely very LAG. V1s PFR is still 20+. Hero is effective stack again at about $800. V1 raises to $25 OTB over a few limpers, folds to Hero who 3 bets to $95 from the BB against his wide range with AJ. Folds back to V1 who quickly calls. Not sure if this caps his range since there haven't been any 4 bets all night that I remember. I'm reading weakness though from body language and lack of even considering a 4 bet.

Flop: ($200): A84
Hero bets $125, V1 pauses and then calls.

Turn: ($450): A849
Hero checks, mostly for pot control as I don't think there are a ton of diamond combos V1 should have here given a 3! pot and the A on the board and the J blocker. V1 checks behind which was unexpected. Hit or miss I kind of expected V1 to fire and for us to evaluate.

River: ($450): A849K
Hero checks again with the intention of calling a reasonable river bet. If we bet and get raised we have to let it go. Given the action in a 3 bet pot I don't think V1 can have AA, KK, AK. There are very limited diamond combos as well. We are mainly losing to two pair, slow played diamonds, and AQo. V1 bets $305. Hero?

Think i'm calling hand 1

Folding hand 2

I expect villain to show up with two pair or better in hand 2 You're basically saying you have AJ/AQ

I don't think he expects a fold.


You need to barrel this turn though, especially with the Jd in your hand.

hand 2 call river

hand 1 is close. QJss or QJdd would be a better call than QJcc cause we block hands like AJcc, JTcc, J9cc. Given that flop was 3 ways I think we can probably fold the river. It's not gonna be a very +EV spot either way unless you think he's way over bluffing river.

I call in both hands vs. this villain.

Hand 1 because I played so passively -- if you don't raise flop or turn, call river.

Hand 2 because I checked turn and river with intention of calling, so I call.

Thanks all for responses. Fitting that the first three responses were:
Call 1, Fold 2
Fold 1, Call 2
And Call both.
Just missing Fold both for next poster. Although if we are folding both against this V we should probably just be folding pre until we have either position or a monster. Wouldn't mind a few more opinions.

I did consider barreling here but I didn't want to overplay a 1 pair hand when it has this much value vs this V. V knows I never have a flush here in a 3! pot just like we know his flush combos are also limited. So if I bet turn I'm repping AK or a set, either way he can put me in a horrible spot if he raises. Is he capable of bluffing into my double barrel for stacks? I don't want to find out. My nitty side wants to pot control and get to showdown OOP with 1 pair. Maybe this is a leak though. Food for thought.
I tend to agree here in general but as another poster points out, we are so under-repped V could have us on hearts or something like TT that's betting for value with hands we can beat.

I like Villain's River sizing in both hands. Sounds like he would be a tough/annoying opponent to play against OOP.

Hand 1: Fold. I don't think your hand is under-repped. It actually looks exactly like what it is. His bet looks like a value bet that can beat Kx.

FWIW, I don't like the pre call. I would rather 3! or fold here.

Hand 2: Fold. I don't think the K is a good bluff card for him (you're the preflop three-bettor). It should be all value here. He could have a lot of the flushes or even something like AK/AQ that would check Turn (flush for deception, pair/TP to evaluate your action on the River).

If you could play this hand again, how about making a River blocker bet?

He was definitely tough OOP, stole so many of my blinds being two spots to my right and being most active from CO and BUT. Thanks for the completing the cycle. First 4 responses covered all 4 combinations of fold and call for the two hands. At least this tells me these decisions aren't trivial.
H1: I had been folding, I could have been more patient. I don't mind a fold either but given Vs sticky pre-flop tendencies I'd rather have a pair or at least K high to 3 bet OOP. Point taken.
H2: I mention he has a lot of those combos that beat us. I still also felt he had many combos we could beat. In a 3 bet pot I dont have him on much AK though. Given his play I cant imagine he has his mind made up to flat a 3 bet and not consider raising in position. Then, knowing we cant have the flush, the fact that he checks behind for deception is a stretch for me. His style is so bet heavy, its possible, but not likely.
Maybe we give him 1 or 2 combos of AK with a weird line. KQ, KT, QT, maybe add T7, A9, A8, 98. After that it's pretty hard to find additional combos, and even most of those should be more aggressive most of the time given his history.

Interesting idea using the blocker river bet in H2. Side effect is that if he's weak we get no value but it saves us from being in this spot. We get to set our price for cheap protection. Since V1 has shown no aggression to this point maybe this isn't the most +EV play though? Food for thought, thanks. Lastly, a good part of our 3! range is TT-KK, which plays the same way. Should we really let this V rep a smaller Ace here and print money even when we have AJ?

H1 - call.
H2 - snap call.

