Ok this is my first post ever.

It’s like 3am on a Saturday night at Hardrock. I use to play for a living don’t anymore. Game is pretty average some donks some regs. One uber nit that came down form Borgata and lives down here now. Anyway Hero is viewed as pretty active but not getting too out of line. People really aren’t trying to play pots against me they know who I am. Villain is probably the most winning 2/5 player down here goes by “deon” but his name is Mike. The interesting part of this hand is that him and I had a long conversation about 2 years ago before he started playing for a living and while I still was. I liked the way he played a lot and told him to def make the move form Orlando and come down to get some of these “fields of gold”… I don’t know if he remembers this conversation, but the way this hand ended up playing out- I think he does remm the convo… OKKKK

Effective stack size around $600

V is deon (aggro winning reg)

Hero is me..the man lol

Im in the cutoff deon is like 4 to my left in the big blind… one weak passive donk limps and I look down at the J3ss piece. I raise to 25 just to iso his dumb ass and C bet the flop and he folds. I don’t even think about it at the time that deon is in the bb and prolly calling very light cuz we use to playa ton together and he knows my iso raising range is basically n e 2 lol… so deon calls and donk calls.

Flop 7s8sJc (sweeeet) so ive managed to flop top pair with a flush draw..weee

Deon donks into me out of the blinds $25…donk folds… I raise to $65..prolly to small? I don’t wanna lose him. But yeah maybe it is too small. He calls relatively quickly.

Turn is an offsuit 9. He checks I check….bad check?

River is an off suit 3 making me top and bottom pair. (virtually fist pump in my head)…

Deon reachers for like 65 is about to put it in the pot.. looks at me and checks (weird as ***)… I SNAP bet 75

He goes into the tank for like 2 mins literally… I think hes mustering it up for that big bluff lol…(don’t forget the metagame though he knows who I am we talked for alogn time that day, he knows I came from AC to fish in this pond etc etc etc…

He pushes forward about 800 in mixed up reds and greens. I almost snap lol…but then is top to think about how weird the hand played… he basically went to bet the river then check raised me all in… who the hell does that on a bluff.. no way.. ill post the outcome of the hand when I get home in an hour..im curious what you guys have to say. Please include any legit info on how long you’ve been playing for a living..big tourneys cashed anything to make me think your opinion is worth reading.. even though yes im open to any opinions..

$25 is a really weak lead on the flop (1/3 pot). Very strange bet for a "strong winning player".

Your raise to $65 is way too small, you want to win this pot now and fold out stronger Jacks, draws, etc. raise to $120 instead.

On river when he cr/ai he probably has bluff or nuts, two pair has the same value as one pair. I'd fold. No one is pulling this at 2/5 live with the non-nuts.

Also if he's good (maybe he is maybe he's not) he's putting you on two pair / set based off flop/turn play... so this looks like a raise for value to see if you're crappy enough to call or not.

I agree very weird lead on flop... But donk betting in itself is kind of a weird play. Usually deon is betting 60-70% pot, but when he donks it looks like his Sizing could be different. Given the hand he woke up with the sizing kind of made sense. Don't wanna reveal all that yet though. And yes when he donks 25 I think 95 would be good. It's not the end of the world if he's calling with a combo draw cuz I'm crushing that. And in a vacuum that's what people are donking with a solid portion of the time

What do you think about my check behind on the turn. Against this sort of villain my thinking was he's gonna know now that I'm a flush draw so its bad. But he's a dangerous player so I figured take the free card and avoid being check raised huge ott.. I have showdown value so I opted for pot control

Would you ever play TJ like this? If not, then I probably fold because he knows way more about our hand than we know about his, and he is making that really obscene bet with a clear purpose.


He knows you probably don't have a ten, and he knows his bet looks like a bluff, so he could literally be value shoving a lot of hands here. Any ten, any set.

Also, I don't mind the turn check. Against a bad player I'd double barrel because the 9 is a super scare card. Against a good player, the turn doesn't really change much, so opting for pot control is probably better.

I'm sorry guys there was no 7 on flop replace that with x let's say a 3

this was sort of my first thought, would you ever check back the turn w/ 2 pair+? probably not at least in his mind.

you bet the river on a perceived brick to your draw then he over bet raises the pot? What hands does he expect you to be able to call this sizing with?

It would seem you shouldn't be able to call this bet, hence his line is fos. But you say he is very good and the two of you have history so I guess it comes down to how he interprets what you think of him.

