hero is a 22 year old indian guy,ive only been at the table for like 30 mins,he has seen me raise and reraise with J9 with two shortstackers under 40$.(One of them went all in i put the other one all in. BTN 215$

V-mid 30's maybe early 40s some kind of trinidad/guanese guy. i havn't seen him show down anything yet he did have the big stack at the time. has me covered and is in the late position

a bunch of limps to hero on the btn with K10 i raise to 17 and get two callers.

flop K46 pot-55$

V donks 30 other guy folds i snap call.

turn 5pot-$115
v bets 50, hero?????

if you call turn whats your river plan?????

for some reason, live players often like to play middle pair like this (often turning it into a bluff otr), so im calling and calling most rivers, except mb large bets on 3, 7 and a 6

also, dont give away timing tells like that (snapcall is a dead-on sign of a medium-strength hand)

Another possibility is weak KX pot controlling. You beat k9 but lose to KJ.

There is a slim possibility he could have limped in with AK/KQ and be making sure no one gets a free card.

Initially I thought he would be betting bigger on turn if he had 2-pair+ but after double checking the effective stacks will be 108 going to a river with pot 215. He can easily put you allin giving you good pot odds so I wouldn't rule out him playing a set like this.

He could bet mid pair and make 2-pair on turn. He could have 64 on the flop. Rarely he might donk bet semibluff the K on the flop holding a gutshot with 87.

Problem for you is a lot of his bluff/weaker pairs give up on the turn when you call and show you have a king. If he were continuing to bluff he'd go really big on turn since he knows he probably has to fold KX. Since he goes less than half pot I think he is often trying to keep weak KX in the pot with him.

I think you are in very uncertain territory with KT here up against a murky range that beats you at least as often as it is behind you. If I had to guess I'd say his range is ahead and if you call the river you'll be significantly -EV.

I think the problem with this hand is it just isn't strong enough to isolate a load of limpers with. KQ would do, KJ is pushing it but KT is too weak. I'd limp behind with it to try to hit some big hands rather than attempt to get value from 1-pair.

As played I'd fold the turn happily. If I did call the turn it would be because I had a rewad villain frequently donks flop, bets turn and checks river or frequently donk/bet/shoves as a bluff. If the former read I fold to a river bet, if the latter I call a river bet.

Hello Raeed,

I agree with ragequit that K10s isn't a good hand to raise with infront of a series of limpers. You have a hand that could connect with a lot of boards and might as well limp behind on the BTN and see a cheap flop IP. I would raise with a hand like KQ, because you know you are likely ahead of the limpers ranges, and more importantly, will not be as worried about your kicker when you flop TP in a raised pot.

As played i'd call the flop. On the turn I would typically fold to another barrel, but V's small sizing seems a little weak and may tempt me into calling.

If he fires again on the river I'm defiantly done (assuming I don't improve). A triple barrel bluff is very uncommon at these stakes and it is highly improbable that he will bet all three streets for value with a worse hand than ours.

If you call turn, which is or should he a big if, then I guess the plan is to call all rivers or raise/bet big when a 4 straight comes in.

You need to be extremely prepared for the fact that you're behind often here. There's really only two options, one he has a set, 2 pair, or a bigger king and the 4 straight is terrible for his betting range but theoretically good for your calling range, or two youre ahead of a bluffed king, weird underpair to the king or a pair and an open ended draw. Most of these hands still don't like when the 4 straight shows up and you raise or bet big.

I'll stress again, you should look at the reasons why you're calling the turn and logically what that means after your river play. When you add it up you need someone who's pretty bonkers to be betting twice in order to look them up w this week of a hand. It's very odd for a player to suddenly shift from passive (calling preflop) to aggressive (taking the lead on a dry flop) unless they improved.

Which bluffing hands specifically do you see him doing this w? List some and I think you'll see my point.

BTW contrary to what a couple people said, your button raise against limpers w KTs is for sure good. Don't make it bad by giving them unlimited implied odds when you play sheriff against their set mines for your whole stack.

The reason the raise is good is because you have instant value against their limp range, AND the added possibility which always exists on the button of making them fold because of your position and aggression.

Oncr again though it's possible to start making it into a worse raise by not having an idea of the relative value of your hand when you flop a piece and they start to play strongly against you as opposed to just folding, which they do when they miss.

I think its better to just limp on the button here, until you are a more experienced/better player, no offense.

Definitely. I'm raising pre.

Flop is fine as a crying call. Turn is a fold.

I'd raise preflop if I expected a lot of folds from the limpers preflop and I expected to have fold equity postflop too. That's not often the case at the games I play.

Sungar78 - I disagree that there is any value to be had raising KTs beyond fold equity. Limpers frequently have Ax connectors and small pairs: Against that sort of range KT is very rarely significantly ahead. Vs multiple players with that range if KT is crushing, say T9 it just detracts from your ability to hit T to get ahead of AX or a small pair. Also where I play people are liable to limp in with AT KQ KJ frequently so I'm really never guaranteed to be getting any value raising KTs. For me, in my games, the value of these hands is hitting big in multiway pots vs fish.

Something else to consider: Even with a terrible player who limp/calls all KX and calls off his stack postflop on hittingany K - KT isn't in great shape when it hits a K. AK-KJ are ahead already and, on a lot of board runouts 3 other KX hands will make 2-pair. Therefore you end up being beaten more often than not (6 KX hands beat you, 5 lose to you).

BTW I will open KTs more often than isolate with it. I often find that, if my image is tight and solid, I will get the pot headsup and have FE postflop vs someone thinking they need to "crack my aces".

Or, you could adopt a tight/aggressive opening hand requirement & learn to master the most valuable seats 1st, starting with the Button. You won't do that by playing the Button incorrectly.

IMO, limping on the Button with a hand that's in the top 10% behind several passive limpers is not your most +Ev play. All you're doing is increasing the number of hands that can out flop you. They are going to fold if they miss.

Zuneit - I have played TAG strategy online for 6 years and I don't use it for the soft live games I play in. It is good to know it though. You just have to be very clear in your mind which of your raising hands are actually for value vs limpers and which require fold equity to be worth raising. If you are going to get called by loads of limpers when you raise I think only 99+ AQ+ KQ have any actual value. Almost everything else I would rather see a cheap flop, IP and multiway.