I have Q9 hh 4 handed 3/5 500 effective

I 15 button small blind calls. He is 50s white guy I've been at the table for like 15 minutes so no reads

flop t82 x 25 call

turn (80) 9 xx

river (80) 9 He leads 35 I go 100 he max bets to 400.

I folded but feel like its so exploitable I block full houses and QJ but how often do we get 3 bet bluff on the river at 3/5. Can he be going for value with J9?

I played a 2/3 game with a splash pot* promotion and I noticed a lot of guys would straddle utg when the pot was splashed.


What do you think of this? With the dead money, I feel you should be playing a ton of hands anyway, even utg. Now you get to act last. But on the other hand, you've given even more incentive to play aggresively pre.


*the casino adds $20 to the pot before the hand.

It can't be that bad. He could be overplaying J9 or 79. But he has plenty of hands that beat you.

If you were playing an advanced guy, I guess he could realize you are kind of capped at a 9 and try some crazy bluff. You don't see that a lot at 2/5 esp from MAWGs. I'd think even more so with capped betting.

2/5 7 handed ~750 effective. V covers slightly and is MAWG not good, but not totally terrible, but not good by any means.

V is BTN and straddles which he has only done 1-2 times in about 2 hours.

Hero - in BB Raise $40. KsKd, Folds, V calls

Flop - 9x 6s 2x . Hero -$45, V call.

Turn ($170) Js - Hero - $85, V call

River ($340) 7s. Hero X , V $125, Hero calls.

Do you guys prefer x/c rather than b/f here? Not getting him to call 3 streets with a 9 I don't think and he might bluff 87 combos and 9x... Anywho he ends up having

I play it the same way. Got to have a pretty aggro dynamic between the two of you to get called by worse for 3 full streets on that kind of board i think. Well played, unlucky he got there with the runner runner flush.

2/5, 7 handed

UTG
UTG+1
MP ($1,000)
CO
BTN/HERO ($500)
SB
BB

Folds to MP who raises to $15, I re-raise to $50 with AT

MP has been pretty active (probably on tilt after losing AA<Q3), raising often preflop. No one else at the table is raising much, there is a lot of limping. MP will raise the limpers but doesn't raise too big, usually $15 or $20. Postflop he is generally passive, likely because the pots are going multi way.
Anyway, I felt like he was raising too often to be able to comfortably call a 3-bet. Additionally, he hadn't shown to be a calling station postflop so I thought I could 3-bet light and take it down or potentially take it down with a c-bet.

But then afterwards, I started doubting the validity of 3-betting light, if it was even necessary to do at live low stakes games. The main reason was that if I get called, the SPR = 4.5. Seems like a low SPR for a marginal hand like ATo. And depending on how reasonable their 3-bet calling range is, it just seems like we're bloating the pot? Perhaps ATo was a bad hand to 3-bet with?
Is the point of light 3-betting primarily to take it down preflop versus a wide raising range and an opponent not likely to get sticky pre and post flop?

	Equity
Hero	47.34%	{ ATo }
Villain	52.66%	{ JJ-99, AQs-ATs, A5s, KTs+, QTs+, JTs, T9s, 98s, 87s, AQo-ATo, KQo }

	Equity
Hero	40.73%	{ ATo }
Villain	59.27%	{ JJ-TT, AQs-ATs, KQs, QJs, JTs, AQo-AJo, KQo }

You could 3b! A standard 3x, no callers, in position as to keep that SPR down in a standard vacuum especially at 100BB with our value and our bluff range. Once we get closer to 150 BB+ effective, then I believe we can start going slightly larger than 3x in position of 50-55. In this scenario, I would be 3b! if sb or bb are inclined to 3b! but if their passive, ATo can be just a flat some percentage of the time as we can play this hand straight up and not get into difficult spots. We’re going to be c-betting 33% or 66% pot with our entire range depending on our board texture and hopefully you’re comfortable with betting 66% and hits our range and not our exact hand with a board like KQx for example

The point of light 3-betting is to take advantage of the wide ranges of people who open/iso with wide ranges.

The point is to put players who raise with wide ranges into a situation where they are effectively a third blind bet. Some of the time they are going to fold their hand and we take down the pot then and there. (Saving on the rake is a significant coup.) Sometimes they call and you get to see a flop heads-up, position against a weak range. Typically they are going to miss the flop 60-70% of the time, and you can take the pot down with a c-bet; size that c-bet right, and you are printing money.

