9 handed table just formed everyone bought in for $200 besides me.

Villain: late forties early fifties asian seen him limp a few times and open once no showdown.

Hero covers: waiting for a table change. early 20s young looking college student, opened a few times and I made a btn raise which a few of the old nits at the table commented on.


Villain limps Utg, 2 other limpers, sb completes, I check 7d9d

Flop: Ad 3d 5d ($14)
Sb checks, I bet $10, villain calls, rest fold

Turn: 9s
I bet $25, villain thinks for a moment and cuts out $50,

Vs a min raise with a baby flush this isn't good. They seem to always wait and raise a blank turn on a board like this.

Unfortunately I thought he might be doing this with any set, and two pair, 24 (no idea if he limps this Utg) and of course bigger flushes.

If villain had any hands that I beat I didn't think he'd fire again on the river but idk I might be way off. My line kinda looks like I was trying to steal the pot with like Kd and when I just called his raise he might have put me squarely on a fd.

River: 5s ($110)
I check, villain bets $75, hero folds

A $100 high hand every 15mins was going on and he didn't show. So wtf did he have?

He's representing quads, straight flush or a full house which he wouldve shown for the high hand.

People arent going kung pow with a flush or worse when a fh comes in no?

A5,A9, AoJs,AoQs,AoTs

If you're in his position and you have a flush (K/Q high), how are you playing it?

River with any flush is a pretty easy b/f in his position. You wouldn't be checking if you just boated up. He could also have something like A9, A3 turned into a bluff, or an ace with any diamond.

You're not saying I should donk fold this are you?



Easy bf but people don't do it

Pre and the flop are fine. Re-raise the turn to $125. That'll get it all in on the river if he doesn't shove or fold. You aren't deep enough to worry too much about a bigger flush.

Coolers include any diamond and any card that pairs the board for a total of 14 cards. You aren't deep enough to fold, and villain is already on the brink of commitment. Get it in while it's relatively easy and protect your hand while you are at it.

Coincidently, his extra $25 on the turn was a little over 1/3 of the pot, enough to charge you for a diamond draw if he didn't intend to pay off the 4th diamond.

As played, this is a tough spot on the river. Your river check told him you don't have the boat. Your turn flat told him you don't have the flush. You've underrepped your hand, but you don't even know if he thinks that way or how thin he bets. Your mistake is letting this situation develop on prior streets.

I would put his hand in the following order of likelihood: A-x, boat, flush, two pair, and a straight. Sets that turned into boats might have raised the flop or bet the turn more heavily. Hard to say w/o read on villain. He could be the gambling type. I would call here, but I sure wouldn't like it.

V could have limped Utg w AKo w Kd. And you are seriously seeing MUBs if the thought of A straight flush enters your mind.

The min raise on the turn can be interpreted several ways:
#1 the nuts or near nuts
#2 taking control of the pot via a semi bluff.

I am very doubtful a set is min raising turn. Sets are never thrilled about monotone boards and are pot controlling praying the board pairs on river. So I'm rarely worried about a FH which then just leaves better flushes and semibluffs.

This is an easy crying call. He simply has too much air in his range here to fold. Similarly he could have AJ and think he is actually good.


You described a V that wins without showing down a lot which thus means he has a lot of air in his range.

You are getting almost 2.5:1 on your money so V only needs to be bluffing in this spot like 30% of the time for this call to be profitable. And like I said, he may actually think his TPGK is good here.

So call.

ya i think i rule out a boat from his range (maybe A5..), and i don't think he's betting worse than a big flush on this river.. and air of course. I think its a call because of how polarized he is and how weak you look, you're going to lose a fair amount of time but long term a +ev call.

I really doubt he has a full house.

Rivers kind of a gross spot but I think you have to call.

Sure people aren't going "kung pow" with a little flush when the board pairs, if they've faced aggression, but you've seriously under-repped your hand. I wouldn't be surprised if he puts you on a max of TPGK.

I ended up folding. I remember thinking wtf, I'm facing a min raise vs an UTG limper older asian random on a monotone board OOP. I mean I should be toast.

re-raising the turn doesn't do me any good. If, for some reason he's min raising for information or even as a way for cheap showdown, He's folding with worse and calling with better if I raise. I guess. I mean, are people really calling a 3bet on the turn with a set or top pair Kd on a monotone board? I don't know. That's why I posted this hand.

I remember the table was pretty tight passive, that's why I requested a table change.

When he bets again on the river, I thought he had the nuts or a bluff. Most live players aren't capable of turning a good/decent hand into a bluff on a "scary river" right? Too often I see the river go check/check on flush, gutter, 4 liner, paired board on the river. The 5 completed a FH, and he bet $75 into a $100 pot. That's a big bet.

Yes, i've underrepped my hand, but comparing that to his hand strength i don't think it matters.

Either he's read the board wrong so he's betting tptk 2pair etc, or he's saying he's not afraid of the FH coming in because he has a FH. Are some guys in villains spot saying **** it, I have the nut flush if he has a FH, then so be it?

I put myself in an awkward spot because I checked the river. Is anyone donking out on the river and folding to a raise? Or are you check/calling? Was my line correct here besides the fold? What is it?

^ Basically what I'm hearing from you is that since V got aggressive and bet big, it obviously has to be the nuts so we're folding everything but the nuts. If this was your thinking, why even bother calling the min raise on the turn?

If you are often folding to big bets at the table then why wouldn't V bet big against you when he misses?

Serious questions, no snark.

And if V had KQ here how would he play it?

Whenever i'm in these spots, what I try to do is think what hands V can have and based on V's play does he have enough air in his range to call.

We are getting 2.5:1 on our money so we only need 30% equity.

So now the question becomes, do we think this V is the type to either overvalue TPGK or semibluff/bluff with KQ type hand 30% or so of the time? Based on what little you've provided, I think the answer is yes.

Now, if you said this was a nitty tight player who you've never seen semibluff or bluff, then sure, snap fold here. But based on your description, I think he has it in him to bluff here 30% of the time, or overvalue AJo 30% of the time. So that is why I call.

And if this happens to be the 70% of the time he has KT then meh, so be it. Doesn't mean the call wasn't profitable.

No, c/c river is your best line. If he is bluffing, then he has to continue his bluff. If he overvalues his AJo then let him do so on the river, and if he has us beat with KT type hands, then we deny him the opportunity to raise us.

If you think a blocking bet could freeze him out, perhaps. But i'm not so sure.

So, I would be c/c river. We might lose value from AJo but we pick up value from busted FD

Oh villain should definitely bet big when he misses and I will fold most of my range. I don't see people at this casino make big bluff bets. I'm used to seeing gutless 1/4 or 1/3 psb's. At 2/5 at this place is a different story. I see guys unload the clip with ace high but I don't see that at 1/3.

I expect most villains to just call/call and and muck in disgust w/ Kd Qs.
If they do raise the turn as a semi bluff I would expect them to bluff the river.

After talking this is a call on the river. Villain is unknown, my hand is underepped, we don't know how aggressive he can be with draws and if he bluffs. Since we don't know we can call here because he's not repping a whole lot, we beat his bluffs and a lot of his hands that he could be trying to get value from, so..call.