Hero opens A7 in the CO (100bb), reg button calls (100bb), loose-passive fishy BB calls (60bb). Flop: AT3 BB checks.

As a default I like a bet here but it’s good to mix in some checks with the reg in the hand. Let’s get value from or fold out 3x, Tx, flush draws, smaller pairs, gutshots etc. Fish should also have a lot of worse Ax. Not planning on betting three streets though.

Any diamond, K Q or J completes a FD or Broadway gutshot - of which there will be a fair few out there. We can also get value from TX for one street against the reg and maybe two or three against the stationy fish. If we want value from draws we can only get it on flop and turn. This all makes me want to bet flop.

On the other hand if the reg is tough we're getting floated here a lot and we know we can't really go for more than two streets of value because both opponents have significant numbers of AX combos we lose to. Only A6 A5 A4 and A2 are behind and a significant portion of the time the board will run out such that we chop vs these hands anyway. So if reg is going to play tough and try to float flop to bluff and value us on turn/river I think betting flop with weak AX is poor strategy.

In that case a balanced strategy is called for. When attempting balance here l check/call my A9- along with some NFDs and KK-JJ/KT/QT and I check-raise TT/33 and some gutshots with BDFDs. I'll bet AJ+/AT/AA and combo draws for value and balance with some weak pairs, small FDs and gutshots with no BDFDs.

Well thought-out, Rage, thank you

[QUOTE=Ragequit99;54400131that case a balanced strategy is called for. When attempting balance here l check/call my A9- along with some NFDs and KK-JJ/KT/QT and I check-raise TT/33 and some gutshots with BDFDs. I'll bet AJ+/AT/AA and combo draws for value and balance with some weak pairs, small FDs and gutshots with no BDFDs.[/QUOTE]


I doubt it really costs you much but this sort of thing is misguided imo unless you have a small enough player pool that you play this guy all the time.

I treat every llsnl (which is all I play) hand as if it were unique, which it kind of is.

In this case, you should just bet since the loose player has a pile of worse hands to call with and the reg has plenty too.

They also have hands that are done unless they hit a free card to beat you.

They have some better hands but not many as sets, AK, aq, at, and maybe aj a little bit, are all reduced and the reg shouldn't have a8 or a9 all that much.

If you are against an aggressive player who reads hands, it can be good to check such a drawy board because they will think you would never do so unless you missed but in this spot don't outwit yourself.

+1. Good stuff here.

An aggro decent player can put us in tough spots OOP, but standard play vs LLSNL is to go for value here OTF.

Vs Loose-passive fish this is a super easy bet

This is the point - with a tough player IP on a drawy board we cannot afford to have an unbalanced checking range. We have to put a mixture of strong hands, pairs and draws into our checking range to avoid getting exploited when we check. Obviously we don't want to waste strong top pair to protect our checking range but we may be happy using some of our mediocre top pair as a X/C.

I concur that absent a competent reg in position we just ignore balance and bet 100% of the time we have it.

Board is a little too draw-y to check a hand with no blockers to anything. If I’m going to check an Ax hand it’d be something like AxJ or A2.

A7 should probably be double barreled on brick turns and just accept you’ll occasionally value town yourself.

JohnnyBuzz - if I'm checking a mediocre top pair it is to balance my checking range to avoid getting blown off my hand by a tough IP reg every time I check. I.e. I want to be able to X/C. (I'll have other hands ready to X/R for value and as bluffs)

In that scenario surely I'm better off NOT blocking any draws? Then when IP V bets after I check his range is wider and weaker than if I'd checked a high diamond or backdoor clubs.