HAND 3:

The Loose And Can Be Crazy But Not Horrendous ($800) opens for $15 UTG. Action Guy ($300) calls. Hero ($825) flats with QQ. I'm not too happy with this, but I'm "almost" set-mining here. The table is deep and extremely loose and even though I hate going very multiway to the flop with a TP type hand, I'm wondering if there is any justification in turning a hand so powerful into an almost-setmining hand. Probably really bad. The Maniac, The Huge Fish, The New Guy and The Loose Bad Straightforward all call.

Flop (7 players, $105): 554r

The New Guy ($405) donks $55. The Loose Bad Straighforward calls $55. Folded to Hero (with only the Maniac behind him) who calls $55. The Maniac folds.

The New Guy has just gotten to the table. The previous hand in a big pot he got the exact same flop, had a 5 in his hand, and donked the flop in a multiway pot and took down a big pot. I don't know if he's just gotten lucky back to back or is fooling around (he's a happy jolly jovial rotund asian). The Straightforward guy could be slowplaying a 5x/44 with so many still to act behind him.

Turn (3 players, $270). 3 (so 5543r board).

Checks to Hero who bets $200.

If anyone calls, do I go for value on the river with < PSB left? I think my thought was "no", which is why I bet so much on the turn.

Kinda just felt I butchered this one preflop then got myself pot committed by the river.

Gthankfully,everyonefoldedtheturnG

My usual plan against a bluffy maniac is to turtle and just let him keep bluffing into me, where I call down. Course, maybe this isn't the flop to do it on since I hate like almost every turn card?

Hand 1: a small donk lead is almost always going to be a weakish tp type hand, and not an attemp at inducing a raise. Think I plan to commit and raise here.

What about the fact the deepstacked guy called the donk with two players (including the Hero preflop raiser) still to act behind him? Does this change anything?

Hand 2: higher variance, but if he is firing three barrels with air constantly, then c/c three streets here is mandatory since there is way more air in his range than value hands.

Since he plays straightforwardly (this is his description, correct?) I'd expect him to raise to protect his hand on this type of flop with so much money in the pot.

Guess he could slow play AT or T9 but that's just a small part if his range.

Hand 3: think turning such a strong value hand into a drawing hand loses some value and may increase variance. With so many deeper stacked maniacs at the table I'd just play it straightforwardly.

Flatting does benefit you post flop bc you will likely get a good amount of value since your strength is well disguised, but you will allow weaker hands to draw out on you more often.

The more I knew my opponents tendancies, the more ok I would feel about flatting. I would have to know when to release when im beat, and when not too fold when the action gets wild but my opponents could be overplaying their hands.

Usually I would agree (and it is why I called down). But on this board, I lose to Kx, Jx, Tx, 6x, any overpair, and any two pair+. It's like, if I'm calling down on this board, I'm calling down on pretty much any board?

I'm guessing he could slow play two pair and not really even totally know if he's slowplaying (i.e. worried that someone else has flopped better).

Ya, I was thinking I could also get away from it when I needed to. But then again, I just called a decent bet from a guy who bet the flop into eleventeen players and was called by the very next guy. I'm not exactly sure when I was planning on exitting.

I think I probably should have just played this more straightforward preflop.

Not necessarily any board, but it depends I guess on how thinly he will value bet on extremely coordinated boards. If he is able to bet kx and Tx and all 2prs here, then it's much more difficult to call. If he checks these back, then his river bet is much more polarizing.

But if the majority of his betting range consists of straights and air, then calling seems correct.

Value-own myself here? Check back? Color me confused after the hand:

Villain is middle-aged African-American. Playing pretty snug.

Hero raises to $12 UTG with Kh Kd. Villain is only caller.

Flop A52 all hearts. Hero has Kh. Hero bets $15. Villain calls.

Turn is a K. Hero bets $30. Villain calls.

River is a blank. Hero bets $50. Villain calls.

Check back the river EVER?