Sometimes they will call that c-bet, but that doesn't matter. They fold often enough that we can afford to give up a few pots every now and then.

Sometimes they are going to four-bet preflop, which means we can pretty much put them on KK+ and maybe AK, and play accordingly, folding our junk and continuing with hands with decent equity. But three-betting is rare enough in LOLive low-stakes NLHE that the vast majority of players don't have a four-betting game to speak of.

Know your villain. First, have a sense of how wide they are opening. Guestimating their raising frequency helps here, but it is going to vary with position and it is hard to get solid data from the relative few hands you see in a live session. You can get more solid information by watching what they show down. Pay especial attention to the hands they show that are not super-premium starters. Anyone knows how to raise with KK or AKs. Knowing that they will iso in the cutoff with JTo or T7s, on the other hand, gives a valuable pointer to how wide ther range is.

I think what you discovered is that ATo is just not a very good hand period. That being said, i don't understand the range you have assigned to villain. If he's opening too often then he's way wider than that. The ranges you are assigning him are quire tight for live low stakes, IMO. You don't think he's continuing with A9 (as an example)?

My experience is that 2/5 players will call that $50 3bet close to 100% of the time. Like i expect every bad player to call for sure (obviously they have a hand they want to play) and frankly I expect pros to call a large portion of the time too. My games may play a bit wilder than yours but I fully expect bad players to raise/call preflop with hands as bad as 95 sooted, J2 sooted. Hell, I made it $250 preflop the other day at 2/5 and got called by 65o (and was not surprised).

What’s the bottom of your calling range in this spot? K♣︎4♦︎8♦︎Q♥︎K♦︎ facing a b/3b shove otr

****

(History: I 3b to 50 on the btn with KK, 2 callers, Flop: Disconnected Q high, sb donk leads 25, v flats, I raise to 125 (sizing was bad) sb folds, v shows a queen and folds)

OTTH

1-3 500cap

Folded to me, I raise 10 Otb, BB calls. Flop: Kc4d8d, v checks, I bet 10, Turn: Qh, v checks, I check, River: Kd, v bets 35, I make it 135, V to 412

*K high disconnected flop. I accidentally put queen

That is a wild game, indeed, haha

With regard to the ranges, I assigned villain hands that he might call my 3-bet with. I wanted to get a feel for my equity if I had happened to be called.
I would be surprised if he, specifically, called wider than that. He just didn't seem to be that type of player that liked to gambool. Rather, he was quite passive and straightforward.
He was just trying to be aggressive preflop with single raises, imo, as he was on tilt.

But yeah, I'll check out the equities of other hands and see how they fair in comparison to something like ATo. Didn't think of doing that actually.

Well noted, thank you

We need 32% equity to call the additional $277, so we want a hand that is good 1/3 of the time or a little bit more versus the villain's bet/jamming range. I would expect that at 1/3 the villain's bet/jam bluff range is the empty set, so we need to think about what hands the villain would jam for value. I am guessing that the bottom of their bet/jam value range is 88, but would they have check/called the flop?

QQ blocks KQ but unblocks KK and K8. KQ blocks KK completely, and so is the nuts. K8 blocks KK and KQ, and unblocks QQ.

If we think the BB only calls suited K8, then it is a tossup between K8 and QQ. If they play the offsuite combos, then K8 is better.

I think that it is borderline between K8s and K4s, if the latter is in our range. I am a little iffy about QQ, but at game speed I probably make the call with it.

(I simply do not expect the villain to bet/jam with a flush.)

I’m not convinced he’s bet/jamming the river here enough to make QQ, K4s, and to a lesser extent K8s a call. He’s almost certainly not bluffing here at a frequency that makes 44 or 88 or a flush a call.
He’s not like a backpack kid or a super agro lag player, but he probably calls 2bets fairly wide pre

What does K4s and QQ realistically beat here 1/3 of the time? He’s probably not turning 88, 44, or QQ into a bluff

As far as K8s, he will probably have some defends with K4s. And perhaps, will take a bet jam river line here most of, if not all the time.

Anyways I had Ks4s and snap called, I hated getting shoved on but knew I was not folding, I really should’ve taken a few seconds and thought about it more, maybe I pitch the K4, idk. He had Kh8x. I really need to think about hand equivalency more in spots like this because I’m going to probably get away from 88, and 44 (unless I’m like tilting) but QQ and K4 don’t really beat ish here vs this type so idk.

