Fairly active 1-3 game, 8 handed

Hero: tight image, been playing around 45 minutes at the table, folding a lot so far

Villain: TAG, limps a lot in various positions (table seemed to be doing that, followed by one or two people who always opened 7-8x and only get one caller or all folds) but when opening two times so far seen him Cbet and have no issues taking down the pot

Effective Stacks: $210 (he has me covered)

PF: utg+1 limps, folds to me HERO on button with K2, limps, SB (V) makes it 10 total, UTG+1 calls, HERO calls (questionable call, want to try and have position with suited paint card and be able to find a line on turn when facing a Cbet that checks turn to bet them out of the pot potentially...this is setting up that way so far...might be wrong line of thinking...besides actually outflopping V)

Flop (33): 883

V bets 15, UTG+1 folds, HERO calls (should be folding here a lot, mistake noted)

Turn (63): 2

V checks, HERO bets 30, V calls (potentially he is coming along with a polarized range of QQ+ and AK-AJ, potentially hearts if he Cbet AK-AJhh, but his range is polarized at this point and cannot put him on anything that coordinates with the board very well besides hearts)

River (123): 6

V bets 45, Hero???

Personally feel that this is a mistake by him, he may get me to bet at it if he actually has a hand that I put him on that beats me (hearts or overpair). If he is facing a raise, he is on a paired board and would be calling off another 120 or so against a line that was in position and called flop, bet turn and has position on the river



Thoughts??? As played thoughts, obviously I know folding PF or OTF was optimal, thanks guys/gals

Buy in full.

Villain is not a tag if he is limping a lot from various positions.

Floating flop with K2cc is just terribad.
Check Turn.
Fold River. Not sure how this is a question.

Bought in at 80BBs, had been sitting there a little and only lost a limp, blinds, and one $15 call four way with TT...thanks for the buy-in full part though...

Thank you for the info on V...

Thank you for the advice on the hand...

I recommend topping off when on the button. It's more optimal if you are going to play speculative hands like K2. The only reason I wouldn't top off is if I had been spewing some money and wanted to make sure my head was straight.

Never thought about topping on the button...thanks for the advice

With just 1 limper to me on the Button, I'm almost always raising any hand I'm playing. This is actually one of the few times an isolation raise with a weak hand will actually work at a very loose table. I would have raised to $20 preflop. As played, I think I fold to the raise, as even though we'll be in position, we're only going to go 3way to the flop (I'd rather it go more multiway so I get better immediate odds plus better implied odds due to there being more idiots in the hand to possibly stack), our hand is rather sucky, and stacks aren't really all that deep to make it worthwhile.

I guess I don't hate a float on the flop if our plan is to take it away on the turn. But otherwise, methinks the standard play is to fold.

Once Villain checks the turn there is a good chance we have the best hand (which is also very vulnerable), so I don't mind the 1/2 PSB to take it down. It's the last money I'm planning on putting into the pot, and I'm done with the hand once he calls.

I'm folding the river cuz we only beat a weirdo bluff that makes zero sense, plus the only draw got there.

ETA: If you are one of the best players at the table (and it isn't really clear that you are), then you should top off to the full BI after every single hand.

GcluelessNLnoobG

Betting the turn is fine if you missed, but since you improved might as well try to check it down. What could he possibly call on the turn with and bet the river that you beat?

I think the bet is more just to protect our equity in the pot since our hand is vulnerable, plus there is the slight chance we might get looked up by non-believing overs (especially if our plan was to float the flop to bet the turn UI anyways). With a less vulnerable hand / more bluffy opponent, I wouldn't hate a check to bluffcatch the river.

Just should not if I don't have this mindset? I am not sure if I would ever have this mindset, however...

Yeah true...just did not take the most optimal line which was fold PF or OTF :/

Buy-in full.

Don't feel the need to limp this hand OTB. I would most likely fold. If we insist on playing it though, this is a must raise.

As played flop is an easy fold. We are ahead of only bluffs, and very unlikely to make it to SD with the best hand whether we spike 2 or K.

Had we raised PF, we could most likely continue our essential bluff and raise his flop bet.

The turn is a check. He's never folding here if he hit any piece of the flop, if the 2 helped us, we are still likely behind in his eyes. If we must bet here, we need to go closer to a PSB to deny odds.

Lastly back to buying in full. This will help keep you from limping awful hands like this when you should be mucking PF.

I think everyone else already did a good job of going over some good "as played" lines so I won't go into that but looking at the hand, it seems you may lack basic fundamentals/have big leaks if this is anywhere near a standard play for you.

Just remember that before you make a play pre flop, you understand why and also have some plans for how you will be playing post flop. With your hand I would have a few of these things going on in my head:

1. 1 limper and it is folded to me, I have the button with a Kxss (K2), I can be sure I am ahead of the blinds (100% range) and I will also be setting up for profitable future steal spots with initiative by raising. Stealing the dead pre flop money (blinds and limper) could (it depends) by itself be profitable so even more reason to raise (if we raised and just insta-gave up if called)

2. classify your villains correctly, if someone is limping AQ from UTG I would label them as a PASSIVE player not TAG (T=tight AG=aggressive). You did correctly notice he was tight so he would be tight and passive, this player type is generally labeled a weak-tight player.

3. Without further info I am going to assume the blinds are also weak-tight or Loose-passive (which you said lots of limping from the table so not a bad assumption) so I feel comfortable enough with post flop actions I can make a profit with a raise rather than a limp.

3a) If they are fit fold (usually from the weak-tight villains) I can go for good steal spots with a cbet (Axx Qxx dry boards some xxx boards for example) and actually some value spots vs loose-passives since their range should be weak with mid pairs, etc. (Kxx boards and luck box 22x or boards). Now notice that by limping you can only do the latter (luck box a flop or otherwise you flop a 2 or weak king and can't play it for max value)

NOTE: There will be a lot of variables that will determine which boards to bet and not which will be too complicated to go over in this post but some good COTW should help. The cbet example I provided was crude and unsophisticated. (we can all always brush up on our post flop game).

NOTE: With your stack size, it makes stealing a little more marginal as your hand is not a pure value hand, you may have to commit lighter/bluff shove turns lighter, etc which is harder to do if you don't know the hows and whys. IT HELPS TO HAVE 100bb stacks (deeper) so top off and stay that way so you have room to open wider from late positions, otherwise if you want to play <100bbs, tighten up and stay away from the K2 and speculative hands. Basically, you are limiting the amount of profitable spots available by being shorter.

Hope this helps you think about your pre flop and post flop planning a little more.

Yeah this totally make sense and thanks a lot Varx...I am just trying to gain an understanding for every action I make/don't make and this helps a lot