Hi all,

2/5. Hero has super tight image. CO hasn’t been particularly active so far this session. BTN seems solid in general but can make big moves post-flop. Sometimes he has it sometimes he doesn’t. Haven’t seen him 3! light in my few hours playing with him. $700 eff.

CO opens $20, BTN 3! $60. Hero BB with black KK flats in part for deception but also because (bad reason) he was playing a little scared at the end of the month and didn’t want to run into AA if he 4!/jammed.

Anyway, three ways to flop ($175): Q-T-5r.

Checked to BTN who fires rather large, $150. Hero flats. CO folds.

Turn ($475): Td bringing bdfd. Check, BTN jams around $500 eff. Hero? Thinking about V’s range we’ve got AQ, (maybe Tx?), AA, the last two kings, and draws. This would be a strange line with quads or queens full.

Thanks,
DT

$160 pre. If you're not willing to felt this for $700 in this spot you should have picked up.

As played I probably call because it's hard to see him playing something this fast that beats you other than AA (which is very possible of course). This is also why you should just 4-bet pre because usually you won't be able to get away from AA no matter what.

flatting is so bad

Scared money is dead money.

I don't get your hangup on end-of-the-month profit. You make the best decisions you can at the table and let the results land where they may.

Very true. Should I just not look at my results until the end of he month to avoid these situations altogether? It kinda sucks to track because I know where I am in relation to the past few months and in my mind I just wanted to beat my April numbers.

I would say treat the whole year as one long session, or even your whole career as one long session. Analyzing at the monthly level is short sighted and frankly pointless.

Grunch:

How good of a hand reader is villain? I'm interested to know whether he's thinking very hard about what super tight hero has.

Like hero can't really be expected to cold call a 3bet OOP with much other than set mining, AQ/AK and maybe some slow played QQ+.

Villain's flop cbet is big into two players on a two-broadway board. That shows fairly serious intent so for Hero to flat while caught in between the two villains likely looks like AQ+ to villain.

So I think villain can't have AA here that often because if he did he'd be too worried hero has a trips or better to shove turn. I think V is polarised. Between boats/quads and diamond/combo draws.

It is a weird line for QQ but TT could play this way I suppose. On that basis I think I'd call it off (villain has more draws than quads/55). However, this all hinges on my assumption V doesn't have AA much which depends on how V reads hands.

Also I do concur with others that flatting KK here is bad. It's a BTN Vs CO 3bet so their ranges are as wide as they get and your flat is just guaranteeing you a 3-way pot OOP vs two wide but playable ranges.

I'd much more understand flatting KK from the blinds following a tight player 3betting a tight EP opener.

I could maybe get behind flatting AA from the blinds in this spot if there were some dynamic between CO and BTN that was likely to cause them to spew $$$$$ my way.

Flatting KK here though deffo seems like you psyched yourself out.

Pre is so stupid, just quit poker.

Don't try to be "sneaky" with only $700 eff and a multiway pot. Raise pre.

How do you know he was playing "scared at the end of the month"? That doesn't make sense but if it's actually true (that he told you this and you believed him), he's not a player I would worry about like ever. 4bet pre ainecaa.

Yeah the scared player (“he”) would be me. I’m an idiot fish who forgot how to play poker for a moment there. Normally this is an auto-4! for me. I don’t know what overcame me.

Good form posting hands like this.

There is no preflop strategy to discuss here, we all know that.

The truth is you didn't flat for deception at all. You called because you didn't want to gamble for whatever reason but couldn't bring yourself to just fold and rack up. That's your mental game needing work. How did you get to the place mentally where you see lp open, btn 3b, get KK in the blinds and don't get excited about your super +EV spot? What had you been doing/thinking about wrt win rate, monthly income, $ goals ect...? Answer that question and then figure out the flaws in your thinking that lead you to this spot with this hand and this mindset.

It's all one long session bud.

Yeah pretty much agree that I was playing scared. Normally I am jumping for joy in these spots. Idk what overcame me this time. I also believe maybe a lack of seep had something to do it. I always try to remember one long session. Just forgot this in the moment. Stupid stupid stupid!

