Villain – mid-late 30’s, skilled, aggressive, has not been played back at; made one bad call w/ medium strength Ace vs. tight player w/AK. $280 stack to start.

Hero – mid-50’s, solid image, patient, probably viewed as “nittish” but not passive. $400 stack to start.

1 limper in EP, folds to Hero in MP who raises to $12 w/JJ. Folds to Button (Villain) who 3-bets to $32, then folds back to Hero who takes ~45 seconds and calls; $65 in the pot after rakes.

I was fairly certain to get paid-off if set hit OTF, thus the call. I planned to min-CR OTF if all unders hit as V could be doing this w/AK (16 combos) vs. QQ+ (18 combos). I felt my table image was so solid that QQ might even fold.

Flop was 6s3c2d.

Hero checks to V who bets $50. Pot is now $115. Hero thinks for another 45-60 seconds, then raises to $100. I thought the odds ($115/$100 vs. being ahead of 16 hands, behind 18) were there to see where I stood, folding if necessary.

Bad play, EV-?? All constructive comments welcome.

I'd just fold pre.

But I'm pretty nitty in spots like these.

While there is 16 combos of AK, that doesn't mean he has all 16 combos since he might not 3bet you 100% of the time, but he will 3bet you with KK/AA 100% of the time (12 combos).

*(also you got the perfect flop with all unders and rainbow..)

With his stack size, calling leaves $65 in the pot with $248 behind. IMO you don't have positive expectation stacking off on this flop since he'll only commit with JJ+, and maybe 1010. So I'd fold preflop to avoid this tough situation. If he's really lag and you've seen him 3-bet light, and you've been active lately, then I 4-bet preflop.

As a general rule, 3 bets PF mean AA or KK at my 1-2nl until I proven otherwise. So I fold unless getting set mining odds, which you're not IMO. I prefer at least effective stacks 15 times the bet. As played I'm leading out OTF.

Grunch:

bad play; min raising for almost half your stack is spewy especially when viewed as a nit. Why? Because this villain probably knows that 3betting profitably against you is probably KK+ (I'd view it as such) and on that board, they are stickin it in OTF.

if you are going to do anything but c/f, I like donking for $40 and folding to a raise. It at least gets AK off the hand (don't like this either though)

Please don't fold pre. I don't hate the line as long as we realize we are burning our jacks and willing to fire again on any good barreling card. JJ is going to be the very bottom of our perceived value range so worse will not likely call. I think I like a lead better otf since it can get floated by AK, AQ and called by 88-1010.

Unlikely that we get 3bet by 88-TT/AQ w/o reads that we are.

The fact that we are read as a nit and even considering folding pre means that 3 betting is immediately profitable with just about ATC. Are most 1/2 players thinking about that? No, but it sounds like we read the vil as at least semi competent so it should be included, but maybe deweighted, in vils range.

Unless hero is weak - why is villain 3-betting here? Value.

Your plan was to set mine and didn't get there. I don't like the rest of the plan with the c/r because he could have AK. Fold, if not pre.

You don't like flat pre and b/f flop?

I disagree.

Villain does not know the fold to 3bet range that we have and unless we flip up JJ, villain will not know.

Reads are vil is agg, skilled and sees us as "nittish" but not passive. You would also suggest we fold QQ, AQ+ pre?

First, QQ is not JJ. Second, there is a difference between aggressive/skilled and 3bets light. Most guys I have played with live at a 1-2 (or 1-3) game usually have a tight 3bet range. Third, probably suggesting to fold AQo too. Like I said, I'm pretty nitty in spots like these. Could I be exploited? I guess so, possibly, but villain would have to know I'm folding AQo/JJ which he can't know unless I'm turning my hand face up, and the fact that it's live poker that there only a few times when this scenario can come up.

OP-Shouldn't you throw a few other hand combos in that villain could 3 you with PF other than just AK and QQ+? You did say he was aggressive and hasn't been played back at right? Just sayin.

I started the hand w/a bit over $400, so I had ~$370 before raising to $100 OTF.

I think he meant eff stack, vil starts with ~$280?

*$280 effective stacks. You said villain has $280 this means you just burned $132 of $280, so roughly half your stack.

Thanks for your feedback.

This situation is one of my biggest leaks. Normally I make good folds, avoid bloating pots with a pp, and play a solid game otherwise. The key, as mentioned by several of you, is the fact that in $1-$2 the 3-bet range of even an agg villain is very narrow. Lower stakes do not involve heavy multi-level thinking, simply “you have a big hand and mine is bigger”. At least this is what I have found in my part-time play.

I had open-raised 4x in the previous 2 orbits (~20 hands), so I mixed this play into my evaluation. My raises were with top 15%, nevertheless I thought he might have ranged me a bit light when he 3-bet pre.

He raised AI. I folded quickly and V told me he would confess later. When I was leaving he came over to me and was sure I had KK or QQ. I replied no. He had AA.

I don't think the hand was played as badly as some posters here think. The biggest mistake was the flop cr. I think flat pre, b/f flop is the best line.

minraze, i think bet/fold flop is kinda bad, esp when the guy seems like he can float you and/or flat with AA/KK on flops like these and then the turn is like 8x and you're like "wtf do i do now".

I think folding pre is fine if there is no history. We are out of position and give away so much about the strength of our hand by calling.

Flatting pre and leading the flop? Hmmmm.

The call is $20 into a pot of $49(minus rake).

Option 1: fold preflop. loss of claim for pot.

Option 2: call pre and take it down on flop. +$45.

Option 3: call pre, lead and fold to raise. -$60.

Option 4: call pre, flop a set or good draw... ???

Of course there is still a chance villain can bluff us OTF with a hand like AK.

Then why did villain shove if he put you on KK or QQ?
Aggressive villains do 3bet lighter than AA, KK, AK when in position.

Preflop fold or 4bet/fold..... life sucks when flatting a 3bet oop against a skilled aggressive villain

wow at 4bet/folding.

that's like the worst.

Read my post genius....I said preflop is fold or 4bet/fold

Pre fold>>>4bet>>>>>>>>>>>call to set mine with these stacks

The worst is actually your lol "minraise" comment...fish talk