Five handed in a friendly .02/.05 (.05 ante on the button) home game. Third hand of the night, everyone is about even and 200 BB deep.

Villain is a better player than me by far. He's a winning player at 100NL, and has been very aggressive both pre and post flop, taking advantage of my button steal and c-betting tendencies by 3-betting (and sometime 4-betting) light and raising or c/r-ing as a bluff. He is also balancing with taking these lines for value. Rest of table is competent, but somewhat passive preflop.

MP raises to $.16.
Folds to villain on the button who calls.
Hero (SB) with 88 raises to $.50.
Folds to villain who calls.

Flop ($1.26)
992

Hero bets $.80.
Villain raised to $2.00

Hero?

Call. If he's c/ring you as a bluff he's going to c/r this flop such a high percentage of the time.

His range is probably like 22-TT, T9s, 98s, and overs -- unlikely 32 and A2, possibly 72 cause why not, it's a home game. [included low pp and some random deuces because if he's c/r-ing with air, he can c/r with a made, but marginal hand also, maybe some will disagree with me]. It's super wide. You're not folding. If you shove, you're in bad shape if he calls. If you call, you have to dodge whatever outs he has on the turn and river, but that's fine. I call here and probably check/call turn. TBH I'm even pretty likely to call a turn shove. The only value I can get out of this hand is if he turns his hand into a bluff, which is more likely than TT T9 98 22 I think.

I'm trying to get my head around a winning 100nl player sitting at a 5nl live game with $10 on the line.

For him, this is probably just for ****s and giggles. Frankly, I'd just shove once he raises. If you call, the pot is over $5 and you have only $7.80 or so left. He's going to put you AI anyway and folding on the turn or river is puke worthy at this point. You aren't improving. This is a hard flop for you to hit, so he's likely to raise ATC.

The reason for the shove is that you want to train him that bluffing at you is a bad idea. If he hit the 9 or has 22, nh, and move on.

Oh, and if he folds, don't show.

We're a group of students who don't have a bankroll to play $1/$2, not to mention the fact that there isn't a card room within 200km of where we live. High stakes players don't come to this forum and criticize players for playing $2/$5, so I don't see anything wrong with playing .02/.05.

Getting better at poker is getting better at poker, no matter the stakes. And for what it's worth, the group of people with whom I play are much better than the fish that hang out at $1/$2 tables from what I understand.

Anyway, I did shove and he snap called, tabling 89. Villain and I talked it over after, and the only thing he really had to say was raise more pre and flat the flop, which I guess is better.

Hey, money is only the way we keep score. As long as y'all are competitive about it, it's all cool. For me, at least, the money at $1/2 doesn't mean a lot. I just like to play against players for whom it does. Plus, I don't want to "deposit" inot my bankroll to move up. i want to win my way up. 2K more to 2/5

is it just me or is a RR (NOT SHOVE) a better move this particular villain here?

EXPERT villain could be raising with air, especially at low stakes. A Reraise tells him you're serious and doesnt risk all your stack like the shove does.

reason for this is i'm thinking, any player at this level that would raise that flop bet has you beat. the only hands in villains range you beat by shoving are 33,44,55,66,A2, and air.

My approach to aggressive laggy villains is generally more passive (wait for cards, let them hang themselves)---I might have either check/called the flop for pot control or folded when check raised. Villains like you described are either going to have you beat on that flop, or have nothing---either way they'll make you put your stack in to find out and I don't want to play for my stack unless I've connected hard or am otherwise certain I'm ahead a good percentage of the time, so I either control the pot or fold.

Ya, you could raise .64 preflop. Being this deep you want to make your raises bigger.

I'm not sure why so many people like jamming here. On this board it is so likely that he's bluff raising you and will fold to a raise. He could continue bluffing on the turn though. If you jam and he calls you are never ahead of a competent player.

Also, fwiw, this .02/.05 is more interesting than almost all of the $1/$2 hands posted.

+1

+1

I agree with this now, but at the time I didn't feel comfortable putting so much of my stack in by just flatting, especially when so many terrible cards can come on the turn. In retrospect, it's really not that much. Also, I think he folds TT or JJ if we shove, which he can definitely flat pre.

Def agree..if you think he's full of ****, then shoving is a bad option. It's only going to fold out the hands you beat. Just call, and let him bet and call him down. You might fold out TT, but with how hard he's been 3bet 4betting preflop, it's hard to put JJ-AA in his range seeing as he just flat called.

I highly doubt he is raising you on the flop with TT/JJ with the intention of folding it. He is going to be flatting you on the flop with these hands. When he check raises you he is either doing it for value with a hand like 9x, AA, KK ect and stacking off, or he's doing it as a bluff and will be folding to your jam.

When you flat the flop you're committing to getting it in. This means when an A (or any card for that matter) hits the turn and he jams you are snap calling. The only reason you're flatting is to allow him to put more money in the pot as a bluff.

One thing to consider is: How often is he check raise bluffing you in 3bet pots? You might need to re evaluate how often he is bluffing in this spot before you call, but it's possible that getting it in is +EV.

Also, just to defend OP a little, the level of play in this thread is much higher than many others in LLSNL, like this one for example...
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/39...ommerce-24184/

interesting hand. Vs line is rather strange PF, and considering your informative profile on him, it's hard to even come up w/ a non air range for him. does he even play a small pair this way?
PF, youve already put a lot of units in, and your commitment thresholding, and w/ this V, it really weights it towards going w/ your hand.
if you get that feeling that 'this guy is planning to outplay me', when he makes the call that suggests as much, then i think you can play it like it's he nuts.
KD is rite, call, and don't fold. raising makes little sense.
it's one of those, 'if hes got it this time, so be it' ones. so let him barrel a paired board.

Villain and I were talking after. I value his input, and he said the flop ship was "fine, but spewy," which pretty much sums it up.

Also, a lot of the people in this thread are saying that villain check/raised. This is not true, villain is on the button.