1/3 NL, 10 players

Villain ($700) is 50ish white male. He's acting slightly drunkish, although that just might be his personality cuz I don't see him with a drink. I've never played with him, but others at the table have and have labelled him a consistent loser (so he's a reg at other casino's) and say he'll probably eventually give his chips away by the end of the night. He's quite loose preflop, playing like 80% of his hands and rarely folding to raises (although he has sometimes). Postflop he likes to donk to "see where he's at" and he's folded to a flop raise quite a lot. He's only actually up $100 thanks to being in far too many pots and donking off smalllish bets here and there (but those add up). One "cooler" hand he made two pair vs a better two pair and got stacked. Another hand he called a flop raise with TPNK, then binked a better two pair on the turn which he open shoved into raiser; when raiser calls with worse two pair Villain states "I can't believe you called me there. You've played with me before. You know I've only got a big hand there". So while he's splashed around on early streets quite loosely, from what I've seen so far, he's getting money in on later streets with what he considers good hands (and, apparently, two pair is the nuts). He's here to have fun and blow off some steam.

Hero ($630) hasn't seen a turn since Villain has been at table (about an hour) so I'm probably invisible to him and if I have an image to him it's tight/nitty. I've raised preflop a few times, gotten it HU OOP to other players, whiffed on bad boards, and just check/folded (i.e. I'm weak / transparent).

Hero's mental state (not sure if this is relevant or not, since Villain doesn't know it): I'm currently on a 3 session losing streak, if I lose tonight that'll tie my record. I'm currently up a BI in this game thanks to my AA sucking out on JT on a JT2r flop where all the money went in on the flop just 10 minutes into the session. Another win came where I double barrelled a calling station with 3rd pair on a drawless flop, only to give up on the river, and be good. So I've basically (a) got no confidence in my game right now and (b) I should probably be stuck a BI right now, not up one, thanks to my poorish play tonight in two hands and (c) I'm questioning basically every decision I make. I'm also a little frustrated that I haven't been able to get into hands with the two fish at the table (this Villain plus another guy to my direct right who has been donking off chips), however I have kept my cool and have been patient. Also, if I fold the river, I'll still be up close to a BI with a couple hours left in my session; if I call and lose, I'll be slightly down for the night (i.e. results oriented losing streak lol thoughts). It is what it is.


Preflop (10 players): Hero is HJ with 4 4
3 limps, Hero limps, Button limps, Villain completes SB, BB checks

[Standard, IMO. The only possible argument I could possibly see with a couple of deepish stacks is perhaps a pot sweetner, but as this hand proves, I don't believe that is required (i.e. I could have played for stacks in this limped pot whenever I wanted to).]

Flop (7 players, $20): 8 6 4
Villain bets $15, folds to Hero who raises to $50, folds to Villain who calls

[Villain has been donk/folding some pots, so I don't always expect a call. But he'll also call a raise loosely (especially any pair + gutshot, maybe even any pair as hand in read above shows). Stacks are deep, I'm pretty sure I want to play for them (although I've only got the 4th nuts here), so a raise is mandatory, right?]

Turn (2 players, $120): T
Villain bets $100, Hero calls

[Ug. The OESD of 97 just got there. It's *possible* he had me on the flop (already had the straight or bigger set). He has yet to put in a large bet on later streets without thinking he has a big hand, but he also overvalues 2 pair hands (as hand in read above shows). I decide I don't want to play for 210 BB stacks with bottom set (???) and decide to call and evaluate river action (with plan being to instacall anything up to a 1/2 PSB on a non-horrible card, and anything else to tank/?). Ok? Or just get it in there now against this guy? I mean, is this horrible thinking on my part? I just flopped a set against the one guy at the table I want to flop a set against, and now I'm pot controlling???]

River (2 players, $320): 9
Villain bets $200, Hero (with ~$480 behind)?

[Again, I guess it's possible he's overvalueing 2 pair, but even on this board? Now it's possible that he even backed into a straight with a pair + draw. So I'm beating an outright wtf bluff, or a totally overvalued 2 pair. For those who are big on "tells", as Hero is tanking, Villain twice rather obviously strains/squints to look at board in almost a "oh, there's 4-to-a-straight on board?" manner. I'm seriously considering folding a set to a guy that might be a little drunkish, seems to be known as a regular spewer, and might just be clicking buttons for all I know. How bad is this?]

