1/2

Lively home game. I know virtually the entire player pool for this game, and it is proving to be a very deep fishing hole. Tonight, I got a dream seat as soon as I sat down and haven't moved an inch since sitting down other than to rake several pots.

V1: (MP) Nitty OMC. We've coolered each other here and there. He will limp call my raises a little too wide sometimes and then play very straightforward post flop. I earn money from him by double/triple barreling and otherwise staying out of his way. He looks like how Ed Harris will look in 30 years. Since Ed Harris is old already you can assume that this guy helped dedicate the Liberty Bell. (~$220).

V2. (HJ) Just started playing poker about 9 months ago. He's intelligent and with some help could become a decent player. He has deep pockets and since he's inexperienced and plays deep, everyone guns for him. He's been on a 2-3 week heater and is really donking it up because of this. I did stack 100BB off him earlier with TPGK by just calling down vs. his mid pocket pair. He is a definite mark at the table. He looks like an Arab version of Fez from That 70's Show. ($245)

V3. (CO) Competent player most of the time except for one fatal flaw. He is a habitual bluffer. His favorite line is to float the flop with whatever, and then if the PFR shows any weakness at all (and sometimes if he shows strength too) he'll just come over the top. I have caught him bluff raising the river several times in the past year. I've only ever paid him off once and the rest of them were just him punting me stacks with nonsense. He's not a complete donkey, he just can't seem to help himself when it comes to trying to win pots instead of money. He looks like a tiny Vietnamese Shredder from TMNT. Not the 2014 version, but the bad 1990 Shredder. He's not wearing Shredder armor or anything, but if Shredder were to walk among us in civilian dress, he'd look like this guy only bigger. Stack ($322)

Hero: (BTN) Everyone here knows me as a winner and some avoid me. Ed Harris stays away from me other than trying to smash a flop. Fez doesn't adjust anyway, and Shredder targets me with his stupid bluff raising because I have owned him so many times. I'm winning tonight, and haven't been seen to get out of line much although I am playing relatively loose and very aggressively. (Cover)

Hand

PREFLOP
Hero straddles button to $5. Blinds fold. Ed Harris calls. Fez Calls. Shredder calls. Hero checks with 54.

FLOP: A92 ($23)
Ed Harris quickly bets $15. Fez folds. Shredder quickly calls. Hero calls.

I'm not really one for chasing gutters, but in this case I felt it might be worth a call given who was betting and calling. A magic card on the turn will net me a stack often against one or both of these players. Ed won't believe I chased a gutter, and I can induce Shredder to bet. It's obviously debatable.

TURN: A923 ($68)
Ed Harris checks (boo). Shredder thinks and bets $25. Hero...


Ed Harris will likely call $25 and likely fold to a raise from me now that it seems he's not that strong. Discussion welcome on the flop call and how to proceed. I'll post more later.

I think your best-case scenario is to put in a healthy raise (make it at least $95) and hope that one or both of the following happens:

1) Ed has the same read on Shredder as you do and is checking a big hand to induce a bluff from him.

2) Shredder has a backdoor heart draw or some other weird draw like A5 and calls or 3bets you.

A raise is what you want to do....
But a call is what you need to do...
Sucks bc the lag actually made a great sizing (inadvertently)..

I make it about 85 to go. I don't call because I'm not very interested in keeping a nit in the pot. Only way he pays you off on the river is if he is drawing and improves anyway, but he probably has some hand like TPGK. More interested in playing for stacks with Shredder, and don't think we can do that without a raise. By raising to 85, Shredder has to pay an additional 60 to win about $180, so even if he lucked into a backdoor flush draw we're denying him the odds he needs to call.

If Shredder calls, I'm shoving all non-heart rivers and evaluating heart rivers.

Yea Im def raising this as I want more money in the pot and want to charge a potential flush draw. I want them in the pot with the idea that their hand can improve. If they dont have much, youre only making an extra $25 anyway as they'll likely fold river. But now you have the option of getting them to play a much bigger pot.

You really needed Ed to have a hig hand to justify your flop call. I still think raise is the right play. Even if you flat your chances of making more money on this hand are slim. Pray shredder has a good draw or a slowplayed set. Same with Ed.

However if we expect a raise to just get two folds here often, then we should probably raise the turn even if another deuce had rolled off. If im going to make a loose flop call without odds to draw, its becauseni know many scenarios exist where i can bluff at the pot.

You need to raise to about 100 here, even though it turns our hand face up as 2p+ most of the times villains won't know/notice. Make it look more bluffy than not.

If called shove for shredders 180ish into a 300ish pot on river.

"V1: (MP) Nitty OMC. We've coolered each other here and there. He will limp call my raises a little too wide sometimes and then play very straightforward post flop. I earn money from him by double/triple barreling and otherwise staying out of his way."

Based on description of V, does anyone prefer a c/r on the flop over a call? Hitting our gutshot is very unlikely and gives us a chance to win the pot now or with a second barrel on the turn, especially against a V that fears us or has been folding to our barreling.

I would if Shredder wasnt in the hand. If he decides to get creative then we're forced to fold.

The x/r flop advice is terrible. As played, if you flat, you lose value IMO. It would be different HU. Make it like 85 and rip the river.

Hero raises to $80. Ed Harris folds. Shredder thinks for a moment and calls.

RIVER: A923 8 ($248)
Shredder ($217) checks.

Block bet $90. (not because I'm afraid of the frush)

:grunch:

Agreed on all the player reads, I love the way Shredder over-shoves like an idiot. (Play in the same game / pool.)

In position against these two I like the call on the flop. Even moreso if Fez had stuck around. It's a little thin, but I think we can stack one or both of them if we hit. It's also kind of good for our image if anyone is paying attention to show up with a screwy hand like this at showdown.

We could probably bet Ed off the flop if we raised, but I expect Shredder to tag along and even with the initiative and position this isn't a spot we want to bloat the pot.

I'm torn on the turn. Ed's a lost cause at this point. If we flat and shredder bets the river I'm not sure he'll call a shove with the remaining stack sizes. But if he checks the river and we bet $60ish I think he'll punt a stack trying to bluff us.

Then on the other hand there's some value in raising to $60 here. Ed *might* think we're stealing and raise (un-likely), but raising also gives Shredder a chance to bluff us here. It also helps our sizing OTR if he just flats.

I doubt either one of them has a set, 2 pair, or a flush draw, so you are basically nut peddling here.

I would min raise to 50 and give ourselves a chance to stack off the spazz since I don't think that we are going to get much out of Ed anyway.

This is a interesting spot.

A live read for how he reacts to the river card *might* help.

Given his tendencies ... I think we want to get stacks in here. If he runner runnered a flush, so be it. It's a small part of his range, and we can get paid off by a lot of other hands.

Shoving ourselves, or betting $125, isn't a very attractive option. It doesn't leave him any room to raise the way he likes to. I don't think there's much of a check/call range from this guy here. It's check/ship/bluff, or check/fold.

bad river.


either shove or bet something smallish, like 65. I don't think either get called.

I think this is a shove for pure value. Stacks are sorta awkward to b/f smallish.

Against this v a small bet will be to induce or for thin value. We can never fold to a cr from the v described.

Bet $65 and hope he crying calls, or better yet levels himself into thinking we are weak and can rep a flush. Snap call a shove obviously.

I agree with this except for the snap call. Hollywood a bit before the call to make v think bluff almost worked. Snap calling makes him look bad and discourages him from continuing his flaw.