2/5 no limit 200 min 500 max buy in

Action player just sits down to my immediate right, mainly plays plo. Has the propensity to spaz bluff and call, in a really good squeeze spot hell often make it huge with ATC.

Straddled pot. Two callers, this guy makes it 50 on the button with 500 behind. The two other limp callers are straightforward and it's highly doubtful they would limp reraise. BB has 275 behind and straddle has 800 (hero covers). BB straightforward weak TAG who shuts down to aggression post and doesn't two barrel. Straddle is a loose fish who is particularly sticky with hero, calling raises with hands as weak as J7s just trying to hit and 'pick me off' in his own words'.

Hero elects to cold call with KQs. Thoughts on this exact hand? Should hero have a cold calling range and if so what should it look like?

How much was the straddle?

1. This isn't a squeeze.
2. This isn't "huge". It's a 5bb raise over 2 limpers.

10

Birdsalllsa- I know this raise isn't huge. In other spots he has made huge raises. Given his smaller/more standard sizing here I think I'm more inclined this is value oriented which is why I posted the hand. Any thoughts on the range question here?

If he is as you say, the proper adjustment is to start 3 betting him more often. If he is prone to calling those 3bets with dominated hands such as K10, QJ, etc... then those 3bets should be lighter for value, hands such as KQ. However, if he will fold these hands then you should call with hands that are strong enough to stand up to the side of his range weighted towards value, but not so strong that he will ever call with worst.

So if he's folding too often, you would want to 3bet him with a polarized range weighted towards bluffs, and call with relatively strong hands, pocket pairs and suited connectors/1 gappers when the implied odds are with you.

If he's calling too often, don't 3bet as a bluff at all and only call with hands like pocket pairs and suited connectors and 3bet very light for value.

You should also be aware of position. Being that you have the worst position here and his range is likely to be as wide as it will ever be since he's on the button, this is a clear 3bet. When you just call here, you're going to check fold the best hand too often.

Since you believe this is a 'value oriented' raise, what range do you believe V would decide to make this size raise with? Can't make a decision unless you have an idea of his range.

This isn't really a squeeze because of the straddle. I would call about the same as my flatting IP pre range. I'm expecting a few callers, so I'll call pretty wide.

Help me out here, because I don't understand why you would call pretty wide in the small blind with 1/10th of your stack.

Aren't you telling the button:
1. I don't have a stronger hand than you.
2. I don't have a big PP that doesn't play well with others.
3. I am going to need to flop a nice draw, 2 pair, etc. to continue PF.
4. I don't have a medium PP because if I flop a set, I most likely won't realize 12x+ my $50 investment.

Seems to me that Hero needs to either 3! to get it heads up & play it strong, or fold. I'd elect to fold & hope I get the same situation when the button is to the left of us, or, on me.

+1.

If you think the button is raising light, then put in a hefty 3 bet. Otherwise, you must fold. You have king high. Flat calling this raise is basically lighting money on fire.

Thanks everyone- in retrospect after the hand played out I don't think I shouldn't have a flatting range at all here which is why I posted this.

Zunelt- I'm not sure what his value range looks like in this spot. I've played two sessions with him and he plays about a 30/30, he picks decent spots for aggression but picks pretty much every single one. His raise size here is much smaller than I would have expected so it really tightened his range to me. I would guess he has 77+, AJ+, KJ+, 109s+. Does that check out given all the information about this player or am I reading to much into his raise size?

Birdsalllsa- he definitely in the past has called three bets pretty light with hands I would dominate, but I'm not sure how much I'm dominating given the raise size- if he made it 80 I would have definitely made it something like 250-300. That's kind of the crux of this hand for me, from an agro player who would normally raise to a larger size how does this sizing change his range?

You should have a flatting range here. What leads you to conclude that you shouldn't? This hand should probably be in it, although under certain conditions a 3b could be better. Folding here would be ludicrous.

I iopq correctly recognized that there would likely be at least one more call which even with a strong hand like this doesn't play well in a multiway pot in the worst position. Maybe if all the other villains were really sticky and we were deeper (other villains were about 100 bb too) small and medium pocket pairs could be profitable but that's not the case in this situation. So I'm thinking playing a little wider value range than normal as a 3 bet like birdsallsa suggested and folding everything is the most +ev.

never mind, I thought we were on the button, I'd call much tighter out of position

other than the middle sentence, this is basically just wrong.

You have 45% equity vs. that range & you're in the SB.
You're putting in 10% of your stack & the odds of flopping 2pr+ is ~20-1.
If you flop a draw, will you get to see the turn for a decent price?
I don't know how to play your hand PF against an aggro player.

It's super dependent on how confident you are on V's betsizing tells, so, given that info, hard to say much about how you should react with this specific hand.

Start by thinking about whether you should flat AA here and what factors would tilt your decision either way.

Jvds- could you help me out with what else is wrong with the rest of the post?

the hands that the possible limp/callers will reach the flop with are going to flop dominated pairs and draws against you while almost never dominating you, and you will be going to the flop with an SPR of max 3 (if there is an overcaller). the positional disadvantage you have is mitigated by the shallow stack depths, and is far outweighed by the equity advantage you will have on a good number of flops. this is not intended to be derisive in any way, but you should think about what you mean when you say it doesnt "play well" (this is a very vague statement) - would you say the same about AA here? AKs? what differentiates these hands? keep in mind that flopping top pair is going to be fairly strong vs these players with these stack sizes

you're basically 50bb eff and btn sounds pretty aggro, so 3betting a wider and strong range to gii against btn is a fine adjustment. however, that doesn't preclude you from having a profitable flatting opportunity here with some of the hands that weren't quite strong enough to 3b/gii against btn. because the limpers are fish, this option should actually be very attractive with some hands, particularly those that are going to flop dominating draws and pairs, such as KQs.

Whatever you do, don't fold.

I don't understand this player's range here. You call this an "obvious squeeze" but then you say that you think his bet sizing indicates a value range.

You definitely should have a calling range here. Your 3-bet range should be polarized to premiums and bluffs. KQs is almost falling in to the premium range, but I think a call is better bc it keeps his bluffs in rather than folding them out pf and will maybe allow one of the other players to call pf. With this hand I really don't mind going mw to the flop.