But I really dont like the way u played H1. calling pre in the SB has to be -EV there. Even if we put v on being a maniac were still gonne be OOP and facing aggression. Were gonna have RIO against [AQ, KQ, AJ, KJ] All hands we put in his range including offsuit combos. And even if we do make a top pair hand, A and K will always be scary cards. Suffice it to say I 3b or fold pre and I lean towards a 3bet. AP OTF im gonna c/r we just cant play so passively and let a barrel monkey realize his equity in position. yes hes a maniac but we cant play so passive its really bad ayyyaaa

H2 is WP, its better to c/c the turn with the Jd than it is to bet/cry. I like a bet/fold turn line if we dont have a diamond. And now on the Riv its clearly a snap because our range looks lite on Aces and we need some hands to bluff catch with.

Do you think he's the type that would check behind a K high flush and only bet non-nutted flushes? I think that a good player in his position, with a K high flush, would only get two streets of value and should mixup checking and betting Turn.

Yea I agree hand 1 is a 3! fold pre spot and since I didn't want to 3! I should have folded there. Thanks for feedback.

I could see him playing it either way. I'm sure he would size down a K high flush if he bet turn. Given his frequencies he wasn't slow playing even nutted hands much. He was was consistently using less aggressive sizings on earlier streets and bigger sizings on the river with both value and air. It wasn't a matter of if he could have it, it was more a matter of how much of his range is this IMO.

Overly passive in both hands.

Hand 1: Is too close to comment. But QJs is real easy to play as a 3bet from blinds. Which I would prefer vs this villain.

Hand 2 is a call. Given info we have. Both these hands would be easier to digest 1 at a time. Also knowing what happened in first hand where you called light would help.

Also, have you seen Villain ever give up? I know a decent lag with huge leak. He can never give up on river. He bets close to 100% if he bet flop and turn, unless he has good showdown equity. So he is over bluffing river by large margin

Agree, with H1 assessment. Thanks.
I was going to post them separately but felt since it was same V it might be better together. Didn't want to influence feedback with results. I'll post both results tomorrow together.

Against passive play I had never seen V give up, which is part of the reason why I didn't want to raise him off his air. He gave up more often to flop aggression, multi street bets, or all in raises. Most of the table adjusted by donking huge flop, or check raising huge flop and winning smaller pots. V still called some there but the second bet would usually be all in and V would fold. Occasionally the raiser would give up and V would still get to show down. Part of my passive play was going for max +EV (greedy) with a marginal hand and increasing my variance and I accept that. Given we are willing to put ourselves in tough spots, we need to be sure we aren't spewing it off over calling rivers though. Hence the post. H1 pre call was -EV, thanks, accepted.

Did you recently move up to 2/5?

I get the impression you are/were a solidly winning low-stakes winner.

Calling pre in H1 is not -ev. Just prefer a 3 bet.

Your still going to get to continue quite often as a call. And given villain is going to over cbet and barrel. We can put ourselves in some really nice spots (also tough spots).

This is the first year that 2/5 is my primary game. But I’ve been shot taking since I started tracking.
2014: 30 hours 2/5
2015: 30 hrs
2016: 150
2017: 90
2018: 215

This is probably true for you, I’m not sure my nitty style plays as well OOP against barrels. I’m rarely floating, so if I can flop enough pairs and draws I can win a big pot but I’m mostly losing small ones.

H1 i dont hate a call but holding QJcc we block so many bluffs that I think I just fold. We block J10cc/J9cc/AJcc/AJo. Pre i’d most likely 3b or fold, calling from SB is generally a leak imo unless we are set mining ot have Axss or a stronger suited broadway (KQs/KJs I still prefer 3b). Post is fine.

H2: i def cbet smaller otf. Turn good. River i call.

H1: Based on your range, I’d call.

Flop – I’d C/R a decent amount of the time and if called, continue on most turns. His sizing seems weak for value 3-way on a wet board that hit callers pretty hard. Since we are oop, I’m totally fine realizing my equity if he folds.

H2: Checking both turn and river weakens our range from a V perspective, so I’d lean toward a call. He’s likely betting a strong ace on the turn. Sick if he turned over KK.

Turn – I’d make a small value bet since there are limited semi-bluffs/bluffs in his range with the flush/straight blockers. Hoped to get two streets of value, flop and turn.

I really like this post. In H1, when it's this close, letting blockers be the deciding factor sounds good. Also agree I should try to avoid flatting this light. H2, I can get behind a smaller cbet. I think I sized before I realized how limited Vs flush draws were. Against this V I'm not sure it matters much but point taken.

Thanks everyone. Lot's of good feedback going both ways.

Results: