Playing at closest card room too me. Only play there once or twice a month - I recognize the regs there but not sure if they remember me. This time was actually second time there this week but none of the same players are playing (except my friend on my immediate right). Game is spread limit with max bet/raise being $100 and limited to 3 raises per street. Min buy-in $60 Max buy-in $200. Room has 4 tables and there were 3 tables all playing $1/2 but table villain and my buddy were at just broke when they were down to 4 handed plus one player on meal and the other 2 players went to the table behind us. That table has several action players. Villain knows this and has asked to be first on list to move to other table. Table is 6 regs, me, my buddy, and 2 others who are card players but aren't regs at this room. I am in seat 5. Seat 6 (not a reg) and villain in seat 8 are probably only real action players at the table. Three of the other regs literally never raise preflop and are playing fairly tight as well while the other 2 are fairly TAG. Table is slightly atypical for the room.

Villain: 60 yo male with Greek accent and outgoing. Is a reg and is friendly with other regs at table. Have seen him in room before but can't remember if I have played with him for a significant amount of time before. He is known as an action player. No significant hands to go on as he has only been at table for one to two orbits.
Hero: 40 year old quiet bald male with glasses. Haven't played a significant hand since villain has been at table though I think I may have raised pre-flop and took down pot with c-bet

$1/2 SL $100 max bet/raise (10 handed)
UTG
EP
EP+1
MP
MP+1 Hero ($260)
MP+2
CO
Button Villain (about $185)
SB
BB

Hero is dealt AdQd

4 folds, hero raises to $8, 2 folds, Villain calls, blinds fold

-my standard pf open in this room is $10 and I adjust it up based on the number of limpers in front of me. I actually adjusted down somewhat here as I was in middle position and I wanted to experiment with raising less when it is folded to me in mp/lp (and actually in my past experience at this room, it is pretty rare that you get to open in MP+1). I think my perceived pf raising range based on my appearance/personality might be fairly tight (AA-TT, AK, AQ, AJs) but I'm not positive what he thinks it is.

Flop ($19) AcKs8c
Hero bets $15, Villain calls $15

Put out a pretty standard c-bet which I would do with any hand I raise and I am first to act. At this point no specific read on villain's hand but I have his range as several club draws, QJ (although I think re raises QcJc on flop a large % of time), all Ax, all Kx, Q8,J8,T8, 98, 78, all pocket pairs except JJ-AA which I think he reraises pre. I don't think he necessarily reraises A8,K8, 88 post flop as he probably doesn't put me on a flush draw and may try to get more money in turn.

Turn ($49) 2s

I bet $45 near pot thinking I likely am way ahead of his range but am happy to take down pot now but want to charge him a decent price for flush draws plus the action players at this casino like to call down with 2nd pair so I want to get value if he a K. Villain tanks. I look straight add at board and don't move my hands but take one glance over at him and notice he has cut out $45 and appears to have a bit over $100 behind that. This is the longest I have ever had someone tank on me. In the meantime I am trying to figure out what he has (is he tanking because he has 88,22,AK,A2, K8, K2 and is trying to figure out the best way to get all his money in/induce me, does he have fd and trying to figure if he should call, or does he have a ace or a king and is trying to determine if I have a worse hand that I am double barreling (e.g. TT-QQ) or if he has two pair and is trying to figure out if I have AK, AA, KK). Finally after about 5 minutes he calls.


I really don't know where I am here. He may have called turn with a flush draw which includes the Kc. He could have a set or any 2. He could have AQ-A9, KQ-KT without the Kc.

River ($139) 7d

Hero? (note that the max bet is $100)

-I have a hand with some value and is somewhere near the middle of his range. I doubt the 7d helped him but on the other hand he likely knows the 7 didn't improve me either. I don't know if I should be turning my hand into a bluff or be value betting or checking. If I check the most he can bet is $100 so I would be getting 2.39:1 so I only have to be ahead of his river bet range 30% of the time. If he only bets $40 after it is checked to him then I am getting 4.475:1 and only need to be ahead of his betting range less than 20% of the time. Or is it better to bomb it for the max $100 (this seems better than check/calling as at least I might get him to fold 2 pairs except maybe AK) - if he raises he can only put in about another $15 beyond the $100. I don't know if he thinks I would triple barrel anything other than AA, KK, or AK out of my perceived pre-flop range or if he thinks I would triple barrel AQ or AJ. Also if I am ahead will he call $100 bet with a worse hand.

