Hi everyone, I have a question about a hand I played the other night. Home game that plays pretty aggressive for being 1/1. Haven't played much with villain but he hasn't gotten out of line any. I think I have a tight image but who knows what these people think or if they even pay attention to that.

7 handed, hero is UTG with K Q. I raise to $5, CO calls, everyone else folds. We both have stacks of about $175.

$12 in the pot and we see a flop of 8 7 4.

I check, villain bets $12, Hero raises to $45. I felt like he was weak and I had decent fold equity, obviously a diamond or king or queen will improve my hand greatly so I have tons of outs. Villain calls.

$102 in the pot and the turn is a 2. Hero checks, villain checks.

River is the A. I think for a moment and go all in. I've missed everything but I feel like the ace could be a good bluff card. I'm thinking with his range the only thing I'm worried of is a set or something like A 10+. I would love to hear some constructive criticism or if you think this was a good play. For those who would like to know the results.....................



Mod edit: You'll have to wait until discussion dies down.

If you were deeper I would continue the story with a turn bet.
As is, I would consider jamming the turn, but checking isn’t terrible.
River is a decent card to shove on, but you’re probably going to get called by the NFD rivered top pair here sometimes. Or some thinking V’s won’t believe your river jam and will call you down lighter than that even.
I don’t hate it.

You should be cbetting this flop mostly. If you are checking it is to check-call. Villain has way more nut hands then you. If you do XR, bet the turn.

The problem with your line is the Ace actually doesn’t help you much. If you are XR 99-KK you aren’t going to be betting an Ace river. Also Axdd hands should be x/c flop mostly.

It looks good on paper but if Villain can hand read he should realize most of your hands don’t have an Ace in them. Also you would bet turn with your overpairs so your line is Air or like 56dd.

Exactly this. You xr when villain has the lead. Here you want to bet otf. When you xr it makes it look like you have a draw. Especially when you were previously in the lead.

If u think u can c/r JJ+ and get it all in for value on dry run outs then it’s fine to take this line as a bluff.
But.... I doubt u can get 200 blinds in here with an overpair when v could have all sets, straights, 2 pair, pair+ draw etc he can make ur life hell

I'm curious as to why you thought this given Villain's description. I mean, you might be right, but over the years, "I felt like he was weak" has explained a lot of spew

He didn't 3 bet me pre so unlikely for him to have a high pocket pair. I doubt he would make a pot sized bet with a strong flop like a set or 2 pair. I guess he could have an 8 here with a decent kicker, and sometimes he will (maybe he did). The straight draw is very possible. I was going off a lot of assumptions, and I admit it probably wasn't +EV. Especially after seeing some of the calls he made afterwards.

Welcome tot he forum, OP. Please don't post results until discussion has died down. They bias responses. I edited them out.

I'm curious why you think this. It's a very wet board and there is a lot of money to get in if we are going to play for stacks. I would expect a strong hand to pot it here.

As for your line, I agree with DDP, except I think you also rep AdKd that backed into TPTK, perhaps. Still, you're repping very thin, and he'll often have the Ad. When he does, I don't expect him to fold.

The reply helped me...can u (or anyone else) elaborate on this. Thanks!

So Villains calling range is not going to include premiums (JJ+,AK etc) which means his range is more condensed.

Hands that will 100% be in his calling range include pocket 88,77,44 (all sets). Hands like 65s (straight), 87s(top two pair). Our range will not always include 65s/87s so we have less super strong hands. We still have all the overpairs and Villain does not so our equity on this board will still be around 50/50.

But our EV (expected value) will be less because we are out of position. Which means we will under-realize our equity to the pot. Normally, we shouldn’t take super strong lines (like XRing) when Villain has more nut hands then us because taking strong lines is polarizing, but we end up polarizing ourself with a merged range.

Meaning we are over representing our range and isolating ourselves against the strongest parts of Villains range (remember Villains best hands are better than our best hands more often). That is why cbetting is preferred over a XR line.

Be careful of this assumption in live poker. All the premiums are in PF flatting range for some Vs, though KK and AA aren't for most. Depends on V, of course, but there are almost no live Vs that I don't put some combos of AK and JJ in their flatting range. Often, it's all of them, and some combos of QQ too.

Totally agree with this part, though.

Totally agree that if you xr flop you must bet turn. I would have c-bet this flop.

I don't hate the river shove. I actually think it's OK. I can't imagine what A V has with a call on the flop and check on turn unless he has the A-high flush draw, which would make some sense. I hope it worked out.

My gut feel is that they both missed their draws. I like the river bluff.

V's flop lead looks like a semi-bluff targeting AK-AJs. This suspicion gets some confirmation when V checks behind on turn after the flop call of H's x/r. (Obviously H makes error not betting turn).

I think a V w/ made hand is betting the turn for value and to deny equity to flush draws or counterfeits. The V check behind is very weak and reeks of T9s/54s/76s/JdTd.

I can get behind the jam here. Even a non-paired small Ace would have to make a hero call here against pre-flop raiser and flop x/r repping AK/AQ/AJ. I think jam folds low pair combos that missed straight draw. I agree with DooDoo that you shouldn't have lots of Aces here checking the turn. But then again, how many Ax is V checking the turn behind with?

This is a very interesting hand. Thanks for sharing it.