Hello

Heres a situation that happened in a 1/2 local game. We had been playing 6 handed for a few hours, I had been dealt almost nothing but J4o type hands so my image was that of an extreme nit. I played a few weird hands just to actually play something before I got dealt premiums, but didnt get to showdown with anything weird, except for a 55 allin to isolate a shortstack with dead money in the pot.

In this game people get to showdown for 100-250 bb pots with a single pair or even ace high frequently, so bluffing is really hard, even with a tight image, thats why I played so few hands when I just got dealt ****.

Villain is super LAG, been playing about 80% of hands and going to showdown a ton with very weird hands. Hes running good and winning alot.

Hero is utg in a now 4 handed game, about 200bb deep and the rest of the table has me covered.

Preflop:
Hero(UTG) is dealt AA and bets 6$
Villain(BTN) raises to 20$
SB Folds
BB Folds
Hero Calls 14$

Flop: 557
Pot 43$

Hero checks
Villain bets 25$
Hero calls 25$

Turn 5
Pot: 93$

Hero checks
Villain bets 50$
Hero calls 50$

River 7
Pot: 193$

Hero bets 100$ (leaving roughly 120$ behind in stack)
Villain folds

I posted the entire hand cause im open for suggestion at any point in the hand. My thought prosess was that with a PFR of 5-10% so far in a 6 handed game, and no 3 bets so far, a 4 bet from me pre is pretty much shutting down action from anything but maybe KK/QQ/AK.
Also earlier I had been check-calling or calling some flops and folding to turn aggresion against villain. So I assumed if I check-call flop hes also betting turn.

On the river I doubt he will fire the third barrel, as he has been checking behind alot after double barreling earlier, also with weak showdown value. So my thought on leading out is to get him to call for a split, or call with lower pocket pairs such as 88-KK.

Any part of this hand you would play differently, and why?

I don't know if you could've gotten much more value than you did. Bet more pre. I like flatting the 3-bet if 4-betting turns your hand face up The river is pretty gross. If he was actually barreling with a 7 he now dominates all pockets. That actually makes it a good card to bluff at, so I think you'd have more value x/c'ing against an aggressive V.

Aftrglw makes good points. I also favour larger raise preflop and x/c river.

I don't mind not 4betting but I think you should be wary of giving villain's too much credit for being aware of what you're doing. Or if they are aware don't assume they'll know what to do or do it if they do know.

Given you are deep I would 4bet 2.5x to make a lower SPR pot postflop. I expect villain will call a lot because if he hasn't 3! much he probably has a strong hand.

Even if you went to the flop with the initiative you could still check to an aggro villain. If he is sat there with an overpair or big cards he is going to bet. If he's really loose and aggro a check is going to trigger betting from his entire range.

Also, if you want another reason just to 4bet these maniac players: Their aggression stems from their ego. They fancy themselves to be able to bully everyone off every pot. When you get aggressive with them they don't necessarily think you have it. They project their own personality and style onto you and assume you are playing back at them. You'll be surprised what hands these guys think are good enough to call and how frequently they shove on you preflop.

Also if he is actually capable of backing off postflop then you really need to get more chips in preflop where you're definitely ahead and where V will be most conflicted between putting you on a legit 4bet hand and thinking you are just playing back at his aggression.

I don't hate the flat as much as I normally do, but if you're afraid that 4betting will "turn your hand face up" then you're definitely not 4betting enough against a superLAG.

Postflop is good up to the river. I assume the plan was to x/r if the river didn't give him showdown value. AP, I feel like we are marked with a pair so he's unlikely to fire a third barrel here. That means we need to bet, and I like the sizing.

The raise to 6 with aggressive Villains 200 bigs deep is a mistake, in my opinion.

I'm not sure what typical raise and 3b sizes are in your game, BUT you did say people get to showdown in 200bb pots with A high. That is not happening with a raise this small.

His 3b is also going to be bigger when we raise more.

Do you have any idea how he reacts to 4b?
Since he 3b you, it looks like he might have a strong hand. You didn't provide any reads on his 3b tenedencies.

If you must flat the 3b, I would plan to xr the flop or turn, as I'm trying to value from a really wide range that is unlikely to give up when they catch a piece.

His pp's are unlikely to give up on one of those streets I would think. Instead of leading the river you can xr the turn maybe. You're so afraid of seeming strong here but at some point you need to be aggressive yourself!


