1/2 Friday night game at the Borg. I have not been here in ages and decided to play a few hours before my convention tomorrow.

Hero: 30s Asian guy, played very tight so far. Have shown down 2 hands, AQs and 67s. I 3bet the AQ hand vs an utg raiser and caller, only the caller stayed. Board ran out with a straight 23456, and he bet on river and I shoved hoping he'd fold, he called with 9T and we chopped. Other hand, same caller as above raised to 17, I called with 67s as did a short stack. Flop came 7 high and they checked to me, I bet 30 into the 51 pot and shortie shoved a flush draw for 37 total and raiser folded, I held. Other than those hands, I've been folding pretty much everything else.

Villain: late 20s Indian guy. Seems decent, maybe a little loose based on his table talk of ranges and trying to bet certain spots. He flatted a 15 utg raise from another guy earlier with 88, then shoved about 210 on a 832 flush draw flop vs the raiser's 65 psb, raiser had AA. Then saw villain limp AK off on the button after 2 limpers, call small blinds 17 raise heads up, check a K72 rainbow flop, bet turn J small, then psb blank river and was good.

On to the hand, effective stacks are about 240, villain covers.

Villain limps utg+1, I raise to 10 with A: K, everyone else folds, villain calls, saying I gotta see a flop.

Flop (23): QQ8 with 2 diamonds, 1 club. Check, check.

Turn (23): A
Villain bets 10, I call.

River (43): 7
Villain bets 40. I should??

This villain seems to be able to hand read somewhat, I thought my hand looked pretty face up as an ace, given how tight I've been playing. I suppose I could also have 99+ here, but villains bet is very polarizing. I don't think he's betting aces here for this sizing, and he can't have nut flush draw, so this looks like a Q or a bluff. What do you guys think?



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I don't think V limping AKo on the button after 2 limpers and allowing two blinds in followed by a flop check, small turn bet and PSB on a river brick is necessarily indicative of an overly strong player here. Decent maybe, but it sounds like he's a bit too creative for his own good.

With that said, the more I think about it the less I think a call is a good idea here. Your range is definitely top heavy, not as much because of your image, but because you flatted the $10 on the turn. That he would bet PSB into you again right after that reeks of value. I think you've invested a minimal amount in the hand and can probably move on. Even an average player can generally recognize that your flat on the turn is often an A and they would check the river for showdown.

In general at 1/2 without too much of a read I'm probably folding. Ranges tend to be less bluff heavy and he's never doing this for value with anything less than Qx. A missed diamond draw would make sense and complete air knowing the Q doesn't hit you as played is in his range but my rule of thumb is to discount bluff combos as most 1/2 rec players are just playing bingo.

At first I was going to say it's an easy, standard call, but the way you described villain he doesn't seem like a LAG at all. He seems either tight/passive or loose/passive.

I'd still call, though. You already saw him use full pot sizing with TPTK. He could have AK again or be overvaluing a weaker ace. Also, he could have bluffs although nothing in your description indicates he is capable of bluffing. You're too high in your range to fold without strong reads.

Whether you know it or not, you're taking this line specifically to ensure a showdown, so, call and get to showdown - and good for V for correctly upsizing riv.

Bet flop sometimes, you actually have more Qx than he does, not as a percentage of range, just more combos and imo it helps you control the hand by actually betting.

Standard call.

You're correct on both points and that's what would make me feel so gross here. You played it just right and then you call a PSB when your instincts are screaming that this play by a good player is almost always for value.

The problem is, based on the OP's description of V it's hard to determine whether he's a good player or not. I think I'd make my decision based on that as much as anything here. If I think he's average I'd make the standard call. If I think he's good, which is hard to do with that generally terrible AK line he took in the OP's description, I'd probably fold.

My leaning towards folding here is probably me level'ing myself into assuming that some players are better than they actually are. Sometimes it's difficult to walk the line of players being better in 2017 vs. 2007 but also realizing there's still a decent amount of bad ones out there and a lot more average ones than there used to be.

the "AG in LAG stands for aggressive...and he limped AK from button, then checked back tptk...

Anyway,raise more pre, $15 should be more standard, super surprised you got HU. Bet flop, how are you leaving dry flops like that uncontested? thats a HUGE leak.

Turn raise, he likely has an A and wont fold. River obviously raise. If you just called river you missed 3 betting opportunities

definitely a passive player.

based on description of V our hand is never good here. fold.

I actually folded in game. Was thinking my hand is so face up as an ace, and it'd be suicidal too bluff into me.

Villain then shows 33 lol. I guess I should've thought about it more, as I could have some 99-JJ or other pp that would check flop and call turn.

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Bet flop.

As played I would've called your hand is under repped.

Pot sized river bet from V indicates a Q, or 88 or bluffs. Maybe even consider raising for value against AX that you have out kicked. Way more combos of bluffs then he has QX and 88 here.

Despite the rumours going around 2p2, most players at 1/2 do bluff. Sure, they underbluff, and they're almost never raising turns or rivers without 2pr+, but when you check to them, a lot of them will try to bet and take the pot away from you.

On this board, we have TPTK in a small-medium sized pot. There are a lot of busted draws here: diamonds, JT, KT, KJ, etc. We beat all Ax hands that could be value betting except exactly AQ. We're only really scared of Qx.

I could consider folding A2 here, but I'm never folding AK in this spot. It's just too strong of a hand for too small of a pot.

The board is paired so we have two pair.

Don't like folding when we're ahead of some of Villains value range.