2/5 nl. ~$400 effective. Villain is unknown and it's his 2nd hand. He's white, in his early 30s, and is wearing sweats and a beanie and looks a little nervous and probably doesn't play a lot of poker.

EP limp, BTN limps, I raise to $20 in SB with red aces, some folds, EP folds, BTN calls. $45 in pot after rake.

Flop K 8 6

I bet $30, Villain makes it $100.


I thought either a stop & go or calling the flop bet and check-raising the turn all in as viable options. Thoughts?

Against an unknown, especially one you think is "new", I'm a bit more cautious. I doubt I could find a fold here, but this is a really strong line for a new player to take.

Because of the smaller size of your preflop raise, his range is pretty wide, and could easily include any pair or suited gapper that nails this board.

We know that a $100 bet to a new player is just huge. Smells like a set, maybe 2p...IF your read on V is correct. Bluff is possible but just so bad in this spot I discount it's likelihood.

Really doubt someone new to poker would raise with one pair, except maybe AK. Maybe he's just new to 2/5, raising the stakes?

Folding isn't terribad, but I doubt I'd have the discipline to do it. With such little info I'd call, then check on turn. If he's really a new player and has a set, he'll turn his cards face up with his bet. If you sense weakness in V's turn action, I'd go with that read and consider sticking with your hand.

How do you think V perceives you? That info would be helpful.

My analysis, submitted for discussion and not advice, because I'm not very smart.

With a call, pot is 240 and villain has (I assume?) 280 behind.

This line makes me stop to think for a few minutes. Pretty durn fancy playin for your second hand, there, pardner. (That's what I would say while I was thinking.)

Normally this is a set a whole lot of the time. But without reads, who knows what this dope has. No way he's bluffing here. Obviously we are thinking K8-KQ; not out of the question he could have AK (one can only hope). If he usually plays limit, he might be used to c/r with a flush draw to buy a free card.

Deep, this would be a tough decision. But with this stack size, I don't spend too much time worrying about it. I was mainly thinking how to get my whole stack in within about two milliseconds of looking down, and I figure that's what you're thinking too.

It's not at all out of the question that he has at least one heart. So if we are going to call the flop, we have to think about what happens if a heart falls on the turn. I would be very inclined to check that, so that if he is on a flush draw, he gets a chance to catch up if he needs it.

If he shoves a flush card on the turn, you're getting something like 3:1, which isn't horrible because of the possibility of some spaz-semi-semi-bluff with something like KhQx. Up to you. I'd call it.

If he checks through, this sets you up for a strong river bet, which has some advantages whether you make your flush or not (eg, blows him off K8 and maybe even 66).

If a blank falls ott, you can give him a nice, bite-size bet of a little less than half his stack. This could induce a crai or at the very least force him into a little crying call on the river.

The problem with the flop shove is that it does blow his flush draws out of the water, which makes this hand a lot less fun and, because it could blow him off K9-KQ, less profitable as well.

So I vote for a call OTF, half pot bet on a blank turn, c/c turn if a flush card falls, all-in OTR.

Raise more pre. Shove flop

If you dont know about V, a reraise en flop OP normally is a draw or draw+pair.
If you think c/r on turn with any card, the best is AI now. Although if the V has a strong project, likely you don't have FE.
But if you call on flop and the turn is heart or 5 or 9 and the V raise, you c/r??. And if you check, V check (free card) on turn and the river is a heart??.

Afterthought for the veterans here. In the event a heart falls on the turn but not the river, and the turn checks thru, there are really two reasons to bet the river. One is to get him to fold better hands. But another reason might be to get thin value from KQ type hands. Does the latter consideration affect bet sizing? I'm thinking probably not, cuz there's only enough money left for like a half-psb, but would be interested in some discussion on this.

The first guy who commented? Lol...

Heads up raised pot 80 bbs effective, king high flop, flush draw, v is new player (trying to look cool in his sweats).

You have AA...

Get it in son, **** that kid

Reading all the comments... If he was 200+ bbs deep you'd have some discussion. 80 bbs in this spot.. Kill yourself for doing anything but stuffing it otf

I think with 400 eff stacks you should not be shy on this board. If V seems uncomfortable and new I think he could be over-valuing KQ KJ. I think a call is fine but I would prefer a shove w V only starting the hand w 80bb

Cannot compute.

Shove or folding is fine and very close. His range pre is still wide because your raise is so small. Against all two pairs+ and K2hh+ you have 40%. If the king was a heart and there were two hearts on board I would likely fold as it skews his range heavily towards made hands that beat you

OK well.

The river is not really polarized. You might be way behind if villain has a flush, set, or 2p. You might be way ahead if villain has diddly. Or you might be a little ahead of a hand that might call, like KQ.

If the river were polarized, I guess you wouldn't bet, because the only call you get is from somebody who has you beat, right?

However, a river bet is reasonable if you hypothesize that you are behind part of villain's range, and ahead of part of it, and he calls enough when he is behind to make the bet worthwhile.

So if we bet the river, what is our intent?
- To drive out better hands, or
- To get thin value from KQ hands

Obviously the answer is "both" but how do we size it? Cuz I get the impression we are trying to drive out better, we want a big bet. And if we are betting for thin value, probably a smaller bet.

Or maybe I took too much Adderall this morning. I dunno. I'm still trying to figure out what "thin value bet" means.

Which of you is 400 deep?

30 pre... gii on flop