1/3 NL.

V is a 20ish reg; though I don't have much history with him, I remember him as being competent. He has recently transferred to the table with ~$750, and his stack has dwindled to ~$400 after running a bluff with a combo draw in one hand, then calling a turn shove with an overpair, losing to two-pair (AA<J3). Both hands against fishy players; I would expect him to play these hands differently if he'd had time to observe their tendencies. Effective stacks are $300 (villain covers me). I don't think he is neccesarily tilting and only expect his recent history to impact on the following hand marginally.


Villain (UTG+1) raises to $15. Folds to hero in the SB. We call with KQ

Flop [$33] KJ5

Hero checks, Villain bets $25. Hero calls.

Turn [$88] Q

Hero checks. Villain bets $50. Hero??

I expect two-pair is good here most of the time, and a standard line would be to check-raise for value and to protect equity on this board texture.

Really trivial fold for me preflop. KQo is just an awful hand to take to a flop HU OOP to a competent player raising in EP.

As played (i.e. seeing a flop) I'm also just check/calling the flop as it lets him continue barrelling worse.

Turn is why we should almost never see a flop with KQ vs a "typical" EP raising range. This guy ain't an idiot, so even he can tell this is a pretty sucky board for AA/AK/AQ//TT. Otherwise, KK/QQ/JJ/AT all have us beat. Against most villains with half a clue, this is actually much closer to a fold. Against an opponent that might be opening wider in EP (???) and can barrel when picking up equity, it's a more difficult spot (again going back to not playing difficult players OOP preflop). We're also entering pot commitment territory as we'll only have a ~PSB left for the river.

Gfoldpreflopandallyourproblemsaresolved,imoG

I think I prefer a flat here.

What’s calling your check-raise?


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I think I prefer calling. You're so far ahead of worse two pair that you have nothing to worry about, but you are way behind straights/sets and marginally ahead of turned combo draws, such as AKhh, AJhh, KhTh, KhJh, etc. The times your c/r is called or jammed on you are crushed or have to dodge a lot of outs, and you probably end up wagering your stack.

I also think KQo from SB facing a UTG1 open is a fold.


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Mandatory fold pre, no way you aren't losing money here.

I prefer leading turn because AK and AA should check back this turn, but now we're here, flat for the same reason. Villain is not "competent" if he bets AK or AA here and calls an x/r.

Fold pre-flop seems to be the consensus, and agreed.

Yes, this spot is clearly a way ahead / way behind situation, and calling makes the most sense. In play, as the turn added potential straight / flush draws I felt a c/r was appropriate to protect my equity. This is somewhat of a habitual play on my part in spots like these which I need to re-evaluate. I did x/r and call a shove on the turn. Villain had AK(and hit a flush on the river). Although I was a decent favourite when the money went in, I understand the issues with my decisions prior to this (both calling pre-flop and x/r turn).

Yes, you are probably correct about Villain's competency (or my perception of it), given he had AK.

+1 for fold pre, but also leading turn if you do end up here this way. I really like leading the turn when I improve, because most players don't know what to do, and just call down.

As played, I'd just call this one. The river isn't going to be that hard to play here. Most of the deck is a blank where you can just check/call or lead. There are a few tricky cards, like hearts or 5's, but for the most part I'd just call because the river is easy to plan for.