Yah but it’s not just here cuz you posted this in your QQ hand which is a completely fragile or shattered mental game.

Yeah I’m back to playing 1/3 while I get things in order.

As played he’s got AQ enough of the time that this is a call imo.

Cliffs:

We are supposed to go broke if we have KK and a Villain happens to have AA.

If we don't want to take that chance we are playing too big.

I don't hate pre. Cold four bet is is going to look super strong and will probably just take down the pot. Four betting is fine also. Should raise the flop all in. With your call there is already $500 in the pot, so you don't want to give any free cards in this now very large pot. While not ideal (we'd much rather T52 or something) this is still a pretty good board. There is no ace, not much chance of two pair, and the board is quite disconnected.

Re. Flop CRAI: say V continues either AQ+ KJs or KQ+ KJs...

When V has KQ we're 53.2% equity.
We're 45.8% equity if V doesn't have KQ.

So it's probably OK given the dead money but it's better to 4bet preflop and get it in against QQ+ AK (hero 57.1%) or JJ+ AK AQs (hero 63.3%) of go to the flop in a 4bet pot with initiative against a range like QQ-88 AK AQs-ATs (hero 76%).

Sometimes you've got to go back and look at the raw numbers to fully understand how your fear is putting you in suboptimal spots. I think what happens to me us I get fearful and down on my game and then I start to feel like my opponents will play perfectly against me and all I can do is attempt to lose the least. Like I KNOW I can't win but I don't want to quit.

It's silly - look at the numbers, remind yourself your opponents are fallible and will make at least as many mistakes as you if you give them the opportunity to do so...

...and continuing anything other than KK+ against a 4bet from KK is a big mistake (ignoring range vs range thinking for a second). Put them to the test, don't assume they'll pass it and thus lose the courage to pull the trigger.

Most of our wins come from our opponents mistakes, not our brilliance.

4bet pre we all know this and I think you do too Dumbo.

A little pep talk here. You are clearly a winning player with hundreds of hours winning at a decent clip at 2/5 and 1/3. I know you have the potential and ability to rip it here and in the QQ hand. I'm happily stacking KK vs AA all day here. Once you can really internalize that you can't do anything about the coolers and accept it it will unlock you for all the times you stack QQ JJ TT, AK not to mention the random spaz people can show up with at these games.

My head is hurting thinking about this hand because I wanted to get it all in pre but now I'm feeling like a nit fold.

This line screams value to me. Is he really pot potting an OESD when the board pairs on the turn? Really the only conceivable bluffs I put in his range are AKdd and KJdd. I feel like AA QQ TT are squarely value hands he would play this way. The real question is if he does this with AQ or not. Generally I would expect it to be but is Dumbo's nitty image coming into play here? Can someone run it vs a range of AA QQ TT AKdd KJdd AQs?

Vs at 2/5 arent jamming here with quads. i'd even be surprised if they jam here with a FH.

there are more draws than people give V credit for. 98dd, J9dd, AKdd, AJdd, KJdd.

there is also the A Q/5dd (not sure which was a diamond OTF, obv is wasn't the T)

kinda think we have to call here.

Preflop: Please 4-bet. My problems with cold calling: CO gets a good price to go 3-way with us. Flatting the 3-bet from the blind looks like a pretty strong/restricted range to a good player (Hands like AQ, 88-JJ, KQs, AJs). This means the "deceptive" value of calling is blunted by us having a generally strong range. It's much different than raising ourselves and then calling a 3-bet. The deception value is also hurt when CO calls and we go 3-ways to the flop.

Along with that, this is a great position to 4-bet. CO open & BTN 3-bet are both potentially wide ranges. Even if you haven't seen a "light" 3bet from BTN yet, his "value" range likely includes hands as weak as AQ, TT, KQs, and worse. These wide ranges give us good incentive to bluff, so let's take advantage of that and 4-bet KK as well.

Nothing more needed on pre, but I applaud you for stepping down in limits to get your head clear. A lot of players won't do that out of pride, so congrats on doing the right thing on that front.

V's line seems awfully weird to me for AA/KK. Smells way more like AK just praying he can get a pair to fold. I don't think there is any way I fold KK here given the action.