Hero dealt AK

V makes it $20 UTG, the other solid LAG that I moved to get position on flats, I make it $80, V makes it $200, other guy folds. Hero calls.

Flop ($427): 357

V leads $275. Hero?

Wonderfully bad flop. Villain will probably bet his entire range, depending on what he holds this could be anything from a straight c-bet bluff or pure value or something in between. Flop is fairly useless to hero's hand, there is runner-runner potential but not a lot of value in taking one card. If hero does catch an A or K and it is good, villain is likely to realize they are behind. I would fold here much of the time, with the occasional call or bluff raise. I would call about 1 time in 10, when I call I'm hoping to catch a good card or that villain gives up aggression. The bluff raise is going to be rare here, this isn't a super good flop for it because villain could put us on a flush and reraise with hands we have equity against.

prob just fold. or make one of these wtf plays and just raise 1k with pure brutality; it prob works often enough to make it profitable lol

God, I want to flat and see what the turn brings. Lots of fun ones.

Imo given history this is a good spot to click it back and see if you can buy the turn and river for $550.

I like calling and seeing a turn. There's a plethora of cards that we can use to make an utg 4!ers life miserable.

Just fold you can only rep diamonds/KK/AA/ maybe 77 if you raise. Flatting is pretty terrible imo as V should continue almost all turn cards. No point going crazy on a Q or J or T turn because what you hit a 2 outer? You can only comfortably rep diamonds.

Depends how often you've been squeezing tbh because this flop shouldn't hit your range at all really.

5-bet pre you nit. V will be 4-betting you fairly wide because it looks squeezey and he doesn't want to play oop. You gotta balance your 5-bets somewhat if you're to play vs this guy this deep or not 5-bet AA/KK.

I like the three bet, you are deep and have position. 3betting keeps all the strongest hands in your range and will put him in a tougher position post flop. When he 4bets it seems like calling is the only play unless you have some read and think you have fold equity. I would almost always flat.

Maybe I'm a nit, but I flat pre in position and fold to that flop. I mean if we click it back, what do we do if he shoves? If we flat and don't connect the turn we're going to have to release.

I like the 3bet. Calling takes the top hands out of your range, and also makes it a tougher hand for him to play post flop. You are plenty deep enough to profitably call if he 4bets.

Dude we have a top hand. You are explaining that flatting the open raise with it is deceptive which is exactly why it is a decent play in position vs aggressive villains.

Ya, You lost me on this one as well.

I personally would probably 3bet on the button here really often. I'd probably just call the 4 bet because v2 flatted, but would be more likely to raise if he folded.

yeah if you're good flatting the flop to take it away later is +ev

god half the deck is great for you

calling flop seems like FPS

he 4-bet pre and OP described his range to be pretty tight; there are way more hands that crush us than hands that don't. of the hands that we're behind, many of them are very strong and aren't going to fold the majority of the time on later streets.

WTF at not 3betting pre.

I call flop. Tons of turns you can continue on.

Only reason you wouldn't 3b pre is if your oop for obv reasons against a solid opponent this deep. ip its a clear 3b.

5b would be awful.

flop is tough, its starting to get real. I don't have enough experience playing later streets this deep, but I'd assume folding is a mistake against a solid player.

While there are many turn cards that could help us (equity and line), I'd fold pretty quickly.

We are facing a solid opponent capable of muti-barreling and taking non-standard lines. I'm not going to stick my chest out any further on this hand. Instead, wait for a better spot.

FWIW this flop demonstrates exactly why flatting pre is such a great line. Because we can rep pretty much whatever the hell we want to rep post.

Our 3!/call range however, is limited. This isn't online 6 max vs raptor, this is live f***king poker. What rage does everyone give a "solid tag" who just raise/4! UTG? No one is thinking "oh I'm deep, lets go balls to the wall with this 67 here OOP". If he is villain description needs revisiting.

Now that we raise/called, if we raise flop, or turn, he will think our range is capped at overpairs, in a cooler situation. In this case we are only ever folding out JJ or AQ or the occasional chop or w/e which is a dumb result.


Very few have a monkey image you likely have. People aren't stacking off with TT here or w/e vs a btn raise.

FWIW I am perceived as donkey kong on the button so I understand where you are coming from (if we can't raise for value with a premium in position then something is wrong with our game)

Just, if you are getting several hundred bb's in with AK you are lighting money on fire. If your response to that is that our goal isn't to get a ton of bb's in, it's to play our hand optimally to win the maximum, I think flatting is pretty clearly the best line.

Note I myself said I would have a hard time flatting, bc villains just think I'm a giant monkey otb. But a solid tag who opens UTG and has been seen triple barreling is a great spot to flat. Suited makes it play better multiway so we are fine with that as well.

I'm not trying to get AIPF pre. You're building a pot with the best hand, and one that plays really well in re-raised pots and you should punish his loose opens. Not 3-betting this is awful. You turn AKs into A2s.

This is exactly the problem with AK deep. When it hits - we don't get paid often enough because people are always scared of A or K flops when you are super deep.

I usually don't like to 3bet this hand deep vs another deep player - as i've never been happy with a flop with AK super deep. Maybe i'm results oriented but if you think about it - what kind of flop are you hoping to hit - that actually gets villain to put in tons of money? I guess being suited is cool but I don't think you want to be playing for stacks.


Maybe someone has had some better value with AK deep than me - but I usually give up 3betting AK vs anyone when we are 200BB+ effective and start 3betting hands like JTs and other hands that make nut straights and are well disguised.

You should be 3-betting both. 3-betting JTs and not 3-betting AKs is just bad.

How are "best hand" and "loose open" entering your mind from villain description of "young solid tag" who opens UTG in a FR game?

If this was from MP1 or even UTG2 or an Asian spew box or w/e yes fine raise for value.

VS a solid tags UTG open...a raise here is for extremely thin value at best (where his JJ/QQ/AK flat and we outplay/outflop post with position)

When he folds his KQ or his AJs or AQo we just lit a significant amount of money on fire.

Like how are we ever blatantly value raising vs. a solid TAG's UTG open here? The part of his range that folds we were crushing, the part that flats/raises has us destroyed.

if V's range is as wide as you say it is (99+,AQ+ some SCs) - assuming his 4bet didnt significantly narrow it to QQ+, I click it back. We have some FE and we definitely still have equity but we are probably behind. Cannot call. If we pick up significant equity on the turn I would continue otherwise I want to see the river for $550 hopefully. If you miss both you risked $750 total and had decent equity to win significantly more than what you risked.

I wouldnt bluff at Diamonds as someone mentioned. if V is at the upper end of the range unless you can soul read AhKc as his two cards a third diamond would most likely hit him given we have spades and make our story not so believeable.

So we're not folding out everything we beat, we're just polarizing his utg range.

Tbh I'm never scared of being 4b by 98s, but hes not continuing with AQ and the cold caller is really the target in this hand.