Hero (HJ) $1700 : playing a standard TAG game. won a couple big pots. haven't been getting out of line

Villain (Button) $1200 : strong TAG. hasn't been out of line thus far. heavy regular at this casino. very tough opponent. seen him play higher such as 5/5nl & 5/10nl


Preflop $7
UTG+1 limp
MP3 raise to $20
H call 1010
V call (before calling paused for a bit before flatting)
SB fold
BB call
UTG+1 call


Flop $102 J107
checks around to hero
H bet $50
V raise to $140
folds to hero
H call
Initially I was going to raise to get a feel for where I'm at, if raised again I would likely be folding. Then I convinced myself that it was possible V could have JJ after seeing him pause before calling preflop, where it looked like he might've put in a 3bet. Also thought he could've flopped the straight, so I decided to go into call down mode. In hindsight, I believe I should've reraised the flop.


Turn $382 A
H check
V bet $275
H call


River $932 5
H check
V bet $700
H ?

I ended up folding as I felt there were more hands that beat me than I could hope to be ahead of. Additionally I didn't believe V would be jamming with worse. Best I could hope for was 77 maybe JT (but not likely). I felt like I played this hand terribly. Input on decisions throughout the hand?

Bet bigger on flop. As played you can fold river. Leading turn is also a possibility. Small blocking bet/fold on river is possibility too.

thoughts on whether I should've reraised on the flop?

You can make a small 3bet on the flop to induce pushes from worse hands (JT, 77) and keep KQ in.

Def bet more on flop

On flop I'd make it ~$375/call it off. Once you 3b flop if he shoves you're pretty much priced in if he shoves.

Pretty tough spot though.

I like flatting flop because tough opponent should not be spazzing v us for +200BB with worse a lot.

If I looked at a range to raise flop I'd include 3 combos of 77 and 2 of JJ to account for the fact he probably 3 bets JJ pre in some situations. 4 89s and a few offsuit combos, 3 JT, say 6 combos of KQ and that is about it. So we have easily enough equity to continue but 3 balling is bad.

Turn sucks balls since the biggest portion of his range we beat now made a straight. No way I'm folding here but I think it is actually close.

Good fold on river.

Agree with this and think it's close, only reason I prefer a 3B here is because a good villain is unlikely to raise flop then shut down this deep. I'd be concerned that he is more than capable of bluffing a decent amount of turns/rivers after we just flat the flop raise.

so flatting the flop raise against this villain better than 3betting?

i would be more inclined to flat the flop if we were IP. OOP we have more incentive to try and build a big pot earlier to simplify our decision making on earlier streets

River bet sizing is way too unbalanced toward top of his value and I don't think he's ever making the same bet with AJ, and maybe not even 77.

I think it's a good fold as well, and I like the rest.

Raising on the flop is for information and you don't want to do that. If you think he has a higher set or straight (dont think so) then I would call and keep the pot small. If you think you are ahead go ahead and raise.

You felt you might be up against JJ so a call is fine.

When the ace doesn't slow him down I would be a little worried. I don't mind flatting though.

On the river this is very read dependent. You could very well be ahead of AJ or J-10 (not likely) even 77. The only two hands that seemingly beat you are JJ and 8-9.

I am not sure why 8-9 would raise you on the flop so this is almost weight towards JJ.

I do not mind the fold if you have a good read but I also think there is a lot of sense in calling as your hand is very under repped.

There are a lot more to it than just call if you're behind and raise if you're ahead.

In this case, raising the flop is bad because we're OOP and villain would have to be very calling station (or that we have very bad spewy image) for us to get more value than slowplaying.

Ace doesn't really hurt his range because it is only taking away equity from KK/QQ and Jx that isn't AJ.

KK/QQ is 3betting pre, and KJ/QJ is a very small part of villain's flop raising range.

So overall, I don't think it should really surprise us that he's betting the turn.

For the simple reason that effective is $1200 and the bet is only $50 on the flop.

Flop 3b is standard in position with AJ. In position this guy knows not to raise KQ or 89. He can still get plenty of value with effective stack sizes on turn when you barrell. It only makes sense to raise AJ, TJ, 77 (for information) in position. he doesnt want to kill his other hands. Turn/River sizing by villain is bad. I think this hand screams AJ. He Might've considered that pre flop. I think the jacks get a raise pre out of 20 open and seemingly some dead money in there. I think you are ahead with this set. Scoop it up.

How is it standard? There is literally nothing worse than AJ could call the raise on flop. Do we really need to protect our equity? It could be a good argument, but let's produce some scenarios first.

Why not? At over 200bb deep, he might be aware that hero can't really do much to prevent draws OOP.

As for 98, only a bad player would slowplay that hand on the flop at 200+bb effective.

It would make sense if villain is a non-thinking player, because raising with those hands is likely overplaying them.

I'll ignore the raise for information part.

Why would he bet AJ with this line? Please try to construct a thought process that would make him make these bet sizings with AJ.

Wat?

Think the line we take here is very much dependent on our image. I think a "very tough opponent" will be encouraged to keep firing here a lot after we just flat the flop raise and make our life very difficult, which just sways me towards clicking back the flop.

Given his bet sizing I think this is a good fold as played.

if i were to raise this flop, how much should i make it?

What do you believe was Villain's read of the original pre-raiser? If he is a tough reg, is he really flatting pre- with JJ? It is likely to be his holding, but IMO a greater possibility that he holds JT-suited or 77. 98-suited also possible, I suppose.

Flatting preflop and having Villain IP vs you creates a tough situation. You played it well. But prior to your action, your position is HJ or better, right? And only one limper and one raiser in front. I'm an advocate for 3betting here, to $60-$70. Then if Villain still calls, now I'm more likely including JJ in his range. This situation I don't like flatting TT.

Well there are 0 combos of JTs 3 of 77 and 4 of 98s. Why the "I suppose" comment. It is like you really don't want him to have the nuts but you reluctantly accept that he can.

Turns a pretty gross card, and when you call turn you're really hoping he's going to check back the river or bet it small.

He might raise the flop with TP + GS and go barrel heavy. Doesn't usually have any FDs on the turn unless it's 89dd. Maybe he's aggressive enough to raise T9/T8/79/78dd but that's probably stretching it.

The very large river bet is strange and polarizing. Does he have you for a nut peddler who can't fold big holdings, or MUBSy? This could be key for calling it off or not. Do you often call turns then fold bombed rivers? My initial thought is that he's weighted towards KQ, 89 and JJ by the river, but the previous 2 bits of info are pretty essential to this hand.
How long did he take to act on each street?

No I haven't been calling turns and folding to river bombs during this session.

Do you think villain is raising the flop with KQ IP in a multiway pot?

try to get it in on the flop. If your beat so be it, you still have outs a lot of the time.

This is so wrong in so many ways...

The problem isn't even so much whether we are ahead, because clearly we want value.

When we have a lot of equity we want to build the pot.

That's not what you said.

You said to try to get it in on flop.

Oh. I don't mean shove. I like making it 475. Then I would jam the turn regardless of what hit for a slight overbet.