Hero's image - Tight, winning

Eff stacks $350+ for each hand

Hand 1:

Reg raises to $15 in CO, Whale in BTN calls, Hero has AQo in BB

I have only 2 options: 3bet or fold. Reg plays very tight but has a tendency to not fold to 3bets preflop either although he would insta-muck postflop if he misses. Whale OTOH will 100% never fold to a 3bet either and call with ATC and could get sticky postflop if he hits too. Also, he's not paying us off unless he hits big because he fears our tight image. Is this okay to just fold?

Hand 2:

Same whale limps this time in CO, BTN limps, Hero has AQo in SB

Again, the whale loves to call with ATC preflop so is it better to just complete here?

Hand 1: I don't think you can really fold here based on the information. I think calling is the correct play here.

Hand 2: I think raising here is the better option then folding, but limping and evaluating post-flop is fine as well.

Hand 1: I absolutely hate calling with AQo OOP esp vs a reg's open. We are either winning small or losing big imo.

Hand 1: 3b/f sounds good. Play post accordingly

Hand 2: Gotta raise for value to 7-10bb due to pos and because they have a wider limp range with not many, if any, nutty hands in it. Also, it always helps to knock the bb out of the equation to create a more favorable situation for yourself.

If Reg has a tendency to not fold to a 3bet then all that raising does is increase the pot, so I agree not to raise. And unless Reg is only playing AK, QQ, KK, and AA, then folding doesn't make much sense either because you are in good shape against all other hands.

1. 3-bet or call. Likely 3-betting. Folding is not an option.

2. Raise. Him calling with ATC is good and fine.

He has a tendency to not fold pre but play fit or fold post...sounds like the perfect V to 3b and cbet against because we'll winning/getting hu against whale which is an extremely profitable situation

Hand #1 I like a 3b! to possibly isolate the whale as well as the fact your hand is relatively strong. Granted we aren't doing that well against MP's raising range but if MP does call and goes along for the ride and whale folds a post-flop c-bet will work I think a large percentage of the time.

Hand #2: Raise $18-21 for value pre-flop to try and build a pot, which limping won't accomplish

Hand 1 call

Hand 2 raise

Hand 1 - don't understand how a tight player can have a "tendency to not fold to 3-bets either". If he plays that tight, and calls lots of 3-bets, either there is something wrong with your observations or he is correctly calling against lots of light 3 bets at this table. Tight players fold marginal hands to credible 3 bets. Or perhaps he has a small opening % (ie tight image) but is in fact otherwise clueless.

Call. 3bet just isolates you OOP against a range that crushes you if indeed this player is very tight. Would expect AQ to fare well against a late position open. You have plenty of equity and dont need a fold. Making a bloated 3 bet pot with AQ oop against a tight player is not that good of a situation either. Whale is dead money here.

Hand 2 - super standard value raise against limping whale. Bet as big as you think will get called. Don't worry about button players limp. If he had any good cards or good sense, he would have raised himself.

1. Easy raise

2. easy raise

H1:

I don't understand why call isn't an option? We'd only be putting in 4% of our stack, have a decent TP hand, and have a sticky whale in the hand. If CO is position aware and raising a wide range when folded to him, I'd probably more go for the 3bet, although admittedly that might get us into tricky situations with the sticky whale OOP.

H2:

To me this boils down to how tricky the whale can get; does he float with air a lot to try to bluff players off hands in position? But the majority of the time I'm raising here as I know I'll most likely be able to thin the field after only 2 limpers and only the BB still to react. If there were like 4 limpers (with the whale being one of them) then I'm much less inclined to raise because it's just too likely I'll end up seeing a bloated multiway flop OOP.

GcluelessNLnoobG

Hand 1: Against somebody who is perceived to open tightish but play fit or fold post you find out where you're at by putting him to a decision now and exploit his postflop tendency while probably isolating.

Hand 2: If he does float liberally then just mix in some c/r bluffs occ. Raising is ideal to iso, build value, and charge them for playing you in position. I'm not sure if I agree with your last point. Seems like they should be weak majority of the time, therefore, you should charge with the best hand and for being in the worst position. If you have too many callers then you just need to raise more. Pay attention to how the table reacts to various raise sizes and make it enough to get it hu or 3w at most. You need to be pretty good post flop otherwise you'll be lighting money on fire

And MirrorMirror, OP just labeled V incorrectly. Based on his tendency to not fold to 3b, V seems to just wanna smash the flop otherwise he's done with the hand. He's mostly flopping underpairs, tp, or air and very seldom a monster

In #1, I'd only be flatting if either of the Vs will call call call our bet bet bet line when they hit a pair with worse kicker. It doesn't sound like that will happen so I'd rather 3-bet and c-bet these 2 Vs.

#2, raise. Certain hands play well MW; suited Ax, pairs, suited Kx. AQo isn't one, AQo is going to be the second best hand in big pots more often than the best hand.

If this guy calls 3bets and then insta mucks whiffed flops, then that is not how a tight player plays. 3bet fit/fold is just bad. The other option is that there are lots of loose and/or poorly sized 3bets at this table and that is why V isnt folding. He's got a huge whale on his right who is probably calling lots of these 3bets too, and then donates lots of chips post flop. I would expect his range, especially in late position to be a lot wider than 'very tight.'

And i would also expect that a very tight player would raise the button vs the whale limp to get the blinds out.

I also think OP labelled V incorrectly.

I'd be more likely to raise both these hands if we expected folds. The flop is only going to be Q or A high 25-30 percent of the time (depending on whether other people have aces or queens).

Depending on what you mean by very tight, hand 1 could be a fold.

Hand 2 we should be able to profitably raise.

There are three factors in every hand people/cards/position. If for some reason you don't want to play these cards out-of-position against these people you can fold both of these hands. Why not?

The original raiser in H1 isn't some dumb, recreational player. He's a 2/5 regular. He doesn't play many hands and has a tendency to cbet close to pot on the flop 100% of the time. Playing OOP vs him with AQo is going to be difficult. If we flop TP, we are going to have no idea where we're at and going to have to call big bets to find out. So having the whale in the hand is secondary and not reason enough to call imo.

3betting is an option, however, as H is perceived as equally tight and could take it down postflop as V has a fold button.

What does a "doesn't play too many hands" tight reg range look like? Probably 44+, Aqo+, ajs+, kqo+ & kqs from his position. If you're the aggressor then you look even tighter than that and he has a fold button. His range is going be composed of mostly things he won't feel comfortable continuing with based on the description.That makes me want to engage in this very profitable situation albeit a lil higher variance.

Tell me if that range sounds off or if his continuing range is much narrower than his opening range.