(wtf, why are my OPs so damn long? I need an editor.)

GcluelessNLnoobG

bleh.
I don't like the turn. Calling just seems bad. It doesn't help us know where we are, there are very few river cards that are safe.
I kind of like raising the turn to $200 or $250. If he pushes, we probably can fold. If he calls and leads river big, we probably can fold. If he calls and checks we can take a free showdown.

I didn't think of this line, but it might sound good; what do others think? If we raise to $250 and he pushes, we'd be being asked to call $330 to win $950 pot (almost 3:1). Isn't that a fairly tough fold with a set? But, I guess if this guy is convinced his hand is good here to shove that much, maybe this is a better line...

As played, call. I can’t really see a 7x playing this way, even 97. Wouldn’t he CR your turn, especially w/o a FD present? Set over set OTF is rare. I think 2 pr shows down more often.

PF – I would raise in this spot to isolate the V. While 44 does not flop well you are ahead most of the time. I’d also raise for value against a V you have had little chance to play back at.

OTT – leaning toward a raise based on my thoughts above.

grunch:

preflop is fine, I occasionally raise to $6 or $8 here just to get more money in the pot in case I hit a set, its easier to stack off (pot sweetner as you say).

As played: Turn you have some options. When 7 people go the flop, its likely someone hit that super crappy board, or at least has some draws to the straight. Its likely that *someone* has two pair, straight draw, or a set. At least there is no flush draw. Position is not so fun on this hand. As played, when Hero raised to $50 what happens if he gets reraised by someone who checked? or by Villain? Is Hero willing to make this laydown? I think raising is important to cut down some of the draws give some bad odds to call with those draws, and hands that we beat (pairs and 2 pair) (value for our hand). There are a number of cards which would be terrible for us (10,9, 7, 5, 3), and a number which make no difference (A,K,Q,J). No matter what you should have some outs to a boat.

Turn: Pot control is fine. Your a better player than the villain, more information can always help you (and presumably hurt him) Use your skills and hand read. IF you did think about raising, how did you feel about if he jammed? Easy call? The 10d is another scary card for you on a even scarier board.

River: If villain had the straight all along He still has you. However two pair you are good. I would honestly fold this hand, as the only thing you are beating is 2 pair, pair, bluff. He only needs 1 card to win. You essentially only have a bluff catcher here. IF villain is that bad you should have little trouble catching it from him later.

The problem is that many times villains don't even see the danger that this board presents to 2pair. I think it is played fine but it is a fold OTR. Raising OTT is a good option too.

There's loads of 7x combos and other combos he could have that beat you(75,97, 87, etc) and not as many T8 and 86 combos that you beat.

It's real tough to fold a set against a superfish but this board is so horrible that you have to.

Bump for results if I may? Gobbly, I just started reading the forums again as I am trying to improve and think more clearly about my decisions at the table. Enjoy reading your posts.

Please don't make this play. For everyone's sake.

Are we really going to put in half our stack with a set and then fold? Maybe it's me, but I don't raise/fold sets.

You say calling is bad because we still don't know where we're at. Does raise/folding clear the picture? Lots of villain are going to hold 2P and happily ship it in. They'll have T8/86/64 and they'll think, "if they have it, they have it."

If he calls our raise and leads the river, aren't we still in a tough spot? He could have the straight, but he could have 2P. He could also have a higher set.

Raise the set for value if you think you're ahead, but please don't raise/fold. I mean even if he has a straight, we still have 10 outs.

And there's nothing wrong with calling. If we're beat, we lose the minimum. If we're ahead, we're crushing villain and he'll value-own himself.

Raise/folding the turn is really bad. I would call the turn and river. If he has a set, he has a set. I cannot ever see getting away from a set against this villain.

If you raise the turn, you're committing yourself to the pot. Not saying there's anything wrong with committing here... but I think raise/folding is disgustingly bad, as villain is known to overvalue plenty of weaker hands.

I actually really like the flat on the turn. The turn brings in another straight possibility, and we don't want to blow him off his hand if he happens to have some sort of combo draw like 89 or 87. Pot controlling here is totally OK imo. It also gives us the opportunity to fold the river if things get fishy.