(He also did some random live tell thing that made me think he may be strong on the flop, he like called but then started acting disengaged, he started watching the tv, which I’ve seen that from like older players in the daytime games, he could also be worried about a sports bet or it could mean anything, but that along with getting jammed on is interesting I guess)

Thank you for the response Alan, very much appreciated!

What it all comes down to is :what is the weakest hand the villain bet/jams? Count combos. Be sure to account for the combos we block with our own hand. If we beat more than a third of the bet/jamming range we put them on, it's a good call.

And note that even if we judge that we do beat enough of the villain's range to call, sometimes they will have one of the combos we do not beat, and we lose. That's poker.

2/5, 7 handed

UTG ($1500) limps, CO ($1000) raises to $15, I ($500) raise to $50 from SB with AQ, UTG calls, CO calls

Flop ($155) Q34

Wondering what bet size is optimal to use in this situation?

UTG is playing every hand and not folding top pair.
CO just plays straightforward. Probably not great though as he couldn't let go of AA on Q52r board versus a huge check-raise from a MAWW in a single raised pot (he lost to two pair)

$65

1/1 - 9 players
Villain (BTN): 400
Hero (MP): 500

Villain was a fat guy (almost a ball) older guy I think, 40-50? hard to tell.
He was definitely playing too many hands, had showed a lot of aggression both pre and post. Started with around 200 and ran it up to 400.
Didn't see any showdowns.


Villain BTN straddles to 5
one caller
Hero raises to 20 with KQs (clubs)
Villain calls
fold

Flop: 984r (one club) (Pot: 47)
Hero checks
Villain bets 25
Hero thinks a few seconds and calls

Turn: Jc (flush draw for me) (Pot: 97)
Hero checks
Villain bets 70
Hero folds


I found it hard to let go of my hand, flush draw + gutshot
Couldn't get any read on villain either, I suspected he had been bluffing a few times before, but he never got caught so far.

Is this an easy fold? Or am I way too nitty?

I would make it bigger preflop, at least $60 (4x) and maybe more.

A bet of $110, which is about a quarter of your remaining stack, sets up a very nice turn shove for less than a PSB.

I would size up pre. The villain on the button is incentivized to call with a particularly wide range, given that they have position for the rest of the hand. I would make it 5x, maybe even 6x (25 or 30).

And because the villain is incentivize to call with a wide range, they are going to miss this flop much of the time. We have a substantial range advantage, and whlle the villain has 44 in their range, we have the other sets as well as 98 for top two pair, plus, of course, all the overpairs, while the villain's range is capped. Even though their defending range contains 9X and 8X, I would seriously consider a c-bet here, to 2/3 pot.

If we had c-bet, that turn card is a perfect barrelling card: it improves our equity both with straight and flush potential, and it also hits our range. If the villain had been floating, they would now be disappointed, and we can pick up the pot with their added flop contribution. Printing money is fun!

As played on the flop, facing the turn bet we are not getting the right price to call. Did you consider raising? Our Q blocks the nut straight, and we may be able to get 9X or 8X to fold. And we can still make our hand.

So I folded QQ to a $25 open from UTG (8 handed), think I was CO.
We were playing $1/1 stacks were around 300 effective

UTG was a really tight woman, I've never seen her bluff and don't think I've ever seen her bet with less than TP with a strong kicker.
We've played together quite a bit.

Her usual opens are 10-15 even from EP.
She limps most of the time though.

The hand before someone opened to $25, everyone folded and he showed KK.

Is folding QQ to such a large open ok? Especially against someone you know is never bluffing?
I'm fairly certain, let's say 80% that she's never doing this with AK.
So her range might be TT+ maybe JJ+ or even just AA/KK, maybe even just 99-JJ? I've seen players say those hands are hard to play so they open huge with them.

Even if UTG has only AA/KK, I think we can continue due to our implied odds.
For example, if you can extract at least $85 from her after you call the $25 raise, then calling here with QQ would be +EV

I'm wondering if you hit a set, can you can get stacks in against V?

Hmm I wasn't really considering set mining.
I actually never even considered a call, it was a raise or fold spot for me.

Profitable set mining requires you to be able to win 20-25x the call though.
Since you very often won't hit that set.
So don't think this would be a goot spot to just call.

Where did you get $85 from?
I hit a set 1 out of 8 times.
I lose $25 7x
I win $85 + $25 1x
That leaves me at -$65?

If she's only doing this with AA/KK, then yes I can call, but she might have some other combos in there as well.

Also, say I call pre, am I really folding on a 842 board?
So I'm just setting myself up to lose more against what I think is an insanely strong range.