2/5 game last night. V has only been at the table for an orbit or so and hasn't really been active yet. 30's WG like me. Quiet with a drink. Tournament series is going on so there are lots of extra players around. V is sitting with about $1300 and is the effective stack. (I can't remember if he bought in with this amount or bought in for $1000 and won a pot or two.)

V raises to 20 UTG and the button calls and I complete in the BB with 55

Flop $60 Q57
I check V bets $40, button folds and I smooth call.

Turn ($140) 9
I lead out $75. I've been getting a lot of hours in and have been trying this line lately with sets. I especially couldn't afford a free card here with BDFD starting. V raises to $225 with about $1000 behind.

Hero?

This is a deceptively tricky spot.
It definitely seems like V has an OP here.
It feels like we can range him 80+% QQ/KK/AA.
Not many V’s raise with flush draw in this spot, super rare in my experience.

I think it’s either shove now or click it back to $625-ish and autoshove any river.

I think I'd rather C/R flop to $150 or so and just go from there. Everybody thinks I'm FOS 100% of the time though, so I tend to get calldowns (and am also a 30-something white guy), but YMMV -- if you get folds here a lot then sure, take your line and c/r the NFD instead.

OTT as played, a PSR here is to $815 total, so I think making it like $650 and shoving the rest on every river is fine. Cram here isn't the worst either, villain might level themselves into calling with KK/AA figuring you have AQ or JT or w/e.

If you've got an underset then that sucks but the way to not make an underset is to just fold preflop, I think you'd need to be around $2K stacks for me to want to play preflop and then not try to get my whole stack in post having flopped a set.

Raise flop, this is not a board to slowplay OOP and deep
Problem with calling turn to x/r river is that V will prob nit check back on half the deck so a raise is in order to commit his stack
Can bet psb or shove now really depends on whether V will be scared to call an extra 1k ott without the nuts,
prob 600 imo and the rest otr

I kind of like the smooth call on the flop. The check/raise flop line is so nutted except for nut flush draw -- of course, the flat could be perceived as nutted, too. It really depends on how V sees you and what you've done in the past. Heck, I might just donk the flop and see what happens.

As played, again, I can see different options being good, but I just raise now and am prepared to gii. We are really only behind QQ (or should be), and the board is pretty draw-heavy.

I don't mind the flop call. You know the pot is going to be heads up and it's likely V has an overpair or an AQ hand, or is C-betting to take down the pot. But you should raise sometimes for balance. In this spot, I like a 50-50 ratio of check calls and check raises. If the BTN called V's bet, then you should raise pretty much all the time.


The 9 is a good card, except if V raised UTG with 86 (very likely from a player that isn't very active) or 99. I like your lead, sizing is a little small, probably would have gone $90/100. When V raises, you're beating AA and KK and AQ and lose to QQ and 99 and a very unlikely 86.


I think you have to 3-bet here to around $600, and call any shove from V. If he has you set over set, so be it. If he somehow turns over 86 for the straight, you have outs to win.

I'm the complete opposite for whatever reason (probably because I'm tight). But my flop check raises get me nowhere most of the time. I'm also trying to be more aggressive on turn/river when we are both deep which is why I chose to wait for the turn.

Thanks for responses. This was really a sanity check to make sure I wasn't too out of line.

After V raised me, I stared at his stack for a minute trying to figure out best sizing/approach. I felt like raising to $600-700 was goofy and decided to jam to make it look a little more semi-bluffy and to put the BDFD into a little harder decision. He snap calls with 99 (of course). Been second best all week, but I still like the line overall. He has a good amount of hands here that can call a shove and be behind.

Thanks.

Pre standard.

If you would raise any combos of FD on this flop then I think we also have to raise here. I do not hate flatting the flop but we need to get more money in at some point (especially 1300 eff).

Turn as played I think we can raise or pile but anything else doesn't really feel good. V has a lot of overpairs/some 2 pairs/some sets when he raises here but vs a range of AA-QQ/99/77/97s/possible combo draws we have sufficient to commit. Readless we cannot discount much of his range here.

I'd like a turn c/r.

As played, I call. Bet/3bet seems like a good way to fold out everything you beat and only be called/shoved upon by better hands. I basically expect him to flatcall your db with most of his draws, but I could be wrong.

Your line is real real poor. This flop needs to be fast played w bottom set (and other hands). Turn AP is never a bet if you're ckc flop. You also don't bet turn because you 'can't afford a free card', I mean, maybe he's thinking the same thing.

My line is call pre ckr 175. pile. pile every single runout except Q,Q.

Middle and bottom set are your money makers. Slow playing on a wet flop is missing massive value. If you can’t get action raising a set here you need to add semi bluffs.

As played call and donk shove river bricks I suppose. It’s an overbet so if you don’t think he’ll call you could also just go $400-500 but I think shove looks bluffier.

I'm fine with the call somewhat deep. I'm also fine with the flop call. I'm thinking this guy probably doesn't have 77, so really his range is [lots of other hands]+QQ. I ahead of most of that. I probably check raise the turn though for the following reasons:

1.) I think he is going to bet again. He let pre and flop.

2.) He has lots of non QQ hands in his range that think they are ahead (AA/KK/AQ)

3.) I'm probably drunk at this point.

At this point he probably (and correctly) thinks I'm a drunk gambloooooor, but his range of hands that make sense for his play have more non QQ hands than QQ hands. My appearance (based on past experience) is of a guy who overplays flush draws (because I do). So I expect him to pay me off with top pair hands.

Calling is not ok - move on from that line forever on this board. 25Qs you might be able to call, maybe.

Maybe this is where my poker noobness kicks in so you and JB can tease this out a little.

Flop is Q57 and we called in the BB with AJ

We check and V bets $40 and we check raise to $160 or so. Let's say you are villain and have something in the mid/high range of hands like AQ or KK and we are pretty deep. You aren't folding right away because I could have a mix of strong made hands and some draws.

Turn is 9 and pot is $380

We have to fire here again to keep up our story. Bet out $250?
V happens to be sticky and knows the 9 doesn't help us at all and continues along.

River is a brick. How often do you shove/bluff and how often do you give up? We either have a set or complete air as I'm perceived as tight and V (correctly) doesn't range me on 57/68/Q9

I honestly think this is where I need to learn how to play better so the longer the answer the better.