Main villain in hand was a high vpip fish who would limp almost any two cards (saw 52o, 72, etc). He would straddle as well, and defend his straddle with junk. He was up quite a bit, as he was hit with the deck making straights/sets vs other made hands. He sits on the CO, we are on the button with $205. My image is that of a complete nit, having folded for the last 2 hours or so.

Table was very loose passive, many hands going multiway, and utg was opening at a high frequency. He has $170 behind.

OTTH (As Jd)

utg opens to $10
4 callers including main V in the CO. Blinds fold

We repop to $55
CO pauses for a bit, and then calls

Flop ($153): Qd 9c 7 c

V checks, I jam $150
V calls with set of 7s


Line: With many pots going multiway, and it being a generally loose table, we have a very good hand that beats most of the calling ranges. I made my 3bet size a bit smaller, as I was somewhat worried about having to call if UTG did come over the top due to amount of dead money in, and my raise size. Surely if he does 4bet from utg we would be completely crushed.

On the flop: We are up against the v with the widest range of all the potential vs with a PSB left. I thought this was a good flop for us to jam on as there are many Qs that are blocked (AQ, QJ, and Q9).


When I mucked, everyone was whispering that I had to have aces or kings.

Is this a complete spew or did I just get UL? I'd be much more content flatting with this hand if it was suited since it plays better multiway.

Personally I believe you played the hand poorly in a few ways.

1. I don't find it successful three betting pre with AJ, but others may disagree so maybe this is borderline.

2. The worst move imo was the flop jam. V has you described is going to be calling you almost anytime he has any piece of the flop or any pocket pair. Heck he may even could have AQ or AK however unlikely that may be.

Granted you had a tight image and who knows maybe you get unlucky when you have a premium staring hand but at least in that moment you won't have to ask yourself if you played poorly or got unlucky (hope that last piece made sense).

I never understand why people try to bluff people that call too much.

There are 2 ways to play this hand. Fold preflop or play it exactly like you did. If UTG was opening a lot of hands like you said he was, then I would play it like you did.

Definitely not spew.

Preflop seems fine. AJ is definitely a decent hand for a squeeze against people with loose ranges.

Postflop, we need to know how sticky V is. You said he calls a lot preflop, but does that extend postflop? If he's the type to call anything pre, but then x/f when he "misses" then this move is great. If he's the type to call down with an underpair because he "puts you on AK" then this move is terrible.

spew

pre: You 3b his 10 open up to 55 and you say that is on the smaller side? What would have been your larger sizing? I would prob go more like 30-40

flop: having AJo on that board is not really a situation where blockers apply. You're basically just saying 'well yea i could maybe have some Qx and also KK, AA since i raised so big pre' but if you're seeing that he calls too often this probably isn't someone that you want to try to be bluffing just based on that. A better spot to look for against this opponent would be on a board where you actually hit, like Axx or Jxx then rip it huge because there's more room for him to be calling too wide.

edit: I do agree with the idea that his stickiness post flop matters. If he is sticky pre but folds a lot of flops your line isn't so bad, but if he is sticky pre and post I think we could wait to find a better spot.

30-40 would be way too small. Did you miss the 4 callers in front of us? There's already $50 in the pot. $55 if the absolute minimum we can bet and have any fold equity.

Sticky pre but x/fed on all misses.

If he's folding all his 1-pair holdings <Q then this seems fine (in fact, it prints money).

You are assuming that your tablemates are aware. They likely aren't and have no clue that you are a nit. Never assume that your opponents know anything about you.


I like it. However, if you are in the blinds, I would go a little larger. We want to discourage the call train.

In this particular situation, it might have been a good show. Your tablemate will probably think you are going crazy and it might get you paid later in the night.

I was on the button - included my potentially perceived table image to give a more fulsome idea of table conditions. I didn't take this line solely because of my potentially perceived table image/vpip, but rather considering all of the variables at play.

I am interested what flops are you checking back with? If you are planning to jam all flops if they go hu and checked to you, make it bigger pre. You are in better shape against 1-pair hands on boards that don't hit and thus, need less fold equity given the SPR.

In the 1/2 games I've played in, it is super common for a hand to go 4-5 ways if there's a pf bet of 10, but normally a 3b to 40 is rarely getting called by all 4-5.

If this table was loose passive enough to where there are lots of 5 handed flops after bets to 40 then I agree, bump it up to 55 in that case. (or more?)

I think that in most 1/2 games a 3b to 40 narrows it down to 1 or 2 callers and I think that's what we're looking for IP here. If you're goal is to just take it down pre, 55 is fine. (I guess 55 is OK if our goal is to iso the main villain and we think he will call that much)

If any, coordinated middling flops. However in the moment, if I see backdoor potential in the moment I might be jamming all flops.

If you wanna spew just rip this in pre, $55 is way too small. Folding is the std option. If you jam you fold out almost all pairs besides JJ+ which they should not have much of, and most of AQ. Once in a blue moon they’ll fold JJ/AKo. If you take the pot down pre you inc your stack by 33%

Flop is fine with spr 1