I'm not sure if I played this hand right. I need some suggestions.

Effective stack: 210. I had v covered.

Villain: 25-35 white male. Seems to be a reg but not good.

Hero: 25 asian with aggressive image but have not been caught a bluff yet.

Hero straddle with AcJd.

Villain raise to 15 UTG+2.

BB call, I call.

Flop 7c7s2c

BB check, I check, V bet 20. I re-raise to 50 and V called.

V is somewhat tight preflop in EP. I do not think he has any sort of 7 in his range. I was trying to rep a 7.

When V called, I put his range on 88+, or KcQc, KcJc, JcQc.

I planed to bet all blank turn or club turn as I have Ac re-draw.

Turn Ah.

It is an interesting card. Should I bet here?

I checked on the turn. And V bet 50.

At that point, I do not think V called a check-raise with AxQx, AxKx. So only hand he might be beating is AA.

He might be either protecting his PP because he put me on flush draw or semi-bluffing his flush draw.

Then I went all-in. V tanked a while and put the remaining 95 in .

You maybe got lucky and won the hand, but overall horribly spewy by you.

Why in the world do you straddle UTG?

V's most likely range here on flop is A7s, 88+ AcJc+.

I think his turn bet probably removes 88-thru 10-10 and I start to narrow to JJ-AA, A7s.

Way too loose and fast for 1/2 IMO.


I'm sure this seems awfully nit to you, but first don't straddle and then UTG throw AJ off into the muck preflop 90% of the time. I'd rather open raise J8 suited for raise over limpers from CO than open AJ unsuited UTG.

He can not have have any A flush draw as I'm holding Ac

Ok, V's range skews more heavily to overpair to board on flop. Still really spewy, I hate the straddle, and I hate the flop raise.

There just isn't anything about this hand that indicates you should be playing for stacks here.

I can see calling V's c-bet with Ace high, because hard for this flop to hit V's range. Likewise, however, it is hard for it to have hit your preflop calling range, so it is easy to overestimate your fold equity with that flop raise. It serves mostly to bloat the pot with a very marginal holding and not much of anything in the way of draw to fold back on.

There is only one possible combination of AA, so that is unlikely to be V's holding. His turn bet given that you hold Ac, seems to be very narrow A7, JJ-KK and the one possible AA.

Flop shove--I guess OK as played. After all, your only one draw when you raised flop was for an Ace to hit and it did. So, what else were you waiting for?

IMO, you made a 1/2 game way too complicated and your general style of play is a guaranteed loser over time.

Of course, but that isn't the only A7 available, correct? Plus, just because YOU are repping a 7 doesn't mean that villain can't do the same. Why no 7s in his range?

I don't understand the straddle thingy other than to force a table to play a little higher stakes. If everyone has 200+BB....sure, let's up the blinds. Just seems like spew otherwise.

I don't hate the checkraise...just the CR sizing. Just a tad bigger than a mini-raise screams "Imma makin' a move"

I think LeGrosB nails it when he says...there just isn't anything here to make me want to play for stacks.

I guess the question I have is: Do you have a read that villain is a fit/fold type player. To me, that would justify the mess you made with this hand...imo.

As played preflop, would you check-fold on the flop?

Thanks for your advice.

In low stakes, people tend to raise small with monster hand. Many people would do this sizing with a 7 in hand. That's how I rep a 7 on flop and decideds to bet on blank turn for big. maybe 100 to force over pair fold.

He seems to be fit/fold a lot earlier.

I guess my real question is:

Is this a good spot to make move on flop? If you check-raise large say to 70 and get called, what is your plan on blank turn? or club turn?

Thanks, man.
You advice is really helpful. What do you mean by I made 1/2 game too complicated? Do you think I overthink?

Yeah I don't see the purpose of a raise otf if you're not barreling basically any turn, save for clubs. Just because you picked up some showdown value doesn't mean you should change your initial plan. He could easily have a bigger ace you now want to make fold. That makes the ace a great barrel card. He has more aces in his range, meaning you'd love to bet it with a seven because he'd be hard pressed to fold an ace. If he understands this, could believe you'd be bluffing, and has the courage, he might c/r you. But that's unlikely. Then, if you bomb nonclub rivers you might be able to get a better ace to fold since your line is so strong.

That being said, the above line is risky, and I think a call on the flop is best. You can still lead out club turns, but I'd suggest check/calling an ace turn as it hits his range harder. Were a jack to come you might be able to fire for value from 88-TT and sticky ace-highs. On blank turns I'm not sure if check/deciding or leading is better.

Fold pre. AJo does not play well oop against a tight preflop raising range and is a major RIO threat.

I think most players with 7x would flat the flop. An SPR of 4 makes it easy to get stacks in by the river. You offer villain almost 4:1 odds to call. A villain with a tight preflop raising range of 88+/premium broadways will call the bet most times in position. You have low equity vs. his range and little FE by c/r so small.

If you think villain is weak, you can flat the flop and bet scare cards on the turn. You'll have more FE on the turn because the bet will be bigger and threatens a shove on the river.

After the flop c/r, you should bet the turn. You tried to rep strength and you should stick with your plan. As played, villain betting into you is a relatively strong move after you c/r. The RIO implications of AJ are very apparent. You don't have any good options. I think you almost always get called by better when you shove and I don't see any worse hands calling. You face a big river bet if you just call. You might be sacrificing a lot of equity if you fold. I'd call because villain may think the A is a scare card and bluffing with a pp or broadway clubs. Not a great situation though that could have been avoided.

No, I would call flop. Folding to c-bet on this board is too weak. Call and evaluate on turn.

Fancy play syndrome like this will cost you a lot of money. Tell yourself over and over-Keep it simple stupid and the most obvious answer is usually the right one.

Look, I've been there and have dumped many buyins over the years by trying to be the most clever player at the table. You want to be the smartest player, not the most clever.

I get the feeling he floated you with AK high, because he might have put you on the club draw.

One thing good players and bad players sometimes both do is hold on to AK, but for different reasons.

In 1/2 x/r bluff on that flop is too fancy a play. There's no reason to get out of line here and play on a level V might not even get. Also the raise sizing is too small. 2.5x his bet may seem sizable, but when you do the math he's almost getting 2:1 on a call.
AP you need to continue on the turn. If you had a 7 why would you check a nonclub turn after your x/r? Your line just doesn't make sense at that point. If you aren't continuing on one of the best cards in the deck for your actual holdings, why are you making the flop move?

I hate the straddle. I do it at a fun table occasionally when others are doing and I'm winning and don't want to look like a nit. If you are doing this a lot, STOP.

pf could be ok or could be awful. If he has a range of like AJ+, KQ, 99+ I'd probably just fold. If you can add in the weaker broadway cards and pps, along with some middling connectors it's an easy call.

otf I assume bb folded. Again my flop decision really depends on 2 things, villains pf range, and what a < hpsb means. I can see his bet size meaning he whiffed which means a raise should get a fold. If he's more likely to check when he misses and bet when he's got something, fold. If he has a wider range pf and we can't gleam any info about his hand strength based on his flop bet, I'd call.

I like the turn. Checking induces him to bet w/a draw or make him feel good about his op to the flop. I'd also crai if he has a pair w/out the A you're not getting more from him and if he has a fd you're getting value.