$1/2 NL. Game is temporarily 5-handed (previously 9-handed). All but one player has been here more than 4 hours.

V1 (SB) ($220): Loose-passive. Limps preflop with >80% of hands, calls a preflop raise with 50%. Will occasionally make bluffs for small money. Sometimes chases for big money; usually is not the one shoveling it in.

V2 (BB) ($300): Loose-aggressive. Has been playing for 20 min. Raises preflop frequently, loves to c-bet. Loves to bet when checked-to, especially if the preflop raiser checks.

Hero (UTG) ($280): Has seen 3 flops and zero turns in the last 2 hours.



Hero (UTG) is dealt KK, raises to $10. CO and button fold, V1 (SB) and V2 (BB) call.

Flop ($25): 652
V1 bets $10, V2 calls. Hero raises to $30. Call, call.

Turn ($114): 2
V1 checks, V2 checks. Hero bets $60. V1 goes all-in. V2 folds.

Hero has the option to call $120 or fold. What does he do?

I would fold here. From my experience usually loose V's oop like to donk bet out otf here with 2pairs, and sets. I would put V1 on a set. If he had 65, that 2 just counterfeited his 2pair. I would fold here, I doubt V is ever going to reshove with 77-JJ. Also, based on V description, he doesn't seem to be the type to shove it in light with a flush draw. Fold, hes most likely got a set

Raise more pre.

Call.

Seriously, raise more FFS. Read your villain descriptions, they like to overcall so let them. $10 is what I would raise if I had T9s and wanted to just juice the pot. KK you should raise to $20.

As played, make a puke fold. Initially I had this down as a crying call. But reading your villain description and the fact that we did raise him on the flop, V isn't shoving us with 6x here. He luckboxed the deuce or flopped the straight and was just hoping to peel off a non-heart.

So puke fold and next time raise more preflop

Yep, we have a situation here that's NOT JUST a passive player check/shoving the turn on us (scary enough already)--this guy is taking that line, after we have showed a tremendous amount of strength here. We raised preflop, we raised the flop with two people still interested, and then we bet the turn with two people still in the hand. And yet, this passive guy check/shoves anyways. It's over.

Im calling here like 10%-20% (mostly if V is the type to go nuts, and in this case, V almost always has a hand that has KK beat) of the time. The check raise all in line ott is just too strong.

Thanks, everyone, I appreciate the responses.

I like hearing that I should raise more preflop. I only raised to 10 because I hadn't seen anyone ever raise more than 14 (and thus hadn't seen anyone call more than 14 cold). Still, based on the opponents' tendencies, surely I should give them the opportunity to make a mistake for 20.

I also like folding to the all-in. Especially since ILOVEPOKER highlighted just how strong Hero's line was, and that a passive player was shoving anyway.

Most of you are saying that it's a fold "as played." Is there another line leading up to this that is preferable? Like floating the flop or something?

if you raise to $14 pre and raise his donk bet to $50, the pot will be about $190 and villain will have about $155 behind. you can shove that turn for value.

One of the hardest things about poker is understanding that 95% of the time, the most optimal play will be straightforward play.

Hollywood, Poker After Dark, and televised tournaments like to highlight atypical plays to the point where every recreational player thinks that high level winning poker is all about being tricky and making sick moves and bluffs...

no. no its not.

Winning poker at the 1/2nl and 2/5nl level is about playing ABC straightforward paint by numbers poker. Our villains are so terribad that ABC poker will exploit their awfulness to the fullest.

When we have a strong hand preflop, we want to raise the most our villains will call. Ideally, we'd like to deny setmining odds though that will not always be possible.

Come flop, TPGK+ is more or less the nuts vs most boards/situations so we want to bet the most we can, however, we want to be cognizant that we want to bet such that lesser hands can call. This is an advanced concept that most recreational players do not understand. We never want to make bets that lesser hands cannot call. But the good news is, for most LLSNL players, they are willing to overvalue their TPGK or draw type hands and will call big pot sized bets (or even bigger bets).

However, once we show strength and then they reshove us, we better be near nutted to make a call. And in this case, an overpair even though it is KK is not good enough.

So basically, no, there aren't any other lines we should take here. Just play it straight. Raise our big hand pre and then bet each street for 1/2 to 3/4 pot depending on what we feel our villains will call. For most situations, that is going to be the optimal line.

Or put another way, you need to have a great reason and good reads and understanding of your villain tendencies to deviate from straightforward play. Otherwise, you are just infected with FPS (fancy play syndrome) and just randomly clicking buttons.

Raise more pre. (Turn problem solved)