we're playing 6 handed and then 4 people sit down (not friends, just floor got an influx of people all at once). if they are paying attention, the new guys see a hand, a hand i 3bet pre and cbet take down pot. other than that, no one has any reads.

V1 - probably mid 20's guy, $300
V2 - young 20s guy, $300
Hero - 30's guy, $425ish

V1 buys button.
fold, fold
V2 - UTG +2, raises to $10
folds around
Hero - HJ, dealt AA, 3bet to $25
folds to V1 who calls, V2 calls

Flop: Qxx rainbow
V1 check, V2 check. for some reason i didnt cbet. i dont know why i did not.

Turn: x, 2 hearts
V1 bets $30, V2 calls, i raise to $120, expecting 1 caller, maybe 2 if V1 calls, i think V2 comes along for the ride.

thought process is $285 pot with $90 call, not really worried about anything, just value betting. thinking back, probably a little high but it was 2am and i had been up for almost 24 hours at that point

i get 2 folds with V2 flipping over KK folding on a Q high board to a $90 bet with a $285 pot.

where did i go wrong?

3 bet bigger pre. congratulations on finding the 1/1000 who can fold KK on a Q high flop.

sorry.

1. Playing while exhausted.
2. Not c betting
You likely would have stacked KK by just barreling three streets.
You asked where you went wrong. Pretty easy answer.

You 3-bet pre and checked the flop, then raised the turn into a bet and call. This looks really strong. I would have c-bet.

However, you might not have gotten much more regardless.

#1 problem is playing 1:2

Why are you replying to a post in this forum if that is the No. 1 problem in this hand? Is that going to be your answer to every post about a 1/2 hand?

thank you for your insightful thought.

i think from here on out you can go back to being awesome and the rest of us will just be in awe about how cool you are.

+1 ^^^^^

you need to value bet flop. Your bread and butter and 1/2 is betting for value.

On bright side you got a great read from KK...now pressure him (he not likely to call large bets with top pair

The other cards on board are important.

when you take the line of 3bet/check/raise on Qxx2 AA looks like the bottom of your value range. this guy firmly puts you on AA+ and folds.

A better line would be bet/bet/bet or bet/check/bet if you don't think he's the type to give you 3 streets.

bet this flop every time. Hope he raises and GII, if he calls keep betting.. And yes the other board cards are important Qxx ?? You're asking where you went wrong, it was not c-betting the flop in position. Had you c-bet you get at least 1 call from KK and like i said maybe he goes nuts and gets it in with you on flop

The line you took is somewhat confusing, but either looks like total bs or a monster. KK realizes that QQ and AA are ahead, and only a player with a death wish for his stack will play a weaker hand this way.

Just bet the flop and hope they put you on AK/JJ. Seems like you know the answer to your own question...doing something for unknown reasons is either a mistake or some high-level metagame. What do you think?

Definitely need to cbet to balance hands where you three bet and miss. As already stated, turn raise looks super strong.

I've found that if a villain doesn't have many hand histories with you, he'll give you credit for a having a hand until you prove otherwise. So it might be a waste to try and play your strong hands "tricky".

Also you should probably quit and get some rest if you are tired and find yourself making too many mistakes. There will always be a game tomorrow.

I don't think you need a ton of balance at 1/2. But doesn't checking the monster 3bet hand get us balance? No balance would be c-betting after 3betting AA pf every single time.

3-bet bigger preflop.

At least you realized not c-betting is bad.

Raise smaller, around $100.

Balance is also making this play with any other hand that does not crush this board....

To a 1-2 player your hand looks like QQ and only QQ. IMO A bet-check-bet line is best here. It would serve two purposes. 1: pot control with 1 pair. 2: disguise your hand and get paid off since it looks like a whiffed AK. If you bet flop, check turn, and someone bets into you on the river, you can evaluate based on their range and pot/bet size.

Not sure why so many want to check at any point on this board. He's unknown and there's nothing scary going on. For 100bb I'm betting the whole way when he's just calling down. If he folds oh well. Take a note.

Villain probably sees you as an old man coffee that only 3bets AA KK QQ AKs

When you check back the flop, and raise the turn, you're repping QQ pretty hard. If you did possibly have any lite-3betting hands in your range, they would have surely cbet the flop.

Now on the turn, he doesn't seeing you making this bluff with AK or JJ, so your range is now just AA and QQ, KKs no good

Seems like you found a rare villain at 1/2 that is an aware and capable hand reader

mpethy theorem. You can only be on a monster.

Not quite.

on 'playing while exhausted' or 'playing tired'

i was not exhausted. if i didn't play while i was tired, i would never play. i am tired in some way pretty much 100% of my awake life. also, unlike a lot of you, i do not have a ton of opportunities to play, so it's give and take a little. fwiw, i did stop playing within 20ish minutes of this hand.

on the other cards.

the rest of the board was 7 or under. something along the lines of 73 or 72. the turn was like a 4 or 5. they were inconsequential because i'm not giving V2 credit for raising from EP in his 1st hand at the table with something like 56. nor am i thinking V1 is flatting a 3bet with the action still open behind him with small suited connectors.



i guess now that i think about it my range for V2 is roughly probably mid PP+& AQ+, V1 is probably any PP, big As, big Ks, maybe big Qs and big Js, bigger suited connectors.

and what are they calling a 90 raise with? most hands that beat me and very few that do not.

i understand i should have cbet. i cbet often, it's not like i'm afraid too, i just don't have any explanation for why i did not in this hand. on this hand, with this board texture and a pot of $75, i'd probably be thinking something like $40ish. little over 1/2 pot.

3bet wise, what are people suggestions? i thought $25 was ok because i was in LP and knew the CO and BTN were not calling unless they have something good. i would think the max i could go here is $35.

@HowardRoarrk, who thinks V sees me as OMC. that is laughable, i'm 32 and definitely do not put of that vibe with how i dress or act. if he assumes i'm an OMC, he would assume everyone is with the exception of young 20s players. if V was paying attention when he sat down, we were playing 6 handed, i 3bet and cbet that hand too.

i'm not familiar with this. would you mind explaining?

a google search nets only 5 results, which makes me skeptical that this is even a real theorem.

Look for the HH thread posted by mpethy. It's on page one right now i believe.

I question your exhaustion level because of how you played the hand. You made mistakes an I can't help but think that awareness was an issue. You state yourself that you don't know why you did what you did. This leads me to believe that you were checked out and playing by rote. We shoul e actively thinking about every decision.

3 bet size is fine as long as you intentionally made it small specifically to get calls (not sure this was the case) It was actually sized perfectly to get 4 bet by a hand like Kk maybe QQ and v is really bad to just flat here...

As played just bet every street for value against straight fwd players...

Your turn raise was waay to big which is why v folded.