Hero: mid-30's white guy. Seen by table as competent enough to fold an overpair to a shove OTF in a 3-bet pot (maybe I'll post the details of that hand, but I think it was a pretty clear fold). Covers V.

Villain: 20's Asian-American with Georgetown U. hoodie on. Sat down 1 orbit before this hand and had not made any waves. Talked about a previous day's game with another reg like he knew his way around the game. Stack: $280 (bought in $300).

NB the structure of this game, at Artichoke Joe's in San Bruno, CA, is very strange. In addition to 2/2 blinds in the normal spots to the left of the button, there is a mandatory $1 blind on the button. One cannot limp for $2; the minimum open is $5 and then bets must be in $5 increments (I tried to bet $11 into a $15 pot at one point and was told I had to make it either $10 or $15). Also, any player can declare any pot a "kill pot," which acts something like a straddle: the declarer buys the right to act last preflop and makes it $10 to open instead of $5. Max buy-in is $400, so the game plays more like a short-stacked 2/5 game than a 1/2 game. The structure is very advantageous to good players, because bad players still can't fold their blinds and thus commit even more money to pots preflop with range and position disadvantages than they would have to if they could just complete a small blind and check their option in the big blind.

OTTH:
1 limp ($5) in EP; folds to V in CO who raises to $20; folds to Hero in BB who calls (this somewhat tight and seemingly competent V had raised only one other hand pre, and I didn't want to bloat the pot OOP); limper folds.

Pot $40 after rake

Flop: 983

Hero checks

V bets $25

Hero calls

Pot $90

Turn: 5

Hero leads $50

V tank-calls

Pot $190

River: 3

Hero: ???

Lemme know what you think about the turn lead as well as what line you would take on the river.

I don't know why you donked out ott, you're folding out all his air. And what if he raises you with a turned FD?

as played now you have to bet the river.

Check/call turn and check/fold river. As played, I don’t know what to do. His range is TT+/AXss often.

If you think he doesn’t bluff, I think it’s a check/fold. Obviously very tough to do that in real time, so just set your own price and bet $60/fold.

Turn donk is pretty ugly, IMO. As played, I'm betting about 1/2 pot on the river.

A 3bet pre is pretty standard here. We want to bloat the pot when we have the 4th best hand and are likely ahead of even his calling range. Also we want to fold out the limper.

As mentioned above, leading turn is probably a pretty big mistake.

AP, I dont see any reason to ever bet river. We have a hand in the middle of our range and not much worse hands will call. We can go for value otr with 67 and sets, or we can bluff JT or other missed draws. JJ is the best bluffcatcher in our range here, so use it to catch bluffs.

Were u repping 98 with turn lead? I like a C/C.

As played, C/F bad river. If he has TT, it's a likely check back.

Here's what I was thinking OTT:

I probably have significant equity at this point (probably ahead, even!), but any A, K, Q, T, or 9 OTR makes me hate life. I want to protect my equity and not let AK/AQ/KQ/TT/A9 (which is most of his range) run into a pair for free and beat me. Calling all the way down feels passive and bad, but calling 2 streets and then folding OTR with this hand feels weak, too. I guess I couldn't abide not betting at any point, and I felt like c/c, c/c, lead river would possibly commit me in a spot where I'm not committed.

I was keenly aware that leading OTT would be non-standard, and I thought V would see it that way too. In a way, I felt like I was over-repping my hand, but I also thought it would probably get V to play his cards face-up (unless, as mentioned, he were to raise with AKss or AQss, but if that's the bottom of his raising range, I'm in bad shape and can comfortably fold to a raise).

To be clear, I'm not saying this line of thinking was good; as I said in another post, I don't get to play much live poker these days, and spots like this expose the rust.

0k but what if he has QQ, KK or AA?

No, I'm not saying we should be afraid of over cards and over pairs, but that's just the reality and we need to get used to playing with under pairs when over cards come. If an ace hits the river you have a bluff catcher. You're actually the one playing your hand face up, instead of keeping your range wide. When you lead out it helps him to play perfect and fold hands you're ahead of, or call/raise with hands that beat you.

From his perspective, a surprise donk of this size could mean either a strong made hand or a draw that wants to set the price to see the river. I would consider making this play with JT, Axss/KQss/KJss/QJss, 98, or a set. I did not think I was turning my own cards face up at all.

Results:

Hero checked; V tank-tank-tank checked back. MHWG.

I raked the pot thinking I must have missed value from TT, because the only other hand he could have tank-called the turn with was a confused AK/AQ that would have snap-folded to a bet OTR.

Do we think the time to donk the turn like this is when we have the nuts (98, 99, 88) or a combo draw?