-also, I have been playing more no-limit at another room that is farther than this one so I am not sure if I am adapting to spread limit properly when I play here. Should I be bloating the pot so much on the turn.

- Finally, there is a follow up question on live tells etc but it is based on something that happened on the river so I will leave it until there is some discussion.

I have been lurking here for a while but this is my first hand post and would like to thank everyone in advance for any advice or comments

Probably the bottom of your three-barrel valuebetting range here but I'm valuebetting here $65

I don't necessarily think you can turn your hand into a bluff since nothing that has you beat will fold for only 100 more after they called your turn bet.

This looks like a good opportunity to play your hand as a bluff catcher. AJ and AT are a small part of his range otr and its unlikely that you will get three streets of value from him. It looks like the majority of his range are hands that have us beat and busted draws. c/c allows you to get value from his busted draws and he may even check behind made hands that have us beat fearing a c/r.

I agree with above could be a weaker ace maybe some kind of flush draw where a check can induce him to bet a bit. Let him bet check call.

Yeah I think check calling is definately the right play here as pointed out I have a great bluff catcher. I was confused from his action and I didn't really think about my action on the river enough and I ended up leading the $100 maximum on the river which leads into the second part of my questions.

Villain tanks even longer than on the turn. Again I stare ahead at the board and glance over occasionally. He cuts out the $100 leaving 2 $5 chips and 5 $1 chips which he is shuffling in his hand. Eventually, one of the players on my right says something to another player about the clock (I have never seen anyone call the clock on anyone at this room). At this point I know he doesn't have a set or AK as I think he would have insta shipped the last $15 in. But I also know he doesn't have a busted draw. He likely has A8, A2, K8, K2, AJ, or AT of which i only beat AJ and AT and there are more combos of K8, K2 than the A hands. He eventually mumbles something about do you really have AK which makes it very certain that he has the two pair. My question is should I just continue to stare ahead or should I ever make a comment about the time that is being taken, etc. At this point I realize that my bet was probably a mistake and I really want him to fold. Is there any verbal or physical action I can take that would influence him to fold.

check calling is god awful without a read he's bombing every missed draw. 75-100 on the river is pretty much mandatory. Less if 100 is scary because of dumb casino rules, 100 if it's not a factor.

No physical action advised. Just keep waiting. He wants to call, so if you give him any excuse, he likely will.

I'm not certain that this is correct. Unless I'm missing something, this looks like AJ-AT almost every time throughout the whole hand based on how the V is acting.....

bet less on turn, 100 on river

ikes - i don't think anyone generally is scared that the $100 max bet. You raise a good point about him not betting the missed draws. He might check behind a large % of the time with missed draws

Garick - that's what I thought; people generally want to call but just wanted to make sure

Grima - the only reason I said that is that he didn't seem concerned about AQ only AK.

11t - how much less on the turn?


So I kept just staring at the board, keeping silent, not moving my hands and just let him continue to try and find a fold. Finally, he says I call. I flip my AQ and he says I knew you had AQ and flipped Kh2h for a turned two pair.

Thanks for the help. I'm still not sure what was the right river action and there seems to be conflicting opinion here. And even if betting 100 was the correct action, I'm not positive my reasoning for doing so was sound.

I am not sure if many people agree with me here, but you size your bets pretty close to potsize. If this works in that casino against very broad ranges, I would not change it. But against somewhat thinking players you narrow their ranges so significantly that they only continue with their strongest draws and strongest made hands and you essentially fold out a healthy portion of their range that you can value bet against.


You said it yourself in your post:

You were happy to take pot down right away. It is also good that you want to charge him a high price for his draws, but I assume potsize bets are a bit too high and you will isolate yourself against very strong hands on early streets. If you bet 1/2 to 3/4 psb, he will continue with the same range + many many more and that is what you want. He is supposed to chase his trips and two pair outs not only on the flop, but also on the turn.


As played I don't think you very often and against many players get 3 streets of value with a hand like yours. Check/call the river is the best option imo. You migh lose some value from AJ and AT, but there are a lot of hands that he might be inclined to bluff with. Also if you vbet, I think 100 might also be a bit too strong. You define your hand pretty strong and you might not get called by worse often enough. I would 'sell' the hand for 75 if I vbet the river at all.