1/2, just arrived a few orbits ago, table in general definitely very weak/fit or fold/loose-passive pre, but I don't have much of a read on this particular villain. He's active, definitely not the most passive player at the table, but I can't tell exactly how passive he is; I know nothing about his betting patterns. I don't know how he bets for value, and if/when/how he bluffs. He doesn't seem like a very good player, though. That's about all I know. He's a young guy, early/mid 20's, arab or armenian or something.
I've been fairly active, I don't know what people think of me yet though. So far I've been getting respect and have a lot of fold equity, it seems.

OTTH:

150$ eff.
I'm on BTN with A5, and limp behind several limpers. Villain limped UTG.

Flop (10$) 23T
Checks to me, I bet 10. Villain calls, everyone else folds.

Turn (30$) 4
My bet on the flop was just a stab at the pot, but now I made my straight on the turn. Villain checks, I bet 15. Villain x/raises to 30. I think a few seconds and call.

River (90$) J

Villain bets 40. Hero...?


This hand was pretty bad for me, I felt immediately afterwards that I played it badly. Pre and flop were fine, the turn bet was OK I guess since I can get called by spade draws, but I didn't really think it through. I should have at least thought about checking behind.

The x/raise on the turn caught me off guard. It's rare I see someone play a draw like this, and I felt uncomfortable about it.

On the river I realize it's a mistake to call turn and fold river, but I ended up folding anyway, because I didn't really believe that Villain was

1. x/raising the draw and
2. Continuing to bluff river.

Though actually if he IS x/raising turn, he will of course continue on the river.

So what do you all think? Really badly played? Or just kind of bad? Obviously my range is pretty capped when I call the turn, but I just don't know much about villain; I can't be sure he realizes that I never have a flush on the river.

So: knowing almost nothing about villain (you know about as much as I), what do you think?

Preflop: Good.

Flop: Check. A bluff is unlikely to work here because a button bet will be called liberally by lone s and also people will frequently slowplay a flopped flush in a spot like this. Your hand has outs, so a free card is valuable to you here.

Turn: As played, betting is good. After the raise, fold. Yeah, it's just a min-raise, but you're representing strength on a scary board and UTG's raise is exactly mimicking a slowplay.

River: Fold for the same reason as above.

Just my opinion...

Pre is fine. If you had decent reads on the table, a raise might be good too, but limping behind here is rarely bad.

Flop bet is terrible. You're almost never taking it down, and often have little to no equity when called. Turn bet is fine. Fold to the check/raise.

Fold the river.

It's funny when you point it out and I see it like this –– yeah, the flop bet is terrible. Your probably right, I'm rarely taking it down, even at such a weak fit-or-fold table. But given that the table is, in fact, so weak, it does still give me a way to win the hand, if not now, then on blank turns. However, I have few and somtimes 0 outs when called, so I really am running a very cold bluff. It's actually probably pretty marginally + or — EV, not so terrible, per say. If I'm checking I'm just giving up on the hand, which is also fine, probably a bit better.

Flop definitely doesn't seem good. It's a limped pot so it's reasonable to think that someone will continue with a spade, a pair, etc. So if we bet this flop, we really have to triple barrel a lot of good runouts. Which is why checking back is better.

Turn bet is fine. We have to bet this turn if we're betting the flop. Now the lolimadonkturnmincheckraise. I come from online, and that move is ALWAYS the nuts. If the table is loose/passive, we have bet into them twice and then someone xr, it's hard to believe our straight is good. Our hand doesn't improve, 20 percent of the time a spade comes on the river, another 20 percent the board pairs, and most of the time we will have to call a large river bet. It's best to just fold here.

Once we call this turn bet and the river is such a blank, we have to call river. It's the best card in the deck and we only need 23 percent.

I prefer raising PF given your read on the table (mostly weak-tight) and your image but limping is OK. Hate the flop bet, your equity is pretty terrible in this spot and it's hard to believe that you're going to fold out all 4 opponents. Turn is an absolute must-bet for value, checking behind would be atrocious. Your sizing is too small, make it at least $20 and consider going full pot in this spot. As played, fold to the turn raise. Yeah, it's just a min-raise, but your hand can't improve and is crushed vs. the majority of V's range. LLSNL players just don't take this line (c/c flop, c/r turn) on a monotone flop without a flush. River is an easy fold as well.