$1/3 NL at a small casino in PA on Saturday night. Typically play at a much larger, busier casino but was in the area visiting family and decided to stop over. Had a $160 on me and decided to buy in for that and see what happens rather than hit the ATM. There is a promotion going on so they have 6 full tables going which is about as busy as I have ever seen the room. Action has been very loose with raises to $15-$25 going 3, 4 or 5 way most of the time. Straddles on about 50% of hands. Most of the players seem to be rec regs that know each other.

Straddle: Came from a broken game an orbit or two ago. Late 30s to early 40s white guy. Seems loose passive. Stack is just short of $300.

BB: 60s white guy. He is a reg that seems to know just about everyone in the room, not OMC at all. He and hero have tangled in a few pots. I feel as though I have a pretty solid idea of his opening ranges being suited connectors maybe 89+, big pairs and broadways. He has generally limped in with small pairs and unsuited connectors as far as I can tell. He has made a big lay down or two but also made a really questionable call earlier on the river where he raised the KK4 flop against another reg with a flush draw, hit the draw on the turn and then called off the stack when the board paired the river. I thought it was obvious the other reg boated up possible he could have had AA or QQ I guess. Stack is about $1400.

Hero: Early 30s white guy, stack has fluctuated from initial buy-in of $160 to $700 to $400 and now sits at about $1250. Hero has been embracing the variance and has been playing loose (although not nearly as loose as the rest of the table) preflop and tighter post flop. Showed a big bluff early on that really opened up the action and haven been getting paid off very light for several hours. Looking for spots to play against the BB.

Pre-flop: Straddle is on for $6. One or two callers and hero limps along with 2d4d. BB makes it $26. The BB has raised many straddles so far to $21 and I can remember one other time he made it $26 and he showed up with AA. Straddle picks up chips to make a raise, looks generally conflicted and calls the $26. One limper calls and I complete the action by calling. We can debate how terrible the two calls were by hero pre-flop all day but it happened so moving on. My intentions were to play a big pot against BB if I get the type of flop I’m looking for. Pot $110

Flop: The flop comes out 2h3sJd. Not the greatest flop for our hand but we caught a piece and have a BDFD. Limper checks, hero checks and BB bets $45. Straddle pauses for maybe 5 seconds and calls. Limper folds. I consider my options and decide to call based how deep I am with BB and the ease of my turn decision. If the turn is a 2, 4, 5 or diamond then I would likely continue while folding all other hands. Pot $245

Turn: Turn card is 4c. Obviously other than a 2 this is the nut turn card for me. I check expecting the BB to continue on this seemingly safe card. BB checks. To me this caps the BB range at a one pair hand, if he had a set I imagine he would be shoveling money in trying to build the pot and/or protect with 3 to a straight out there. Straddle bets $75 leaving him about $160 behind. I decide that my hand is too strong to fold and that isolating the straddle is the best play. I make it $300 after about 30 seconds. The BB goes into the tank for at least 5 minutes, cuts out $300 and then goes back into the tank. After another minute or so I call clock. The BB looks at me and says “You called the clock?” I say yes and he immediately says ok then I’m all in and pushes the $300 over the line. Straddle predictably shoves his remaining stack in its back on me. So now there is approximately $1780 in the pot and its $700 for me to call. Who is calling, who is folding, who likes the iso attempt? Thanks I know that fold pre twice, fold flop is standard.

Lots of text.

What are your pot odds by the end of it all?

About 2.5 to 1

I don't understand the action. Limper checks, you check, then BB bets? Are you the SB? How are there two players acting before the BB?

If you're the SB, you're in the nut worst position on the deepstack mark. Get a seat change button asap.

Yep screwed up the action on the flop. Hero is the SB, BB bets, straddle calls, limper folds. My bad.

Pre is really bad and I think you know that. I'm all for splashing around a bit preflop with deep stacks against bad players with a narrow range, but I usually want a little bit better hand than 24s, and I definitely want to be in CO or on the Button, not the nut worst position at the table.

Kind of a gross spot you've gotten yourself into. I'm assuming this guy isn't raising from the BB in a straddled pot without a pretty strong range. So I'm discounting 22,33,44,56,A5 some. The question is, whether this guy could be overplaying QQ+ because of the previous dynamic with you + calling the clock (Never call the clock in a large pot by the way, poor form)

Due to the dynamic, the weird speech, and the PF range I'd give him, plus the tantalizing size of the pot, I probably level myself into calling in game then have a long walk back to the car when he turns over JJ.

The tank-shove is usually one of the best indicators of an absolute monster. The clock thing may undercut this theme, but when a guy hems and haws and stacks out a call, then pulls it back then finally shoves I assume the guy's hand is what it would be if he had two wild cards in the hole.