Also, playing something "just to play something" is bad.

thoughts

1 - 200 BB is not that deep in a live game. when players transition from online to live, they think that anything over 150 BB is deep, but as we all know, the live game is much looser and easier to beat, so a live game is not really deep until you get to 300 + BB

2 - raising to 3X in a game where everyone is at least 200 BB deep is nothing but juicing the pot. If it goes 6 ways to the flop, you should be prepared to dump the hand right away if you find any resistance, so you are basically setting a trap for someone to 3! you

3 - you got exactly what you wanted when your V 3! you. Here is your perfect chance to turn the hand into a min raising game and have your V think that he can outplay you in the hand. I would immediately click it back to 40 pre. or even make 80. but flatting is just inviting it to go 5 ways to the flop. another situation where we have to dump our hand a large % of the time.

4 - click it back on the turn to 100. V knows that you never have a 5 there, so he is going to call with his TT, KJ or whatever overpair piece of cheese that he has.

5 - you were severely outplayed in this hand when the river boats and your V folds. either your image is so tight, or V had such a good read on you that he should have been calling, or at least considering calling a large % of the time when he is getting 3:1. maybe you need to try tank betting or tank calling as at least one false live tell to give off weakness. but do something that is different from your normal mechanical process of looking at the board, reaching for chips, cutting chips out, and then putting chips into the middle.

If the game is as lose as you say it is, raise more preflop and certainly don't just call the reraise but 4 bet to a decent size.

Also if players are loose and will call you down to river you should take initiative and lead out each street.

I think you will make more money that way

The 6 may have been fine if that was the standard raise preflop. Also, 4 handed your standards for what is playable have to go down and you have to value bet a lot thinner. These guys aren't making a mistake by showing down A high.

I would raise the turn. You've underrepresented your hand and there's a good chance you can stack V if he has a worse pocket pair. Make it 150 and jam the river. Checking turn and river is also fine.

The parts of his range you're looking to get value from are big pocket pairs and air that he'll bet the river with if checked to. That being the case, flatting turn and leading river is the value minimizing line, since you only get one bet from his pairs and no more bets from his air. You should either, c/r turn, jam river (maybe bet smaller on this particular river) or c/c turn, c/c river.

it looks like you're only 150bbs deep (started with ~$315)? would be useful to know the dynamic now that it is 4-handed. i assume the 200bb pots weren't being played 4-handed.

I also think that you can throw your "nit" image out the window once the game is this short. 4-betting here may also slow superLAG to your left down a little in the future, which is not all that bad either...

I really hate opening small in a 200bb game with AA and I really hate not 4betting when we get 3bet OOP. Looks like a bad case of FPS to me.

This information you provided is important...

Don't be afraid of "turning your hand face up". Live 1/2NL games don't require a lot of deception or tricky play.

First off what was the standard opening raise here? Seems really unlikely for it to be only 3x. I see most 1/2 games to have a standard opening raise of $10 all the way to $25+.

Given that you say he is playing 80% of his hands I would open to 15-20 here and expect him to call or 3 bet a lot.

As played, with your small opening raise and his 3bet, I would be 4-betting here 100% of the time. From the chip amounts you have listed it looks like you have around $300, so thats not 200BBs, more like 150BB.

He 3bets you to 20, you can make a bitsmaller of a 4bet as your not that deep, so bump it up to 60$, that way you should only need two streets at most to get it all in.


5/5/7 is a very sexy flop in a 4bet pot heads up with aces...checking here and hoping he stabs to commit would be ideal

If he checks through on the flop, you can even make a really small weak looking bet of like $40 dollars on the turn and hope he pounces

Dislike not 4betting a lot. "turning your hand face up" 4-handed in 1/2 against super lag almost impossible IMO. Once you played it the way you did you are severely underrepped and need to be calling it down. I don't see any reason why he wouldn't think 99-KK are good here. He can be bluffing sometimes as well despite not having seen it before. People love attacking rivers like this because they assume if you don't have a 7 you are folding.

IMO.

Pre-flop:

I would 4-bet pre-flop even though you have played a few hands throughout the session. Perhaps to around $60 or more as you are OOP after the flop. The plan is to get your whole stack into the middle on the flop.

As played, check-call flop & turn is fine. Just let the LAG bet into you.

River:

Check to induce another bet from villain. Otherwise, I would have bet smaller, maybe around half the pot.

Just my two cents. Good luck.