Strange hand, the 3 changes nothing in my opinion. Either your J's good or it isn't. I don't see a really good player bluffing $800 here in a spot where 1/4 of that amount accomplishes the same thing. You should never be able to call so I'd assume he's trying to level you into some sort of hero call.

I'd give him credit for Tx and move along based on op.

I'll just spit it out. I said out loud wtf is going on here to deon from the other side of the table.. The go to bet and then check then cr ai... No way you're bluffing.. And I told him my ham and folded... Then proceeded to pay 5 to see one card he showed 10c then asked me for 10 bucks to show the other card Qs.. So he flatted me oop per with q10 off.. Donked the flop on a gutter ball and then smashed the turn... I think he shipped river cuz of the meta game and didn't go for value town 175 on top... Nice guy.. Doesn't see much anymore and probably knows I'm on that short roll... He soon after racked up his chips and left the room.. I think he realized his subconscious was nice to me and let me make a good fold from his over bet ship. Overall I think I played the hand well besides not raising more on the flop. Which is a steady problem for me that I need to fix. Over valuing big draws like that and wanting to get to further streets

7 wasn't on board ... And effective was like 5-600 to start so I'm sittin on like 400 on river.. I think he subconsciously overbet shipped to give me the opportunity to fold (any 10 doesn't make a straight)... And by him racking up immediately after I think he realized (why the duck didn't I value bet his ass)

For the record my bad including the 7 in original hand... First post guys sorry.. I'll do better next time. I thought this was very interesting hand though.. That's why I chose t for my first post... Like wtf deon the go to bet river then check then go all in.. Against what use to be one of your toughest opponents on a regular basis... Sorry boss.. Fold all day

3 gives you a full house, no? It really doesn't matter, he did something completely out of his normal routine, betting w/ a sloppy stack , grossly over betting in a spot where he shouldn't, it comes down to how he thinks you'll view these actions. It's hard to answer in a forum what level a certain villain puts you on in game and how he expects you to react.

Lol no 3 on the turn. X brick - deuce lets say.. Next hand post will be better.. Thanks for input guys appreciate it. Anymore would be great

The three gives me two Pair on river... So that's pretty good, but yeah doesn't matter when he check Ships the river.. He's either got it or doesn't.. And fairly easy fold for me. Especially after the "go to bet and not" on the river. Touché deon you got a river bet out of me. So as played by him on river not so bad. Besides not just raising 100 on top. Still then I might fold. But if he just bets the river I'm def just calling with 95% of my range.. So not such a bad check by him cuz I'm value betting think on river always to avoid showdown.. I think he quit for the night though because he realized he shoulda value bet there after seeing my hand. ......possibly that subconscious nice play by him given our past encounters on the felt

He never actually saw my hand but I said it in a way no one would think I'm lying... And it was the truth. And it's thin* not think...... Cheers guys gl

I think flop raise size is fine. You're not getting better to fold, so might as well keep worse in.

Turn, assuming there's no four to a straight on board, I'd bet again with the plan to check behind blank rivers.

As played river is fine. Easy fold of course. Deon likes to use his image to do weird things and hope people spaz out and call him off, so I don't know if he was just being "nice" to you. Your hand looks pretty weak here so he might be figuring you can't call a value bet...he might as well make his hand look like an absurd bluff and hope you find your inner hero.

^--- best response yet by far. And yeah no 4 card straight. He did call my raise otf with a gutter ball. I overall think I played the hand fine really, just found it very interesting. I wound up getting in 400 pre like 6 hours later with qq vs 55 lol.. And obvi losing to a set gg me. (500) on session.. Shoulda played 1-2 with a couple buy ins

Leychiem mr moz.. My moms Jewish lol

Fold pre.
Fold flop.
Fold turn.
Fold river.
Im moving to Tampa.

Pre flop is total spew. This is pretty typical of people playing how they want (let's face it folding is not much fun) then justifying it. Also if you are CO, BB is 3 to your left.

Shut the

Front door... Raising a donk who limped with any 2 is profitable long term... He's folding such a vast majority of flops

Really though ... The true lag winning pro is raising with a huge range pre when 1 donk limps.. All suited cards.. Even some unsuited.. If you know the specific player tendencies of the one limper and know he's folding unless he hits top pair otf... And 75% of the time you'll hear of out him "I woulda called if one other person called" even in this hand of deon didn't look me up out of the big blind this cat would of def folded oop.. I've got a wsop ring and played for a living for 3 years and certainly will again in the future... Not trying to brag just drunk..