hey guys i dont post live hands too often, im just curious to know what you think about it.

full table on a weeknight, table playing on the tighter side with 3 people drinking lightly. i have been at the table for about 1.5 hours, my image at this point should be solid. i have been to showdown with the winner 2 or 3 times at this point. playing standard TAG raising limpers IP etc etc. ive been talking with villain in a chill manner for a while at the table.

villain in the hand is a 20s kid to my right. he has been playing pretty tight, saw him involved in a cooler HU flush over flush to lose most of his stack about 15 min ago. has shown 1 bluff, cant remember specifics about it but it was HU. his play has been pretty good so far making decent vbets.

UTG HERO-$260
BB V-$300


HERO raises $10 AcAh
folds all the way to V, calls

FLOP-$20
Jh8h3h

V checks
HERO bets $14
V calls

TURN-$48
Jh8h3h4x

V checks
HERO bets $35
V calls

RIVER-$118
Jh8h3h4x2x

V bets $85 + or - $5 or so...cant remember
HERO folds


fwiw when villain led the river he looked confident, not overly strong or anything like that.(not a level from villain im pretty sure, dont think he even knew i was looking at him)


anyway, this is fine right? seemed pretty standard but recently gave it a second thought, so i decided to post it.

IMO this is not fine. I wouldn't open under the gun with ATo. I would open fold gladly. Maybe ATs but honestly I don't like to open UTG with less than say AJo, 66+. Once you have opened and villain called I do understand your c-bet after we whiffed the flop, especially since we are heads up. But this is a very wet board that has a lot of hands that call us beating our range and our outs crushed (by hands villain calls us with) honestly to the point that we are probably drawing thin. And we are only folding out hands that completely whiffed also. We are not folding out many better hands imo. Remember, the whole table folded and Villain called our PFR OOP heads up. So I am not barreling out on the turn. I'm checking back the turn and if we make some sort of hand on the river, ie, a naked Ace, a 9 or a ; I may bet out a smallish amount on the river if checked to us or call a small amount on the river, but honestly it would depend. All in all, don't open UTG with ATo. This hand appears more like a leak to me and we want to plug it. IMO, it would have been ok to check back the flop all the way to the river and try to get this hand done with as cheaply as possible too.

errrrrrrrrr i have AA, but thank you for your response.

I think this is a call. What's he ck-calling two streets then donking river with? I played a very similar hand to this recently and folded to his river donk only for him to show me top pair. Maybe in his mind he has to turn his hand into a bluff there?

The pot is about $203 and you have to call $85, that's getting 2.388 to 1 odds.

To break even with calling, you have to win 29.5% of the time.

What % of the time do you think he is stone cold bluffing you off your hand?
At least! 10%

What % of the time do you think he has top pair?
Maybe at least 20% here.

10%+20% and there you go, 30%, so call.

OP says villain is a tight player, pretty solid overall, showed one bluff in his arsenal. This is a good board to bluff on. Other than putting villain on a flopped monster, I can't imagine villain has anything else. 85 looks like a reasonable value bet which does lay you decent odds. A call is surely justified barring a read on villain.

right i see why you guys think its a call and the math certainly helps that argument, but.....

i dont think many players at 1/2 can c/c 2 streets then bluff lead the river ESP vs an UTG raiser who has been playing solid. i really dont think villain is going to be overvaluing AJ in this spot either, my reads tell me he is better than that. this line is heavily weighted towards value and dont think he can be bluffing/vbetting worse 30% of the time.....plus i block all NFDs he could have had and missed.

but thanks for the responses.

Call river

Except for raising UTG with A 10 offsuit I think you played it fine. Situation like this is very read-dependent. Unless you know the guy is really aggro & bluffy, & it sounds like this guy was not exhibiting such behavior.

You can quote the percentages all you want but what matters isn't what villain is "liekly" to have vs the pot odds, what matters is what he actually has in this one instance. All kinds of crappy 2 pair hands beat you, as well as set, flush, straight...

But I'd never raise UTG with A 10 off, like the above poster said.

wtf 2 people did the same thing....I HAVE AA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOT AT

and if you think its a call could you guys assign him a river range

This is unfortunate.

i know im sorry this hand happened a while ago......

You can't remember if you could remember? That's a double-whammy.

This is the part of your thought process I disagree with. The solid player is way less likely to to connect with that board than the Laggy guy playing suited anything. You did not play it like you were going for a flush pre flop. You didnt play it like you hit the flush on the flop or turn, and solid players are much more likely to lay down hands like overpairs on a very wet board.

Who would you rather bluff on a wet board? A solid player or a laggy calling station?

thanks for pointing that out, i knew my perceived range was very strong but i wasnt thinking about villain taking adv of that. it takes a very good player to take adv of that and i guess at this point i cant rule that out for villain. thanks

Sorry, thought you had A 10. Everything else I said stands.

is it me or this is a jam on the river, we know that he doesn't have the nut flush,and if he's a good player then he knows that you don't have a flush in that spot and most likely have AJ or better, so he can represent one on the river with basically any two cards.

however, don't ever out level yourself in a 1-2 game, most players play ABC poker..I say take one on the chin and pick a better spot next time

I think c/c the river is fine. It may even put some flush hands like Kx or Qx in his range that may want to bluff at it that didn't get there or have a pair too. I hate betting every street and then check/folding the river. I just don't like the line. But we aren't going to be good always here. I think folding is ok too some of the time but not always because then it becomes exploitable over the long run. So a mixture must be the right answer. I am looking for more information so I can get a tell or a good read to make my decision.

Was villain acting? If I thought villain sincerely felt confident then I may fold, but if I thought he was acting then I may call. Strong means weak here?

ya my real time read was that he was naturally strong when betting the river and not acting. like someone else said its best to play abc poker at 1/2, and thats pretty much what our villain was up to all night afaik. i dont think these players are taking this line as a bluff.

*******, i have position in this hand

Sorry didn't realize, thought we were OOP. Since he's betting into us I may fold but would be suspicious too. I think players wait to the river to bluff and do it badly then sometimes so I may be inclined to call. However, he can easily do this with a flopped flush. I'm still up in the air but I think a fold is somewhat more understandable.

I think the standard line you took is fine. I would fold river as villain's calling range on the flop and turn is mostly made flushs.

I call. It looks like villain has a pair and thinks you have an over heart.

I think I would fold the river , it might seem super nitty but what is a BB leading 2/3 of pot with on the river into a UTG opener who double barreled? flush or nothing... I don't see him lead QQ,AJ,KJ or QJ here..

as much as i understand trying to extract max-value when you get a hand like AA, i really dont think this was the board to do it on.. check behind on the turn IMO unless you are prepared to call a river bet if you don't hit the nut flush...

As for the way it was played, i would say most people who have a made hand in live 1/2 would lead at the river with a big bet like that OOP. i would fold it.

checking back the turn is pretty bad imo...i get what you are saying but we cant check the turn and risk action killer rivers. also i believe villain can c/c the turn with AJ KJ QQ while the river is much harder.

I dont think its nitty to fold. we beat no value hands, its almost impossible for villain to be bluffing and from what i know about villain he is not overvaluing AJ here.

thanks everyone