Against a tight player no, especially because you have the Kh. He'd have to be much looser and spazzier for me to favor a c/c line.

Nope. With a set of K on that board, I'm betting for value there.
I'm not terribly worried about the flush in that spot, being that there aren't many flush hands he can conceivably have there. QJ is a possibility, but I feel it's more likely he has a hand like AxQ or AxJ and thinks he might have the best hand still.

Of course, if he raises the river, the decision is tougher, though I think I'm still calling bar some physical tell or read.

never checking back the river here. I know he's tight so he might just be calling with a low flopped flush, afraid of a bigger one, but there is so much AxXh that you're getting value from.

Thanks for the confirmations. I figured he'd raise at some point if I was beat. I was wrong. As soon as he called he said, 'Do you have the King of hearts?' I was like, yeah, but I don't have a flush (didn't actually say it out loud). He flopped it with QJ ... I would have had to call a ship on the turn (like $200ish) so I was just like, 'Thanks.' Guy sitting next to him was floored when he turned over his hand and got on him a little bit. Thank god for passivity.

wow, how does he not raise the river as played.

No idea how or why he didn't ship it on the turn or river. Saved you some money for sure!

he was seriously afraid of the nuts ... said a couple of times that since i had raised and kept betting, i 'might have had the K high flush.' i just laughed and thought, 'very few hands UTG that i am going to raise Khxh that doesn't include the Qh or Jh.'

Here's another hand that I witnessed the other night. I was surprised by villain 3's thinking.

Villain 1 raises in EP; Villain 2 calls; Villain 3 3-bets.

Flop is 663 with two clubs. Villain 1 checks. V2 looks disinterested and V3 makes it $50. I think preflop was $7, call, $27.

Villain 1 shoves. It's probably about $100 more. V2 folds. V3 tanks and folds. He keeps saying 'You have a club draw, but that's a lot of cards to dodge.' He also said 'Why wouldn't he lead out if he had an overpair?'

yeah, pretty standard for most of your opponents to think about situations entirely different than you would.

I've always said that the avg person understand the least about poker than almost anything. ppl just aren't this ignorant when it comes to their other interests like sports or whatever. but so man ppl misunderstand even the most basic concepts in poker that we would think that any logical person would understand, but they just can't.

probably has it to with the games uniqueness in that it can level almost any terrible player into thinking they are good bc of the gamble factor.

.5/$1 unraked home game. Second table is playing 5 handed. Effective stacks about $125 (I cover)

Very bad ATC fish limps.
I raise K5s OTB about tree fitty.
Very laggy BB calls, limper calls.

Pot: $11
BB checks dark.
Flop K69r, checks to me. I bet 8, both call.

Pot: $35
board K69
3 on turn completes rainbow. Checks to me, and I check back for pot control with my weak TP.

Pot: $34
board K693
River 5 and laggy BB donks out with overbet of 50.

Hero pukes and...

I play the whole hand the same way, then fold to the river bet. 87 got there, and aggro guy is expecting at least one of his two opponents to call the big bet (although he's probably targeting the fish).

ETA: Whoops, I didn't noticed we rivered two pair. Ouch. I think I still manage a fold as there shouldn't be too many worse two pair show up (65?). Might depend on how aggro he gets against multiple opponents and whether he thinks the fish is ever folding here.

GsuperboredatworktodayG

Yeah, super easy fold if we hadn't rivered that second pear.

If your read is correct on villain I don't see how you can ever fold here.

How often do you think he's bluffing?
-Your turn checkback has to have induced him to at least be bluffing close to 50% here.
-Not to mention half of the he's not bluffing he is probably overvaluing his hand and betting worse. He should have alot of worse 2 pairs in his range. And to be honest it wouldn't be horrible to be betting any k whatever kicker with his image. He can easily be thinking youll look him up with something like jj or qq.

unless your on some kind of limited roll call, for sure it's +ev.
occasionally he has a set or rivered a straight, everyone makes a hand sometimes but your ahead way way more often.