Rivers Chicago

Good, friendly game. Some competents, some semi-competents but gambly, some full on fish. Also very fun table.

H - HJ - Late $30s WG - $550 - losing about 1.5bi after two close spots where I made decisions which ended up being losers, and having to fold black AA on river on 34567hhh when bombed into.

V1 - button - also late 30s/early 40s WG -covers heartily - friendly, seems competent and has shown he can hand read and called down correctly in a big spot with second pair, but perhaps plays too many hands.

V2 - SB - not overly relevant, but MA hispanic guy - covers me but not V1 maybe $800 - fairly new to table but has already been all in twice

Button straddles to $10, V2 limps, MP limps, we look at AQss and make it $55, V1 V2 call, MP folds.

Flop (~$160) - Qc 9s 4c - check, me $65 (?), button V1 calls, V2 folds

Turn (~$290) - 10d - me $150 looking to jam my last $300 on vast majority of rivers, can we go bigger here? Is checking actually better as this isn't a great card? straddled pot means only 55bb to start etc. Not sure.

V1 thinks a few seconds and calls.

River ($590) - 9h - we? We have just under half pot left, do we just stick it in? Don't see us ever folding here if we check and get ripped on.

Interested in all decisions.

Foreword: I have very little experince with button straddle games.

Perhaps naively, but with a button straddle I would go a bit bigger preflop, ~$65.

As played, you started the hand with 55bb, flopped TPTK on a drawy board. It may not be GTO approved, but I would bet bigger here, like ~120, with the plan to shove on most turns.

As played, SPR on the turn is kind of awkward. I do not hate your bet sizing, although there is some merit in overbet-shove. Td may not be great for you, but it is not that awful either.

As played, you cannot fold on the river. I would shove, unless you have a read that V overbluffs.

Jam river. At this stack depth we don't get away from it. Worse should call but check back, and we don't ever fold when villain jams.

Pre, flop, and turn all seem fine. Pre is always an iso, I am fine with size. Flop and turn sizing seem okay but you could argue for different sizes - doesn't make a big difference. In general I like to use 25% pot or check when multiway to simplify things because often times I think that is a good strategy across many different board types multiway, and larger bet sizes are less of a thing than in heads up. I doubt it's a big deal on this board though.

Flop I think check call or check raise vs small size are also viable lines. Turn check call or check jam are also viable. That's more a matter of balance and protecting our checking range though. Turn does bring in a straight and some two pair, so our range does want to check more in theory, but this hand isn't going to be getting away from it anyway.

Preflop and flop are standard.

I think turn is the most interesting street here. I prefer a check oop. I'm not sure I understand the BTN's action. But if it's multi-way, I think we have to check turn. This is a bad range card for H.

AP River: H is uncapped. I prefer value bet to jam here. I think V would have raised his T9s and sets on turn given the wetness of board. So I think our hand is good and I want to target KQ and QJ, the most logical hands that V gets to the river with, for a call. Maybe bet 150 and offer 5-1 to V's weaker Qx.

I’m getting this in every single time

I like how you played it, but can see checking the turn as lower variance about the same EV play. You said he is competent hand reader, but also he called down middle pair earlier. The way it was played if you jam you are saying you have AQ or better. I think that lets him get away from KQ and QJ over half the time. Not sure he ever folds those for $150. In game I probably would have jammed, but I like Spanish idea better.

Results - I did jam, he snapped and I said ‘you have a boat really?’ thinking like people have said he’d have raised T9+ earlier, I showed he said ‘luckboxed you on river’ and showed A9. Guess he put my on AK. To be fair (and I just remembered this now) he had ~3 or 4 orbits ago seen me double barrel AK in a fairly silly spot and then get there on river and check back….

Not worried about losing hand here, think as obv we are never folding so want to think re shoving or check calling, but turn decision think is actually closest?

Thx all

Another reason to bet $150.