I've been looking for spots to be more aggressive at the table (I want to increase the win rate) and I had several hands come up last night that probably were these type of opportunities. I tend to have a pretty straightforward 3bet range (TT+, AJs+) and rarely 3bet flop. I do bet aggressively post-flop & in position and frequently can get folds with 1 or 2 barrels in these games. Tonight, I don't know anyone at the table.

All 3 of these hands were coincidentally against the same villain. He was a competent reg (talks about playing almost every day, knows everyone) with a seemingly straightforward raising range. He also cbets & double barrels at about the same frequency as me (often) and takes down hands without showdowns. He had only shown down good hands with top pair or better. His pf raises were always $15-17 unless there were multiple limpers. Not passive. No significant hands before or between those listed below.

Hand 1 - effective stacks ~300

Main V MP - raises $16
Hero CO - AsKs calls $16
V2 Button calls $16

I would 3bet here a decent amount but did not as it was early in my session and I was feeling out the table and I figured V wasn't going to be blown off hands like some weaker players.

Flop (pot ~50) - 8s6h2s
V checks
Hero bets $25
Button folds
V raises $60
Hero calls

I was a bit surprised by the raise. I didn't think he just had top pair here - A8/K8 didn't seem likely. This is where I was wondering if I should be raising or if I would just get called too often by 2pr+/combo draws and only have flush outs. If raise, how much?

Turn (pot ~170) - 2d
V checks
Hero checks? I think this is ok

River (pot ~170) - blank, no straights or flushes possible
V checks
Hero?

Hand 2 - effective stacks ~250

Main V MP raise $17
HJ calls
Hero CO JcJh calls - I think I really need to be raising here
BB calls

Flop (~68) - 9s8h2s
V bets 35
HJ folds
Hero calls?
BB folds

Turn (~138) - Qc
V bets 110
Hero calls (ok, this was a little stationy, but he was double barreling w/o showdown so often...)

River (~348) - low blank
V checks
Hero all in

Hand 3 - effective stacks ~400

Main V MP raise 17
Hero button calls AsKd (for god's sake, raise)

Flop (~38) - Ad9c3h
V bets 20
Hero calls?

Turn (~78) - 10s
V bets 40
Hero calls

River (~158) - Ac
V checks
Hero bets 50 - sized smaller for value from a smaller A or non-believing pair

Somewhere in here it seems I need to be more aggressive. Thoughts?

First to discuss this hand, why jam river? JJ seems to be pretty strong in showdown here. If you're shoving, is it for value or as a bluff?

For hands stronger than yours:
He might have some combinations of suited Qs (AQs, KQs, JQs, QTs) that will call you and beat you, as will any sets and overpairs. Your bet of ~$90 more into a $340 pot has almost no shot of pushing him off stronger hands.

For hands weaker than yours:
And he might have a lot of other flush draws / combo draws that are folding to your jam but lose to you in show-down anyway.
Meanwhile, there aren't many hands like A9 or A8 that double-barrel flop + turn here. I don't think solid villains would pay you off with those anyway.


As for the other two hands you need to be 3betting AK pre, especially AKs and AK in position.

Hand 1: This might be how we play our boats. I think its decent. Dont like shoving turn much because he still has more very big hands in his range so i like the turn check.

Hand 2: pretty clear check back otr

Hand 3: I agree, 3bet pre. Flat isnt that terrible though. Otherwise its played ok but size river bigger.

Hand 1: You could bet turn or river but check/check is fine. Your situation on the turn is marginal without a strong read on his check/raising range. On the river you have showdown value against his missed draws and limited chance of getting anything else to fold.

Hand 2: Check river. You have a lot of show down value but better is not folding or worse calling. If you wanted to be more aggressive either raise preflop or shove turn.

Hand 3: Lots of options. You could raise at any point but with position on villain just calling to let him barrel is good also. Raising flop or turn on a fairly dry board often just folds out villain's worse hands and leaves his better in play. River is a deceptively bad card. Better hands are likely to check and let you take a stab while most worse hands just give up. A small suck bet hoping that AQ/AJ will pay you something is a good play.

Hand 1:
idk why you want V to be blown off his hand when you have AK. i dont understand your logic about "feeling out the table". im not sure what information you expect to get by not playing how youd usually play. its a slamdunk 3bet. on the flop, great spot to ship for balance as well as putting pressure on many single paired hands.

Hand 2:
slam dunk 3bet pre. on the flop perfect spot to make it $110 w/ intention of calling off your stack. youre underepped and you can actually rep tonnes of draws like JT and FDs. calling turn is so bad, especially given the sizing. you block JT but i dont see too many bluffs in this spot to make calling profitable. OTR i dont mind the ship if you had 200 more behind. but you dont and its 1/3 so dont range merge.

Hand 3:
3bet pre. you can bet way bigger on the river like $100-130, given youre history with hand 2 (better if you went to showdown). you can easily just snapfold to a raise but i dont really expect him to c/r the flop w/ AT/TT/99/33/A9/A3 often.

Interesting that one of the biggest things to come out of this post was that the shove on the river in hand #2 was horrible. I agree (he folded, but that is irrelevant).

I see more raising in my future!

Hand 1: Just 3bet preflop, stop making excuses Rest of hand looks fine, I'd check the river. The flop raise is such a weird line that I'd worry about sets, and the checks after that could still be a set (letting you catch up after he fills up, then hoping you were drawing on the river). Not sure what we'd be trying to make him fold by betting river.

Hand 2: Dude gross, 3bet more and work some bluff 3bets in. Turn call is fine, his bet looks a bit bluffy tbh, why size it so big? River shove is horrendous, not sure what you're trying to accomplish. Just check and win vs air mostly.

Hand 3: For God's sake, raise. Flop and turn fine. Bet more on the river, I'd probably bet $100. It's hard for him to fold AQ or AJ.

H1:

I'm cool with this whole hand.

GcluelessNLnoobG

H2:

I'm cool with preflop and flop.

I'd probably fold the turn.

I'm guessing this shove is for value and hoping to get paid off light due to the busted flush draw? I just think most of the time if we get looked up we're not good, although this is also why I fold the turn.

GcluelessNLnoobG

H3:

I'm cool with this whole hand.

Course, I'm also probably one of the more passive players in this forum. There are definitely times where playing aggressive has it's merits, but typically this involves FE, and with decent showdownable hands there is no reason to want FE.

ETA: Not to say that 3betting AK/JJ preflop is horrible by any means either. But in pots that don't have a lotta dead money in them and will most likely end up HU in position against the raiser, flatting isn't horrible, imo.

GcluelessNLnoobG

Yeah, I 3 bet all of these pre.

hand 1 - I check back river. Doubt if anything you beat is ever folding.

hand 2- given that the turn bet is more than half of our stack, I push or fold. Probably push, just cuz we are so under-repped.

As played, do people realize that we have like 1/4 of a pot bet left on the river? I would think that most stuff that beats us bets and figures we are completely committed. Go ahead and jam it in and hope he thinks we are bluffing.

Hand 3 - More on river. 80-100 looks good to me.