On the one hand, it's hard to put BB on a hand that beats us other than JJ exactly. On the other hand, BB is giving off a lot of strength tells. He's giving a speech, which is a huge tell of strength, and he's tanking then shoving. I find the tank-shove to be a very reliably strong tell.

I guess I call but I'm really hating life.

There's also no debating pre, it's terrible both times, especially if BB is raising straddles a lot.

Finally, I'm more than happy to call clock generally (I do it more than most people I think), but I don't do it when I'm in a hand. I just have no idea how people react to it and don't want to level myself after calling clock.

Unless you really feel villain is capable of spew shoving 300+bb with an overpair on the turn, this is a fold.

On the first go around on the turn, I just call. If Villain has QQ, KK, or AA we may as well keep him in the hand and value bet him on the river. Not sure what the point of trying to isolate here is. Let him call the $75, if you're ahead on the turn you're very likely going to be ahead on most rivers and can get additional value from him.

As played, villain checked the turn, the other opponent bet, you raised that bet 4x, and now villain is check/re-raising you all in for 1K total.

First, you might be behind the straddle, meaning that even if you are ahead of the villain, you aren't going to make any money on this call. We can't assume that you're ahead of the straddle here 100% of the time.

Second, as you've played this hand, 2 pair is the bottom of your range. You could also easily have a set or a straight, neither of which is ever folding to villain's jam. There are no flush draws so bluffs and semi-bluffs are pretty far out of our range. So it seems like a horrible spot for him to try to push you out of the pot.

Third, I wouldn't rule out villain having A5s or A2s here, or possibly (though not likely) 56s. Obviously, JJ is more likely. Bottom line is that you have a bluff catcher here.

Fourth, I agree the whole "long tank followed by over jam" is pretty damn suspicious. Feels like he is trying to make it look like you calling the clock tilted him into instantly jamming on you.

Of course, there is always the spew factor in poker, in particular at a game like this. So this guy could be showing up with KK here. So be it. All signs point to this being a bad spot to stack off for over 400bb. Fold.

I feel like we are behind more than %50
Of the time, which means a fold. Villans could have AA and KK which tried pot controlling the turn but once you slide $300 out he needs to decide flat or jam.

Any live reads or instincts? Tough, I might fold. But is bottom set a fold too then?

I think you massively underestimate the RIO on the flop. You have third pair with a backdoor non-nut straight and flush draw. You're oop to boot. You typically need to completely cooler someone to get a 400BB stack. You're the one likely to get coolered here.

Fold pre x2. Fold flop x2.

I believe you have more to call than you think. I think it's about $880 to call $1950, for 2.2:1. You're probably ahead of the straddle because he'll gii with all overpairs. You're not ahead of BB range. He's facing a bet-raise on the turn, after he showed strength on the previous two streets. He'd be pretty crazy to raise nearly 400BB with something like QQ. His line is very nutted, especially from a player who can 'make a big lay down'. You're about even if he has a range of JJ+/33/22/65s. You're crushed against a more likely turn 3! range of AA/JJ/33/65s and maybe a couple A5s combos.

When you're either barely ahead or crushed, you should usually pass.

Preflop and Flop call is extremely loose, OOP against the main villain which leads to the horrible spot on the turn where you're either slightly ahead or drawing virtually dead. I'd end up folding, given the strength of his tank shove. Probably should've mucked it pre, to avoid these ****ty spots imo.

I know any speech is usually understood to signify the nuts or near nuts but in this case I thought he had a genuine decision and the speech was the result of BB being agitated.

It sounds like your read, based off a bet sizing tell pre as well as physical/speech patterns, is that villain has AA or KK. In my experience, bet sizing tells can be powerful, with physical/verbal tells being somewhat more ambiguous (though maybe I'm just not that good at deciphering them).

The straddle flatted the flop bet, when checked to him he bet out, you raised big, then the original raiser check/raised all in, and then the straddle proceeded to jam his remaining $160 (of a $300 starting stack) in. I guess we are assuming he has an overpair too based on the fact that he seemed to almost re-raise pre? Seems really unlikely a straddle will flat a raise with QQ, KK, or AA on the button, especially in a loose game like this. Also seems like AJ is a pretty easy fold for him to make on the turn. Your focus is on the other villain in this hand history so I'll assume the straddle wasn't that strong, but it seems like we might be behind him a non-trivial amount of times.

In poker, especially in wild late night games, you really need to go with your instincts. If your read is saying villain has an overpair and has made a frustrated spew move, go with your read.

Live reads are critical in these spots. If you range him more toward KK+ and fewer straights then you should call with about 40% equity.

Results: river is 6x mainly the final board 23J46. Straddle shows KK and BB shows QQ. Hero scoops with two pair.

I love a happy ending

Brutal misplay by the straddle with KK pre. If he re-raises, it's an easy double up...as played he gets felted.

Nice call and glad you scooped.