Hard Rock Hollywood. Sunday 3am. Action table. 1/2 6-handed.

I've been trying to get out of my comfort zone. Realized that my game and mentality needed a lot of adjustment for 6-handed play. One of the things I've always struggled with is running big bluffs on players I've identified as susceptible to one. I also struggle to identify spots that are correct for an overbet.

The previous hand was the main factor in my decision to attempt this play. Here it is:
But straddles, V BB raises to 25, UTG short stack all in 78, HJ calls, CO all in ~140, folds to V who calls. V and the HJ check it down. At showdown V shows black Kings for the over pair and takes down the side pot and tells the HJ that he would have bet the river but was scared that HJ had a straight. The only way that would have happened was for HJ to have a Ten to fill the gutshot. So this and a few previous laydowns by V confirm that he doesn't understand ranges (common) and has a bit of MUBSY.


Hero BUT $625 MAHG came over from a short stack nit convention with $200. I've mixed it up with the big stack (was at $1600 when I sat down) 2 seats to my right. Made it to a few showdowns with different hands; TP on a wet board(another thing I'm working on), 2 pair, and three of a kind when my small pair hit the flop.

Villain SB ~$850 mid twenties kid from Bolivia. Has been abusing the guy on my right that is spewing $100 at a time and is straddling every hand now that he's about $600 down. Has generally had strong hands when shown down. He has check raised a few times and gotten a fold.

OTTH

Co straddles
Hero BUT opens 15 KdTd. This is an awkward spot for me to establish an opening range. I'm trying to balance having to act first against being OTB.
V SB calls, UTG calls (quadrupled up with ATs last hand for the main pot), HJ calls.

Flop (pot 60) KhTh8c
checks to Hero, bet 40. Looking for value. V and rest of table haven't shied away from big (relative to pot) calls.
V raises to 140, folds to Hero
So here's my first leak. I know that we should construct a range going to the flop and eliminate hands on each following street. However because so many players have such a wide continuing range, many times I (de?)construct a range OTF. The most likely candidates in V's range for this play are QJs. I think that I can eliminate QhJh. There's no way he's attempting to blow me off the hand with a draw to the Royal, especially with the obsession people have with hitting the High Hand. So that leaves 3 combos of QJs. I'm blocking KT but it's a non-zero possibility, 4 combos. Ak, 8 combos. 88, 3 combos. AA, 6 combos. KK, 1 combo. TT, 1 combo. I wanted to post before I check Equilab. At the time I called. I felt that top two was in my defending range.

Turn (340) Ah
V checks
Well that sucks. Hero shoves 470

I don't see a Spoiler Button on the toolbar so I'll post results in 24 hours or so.

What parts of his range do you expect him to fold?

What part of Haiti are you from?

His entire range you gave him has you crushed and you jam the turn. I'm going with beyond stupid.

I would 3 bet the flop most of the time, like close to 100%. If he 4 bets, I'm getting it in.

If I just call, I'm not jamming the turn and allowing him to play perfect... but if you bet, you are now committed and live with it. I bet half pot on turn and then call off, losing the majority.
I think checking turn is just fine too, but makes a tougher river play sometimes.

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I remember reading in (TOP?) that buffing isn't linear. That I don't bet 1/2 PSB to fold out TP, 3/4 PSB to fold out 2 pair, etc. That I should target a specific part of V's range. Well, I bet targeting V's whole range.

I thought the "H" is for Hispanic.

MAHinduGuy?
MAHandsomeGuy?
MAHawaiianGuy?
MAHairyGuy

all of the above?

Flop we have top two on a really wet board.

We block 1010, so the only hand we're behind is 88 of which there are 3 combos, plus the 1 remaining combo of 1010.

He is surely check raising with a ton of draws... straight draws, flush draws, pair plus flush draws, all of which we're ahead of except the royal draw which we're flipping with. And he can have 10 8 and K8 as well

So...against a reasonable check raising range we're ahead...albeit we're probably 60:40 at best....unless he has some spazz, in which case we may be slightly more ahead.

facing his check raise, we have two options...

if we're rolled for the game, we should raise/get it in and take the value on offer

if this is a large proportion of our bankroll and we really don't want to take the spot (in which case we shouldn't be playing this deep, short handed) we can call as a less good option. but if we call, we have to be disciplined enough to fold when the draws hit.

here, a card comes that completes a load of draws (albeit it does also take out a lot of the combos from his flop check raising range) AND also makes a weirdly played AK ahead of us....so this should be an easy check back on the turn and a fold on the river unless we fill up

tldr imo

Way too FPS to turn KTdd into a bluff here

Considering it doesn’t make any sense and I don’t see how you’re going to get him off better

Agree with Feel Wrath. Just shove at this point. You've lost about $1000 at this table if I read it right so the villain thinks you're a fish. He's going to call. You want to deny odds if he's drawing.

If there is any history of how V proceeds when his X/R is called, that would help the decision. That is, did he continue betting next street, check?

Absent that, I'd lean towards a jam OTF. The "$100 on top" is a fairly reliable sign of strength, so get value now. If he has 88, still have outs.

If you jam, villian might just fade into bolivian.

haha I see what you did there, nice.

Sorry for late reply, went through a migraine cluster. First off it's the guy on my right that's spewed about 1k not me! I'm up over $400.

Here's my thinking: On the previous hand IMO V was correct (intentionally or not) to not 4-bet PF. With 2 players all in it appears likely that one has AA. So by not 4-betting he kept the HJ in the hand. His KK should be way ahead of the HJ's range. However, it was the timidity with which he played the hand and his comment OTR that swayed me to shove OTT.

Because V called PF instead of 3-bet I heavily discounted KK. That leaves TT (1 combo), 88 (3 combos), KTs (2 combos), QJs (3 combos, I'm not considering QJh).

OTT I really believed that the flushed board is what caused him to check, not some trappy plan to c/r again. Not saying that he wouldn't of called a bet. I just believed that he was elastic at that point. That's why I shoved, representing the flush. Now you would rightly ask that with the Ah and Kh on the board just what combos of hearts would I have? That's the same question that I would have asked him about his thinking of HJ's range on the previous hand. My breakeven percent is 58. With 4 outs isn't it more like 50% effective?

So anyway V tanks for what seemed like 5 minutes and folds. There's a little bit of back and forth discussion at the table about the hand for the next few minutes and V states that he folded QdJd.

What really stuck with me was when V left about 30 minutes later. He gives me a fist bump and says that even though it really bothered him to fold that hand, I was a nice guy and not like a lot of the asshol** that play. I remembered reading a post here (where else) that the OP explained how important it was to not be an ass at the table and the benefits he experienced because he was cordial with everyone at the table. I always try to emulate that guy's attitude.