Hey guys, wanted to present a hand I played the other night, not because I think it was anything too out of the ordinary, but really because I've been struggling with what my thinking should be with big draws.

This hand happened literally the first orbit of a 1/2 session at foxwoods, so I'm generally readless. Both V's in the hand are MAWGs, so I'm assuming they're generally loose passive pre, maybe tightening up post (which generally describes 75%+ of the population at Foxwoods). I had just won a medium sized pot 3 hands earlier without showdown, putting my stack at ~240.

V1: ~$330 (SB)
V2: ~$200 (UTG)
H: ~$240 (CO) AK

Preflop:
V2 raises UTG to $6
UTG+1 calls $6
Folds to H who raises to $22
V1 in SB calls $22
BB calls $22
V2 calls $22
UTG+1 folds

I thought the 3! here was pretty standard and I think the sizing was good? I've been experimenting with flatting preflop raises with AK, but honestly, I've generally found that 1/2 players in this room will call with much worse a lot of the time. Definitely did not expect to go four way to the flop though with the 3! sizing. I would probably range any of the villain's hands at any PP (including JJ-AA, I've found that there are a lot of players who won't 4! any hand at all, even AA/KK/AK), JTs/QTs/KTs/ATs+, ATo+, and maybe lower suited connectors.

Flop (pot $88): 748
V1 checks
BB checks
V2 bets $45
Hero?

I was a little more confused than I felt like I should be in this spot in such a bloated pot four ways. Without the donk bet, I know I'm probably c-betting, but I wasn't sure if I should raise here. I'm behind a lot of V2's range I feel like (nut straight, sets, top 2), but I'm never folding here, right? Having two other players left to act also threw me off a bit.

Basically I'm confused about when I should be pumping the pot with big draws, and when I should be pot controlling and trying to get to cheaper turns and rivers. If I raise most of these big draws (open enders, nut flush, combo draws, etc.) worse is generally not calling and better is generally not folding right? So what should my thinking be in these situations?

Reraise all in.

Wager all of your chips. You have AA/KK blockers and doing good about most other ranges

With 1 caller already in and the blinds still to act, I 3! a little bigger pre to isolate. Something like 28.

You have 2 overs and NFD on the flop, which means you're most of the time a favorite in the hand with about 55-60% equity, even against QQ, JJ, TT, 99.

Even against top set, you're doing ok with NFD.

With that many callers though, some might be holding a few of your outs. This is the perfect spot to reraise V2s flop bet. Reraising to something like 160 commits you regardless, so put more pressure and go all-in with your monster draw. You still have FE, which means you need to hit your cards OTT + OTR less often.

With this many players potentially being in the pot and increasing your pot odds, its the perfect spot for you.

GII!!

Js wanna say I imagine how someone would say this in live poker. Random donk bet, double check nfd and 2 over still. Idk I'm just laughing @ how I would say it.


But yah go all in, sorry for my gibberish above. Lol

Against V2 though? He's put in 32% of his stack and will be getting almost 2.5 to 1 on his remaining 135 even if no one calls.

I think V2 might find a fold if he's holding 99-JJ and thinks he's facing AA/KK. If you're right and he doesn't, well, we're actually ahead against that range anyways.

He's not folding a set, but he seldom has that, and we still have 25% equity in that scenario.

I don't think such a monster draw is ever a fold here, and I'd much rather see two cards than have to fold OTT when a brick comes and my equity goes down, so flatting isn't an option either. I want to keep my equity up, and either make sure I see both cards, or take the pot right away.

This.

Raise all-in is the move.

Your line and reasoning look good. I'd probably raise a little more pre to $25-30, but I'd be nit picking.

A pot sized raise is almost exactly your remaining stack. You don't want to pot control with big draws. You want to shove to maximize fold equity and make sure you see two cards to realize your equity to hit your flush or overcard outs.

As played, shove!

Yeah, this is an easy shove to maximize equity in hand. Only in bad shape against sets and 7-8 (and don't automatically throw 7-8 out of V's range here given the typical 1/2 live ******s you see daily at your local casino and bingo hall)

Been about 24hrs so I figured I'd update. Thanks everyone for the advice, the clear best action here definitely seems to be a shove. That's actually what I did once the action got to me, but I posted here because honestly in the moment, it just felt a bit spewy (raising a $45 dollar bet to ~$220 seemed like a lot).

I swear I didn't make this post because of the results (V1 called w/ 56 and V2 called with 88 (I completely understand that it was just a bit unfortunate to run into the absolute top of their ranges here) and I didn't get there), but rather because 1) I wanted to know if a shove was spew, and 2) if the shove was the right play, what exactly I was hoping to happen with a shove? I guess the general idea that's being discussed here is that by shoving, I fold out a lot of hands that are currently beating at me that I need to hit to win against, and get called by hands where I still have a decent amount of equity against?

So if the above logic is correct, should I be looking to play a lot of my high equity draws more aggressively like this? I was hoping someone could provide a little more explanation of when I should be looking to apply pressure, and when I should be looking to take cheap/free cards with a monster draw.

playing your big draws this way allows you to play your sets this way also.