Hi all,

Was on a heater at 1/3 in March and decided to try 2/5 at MGM National Harbor. Put $500 on the table and saddled up. It was a very aggressive game. A few hands troubled me.

I have $450 behind and raise to $25 UTG+2 with AKo. I get two callers and the big blind squeezes to $125. I call. Others fold. Pot is $300. Villain covers by a lot.

I whiff the flop and he asks how much I have left and jams. Do I call it off with AK here? He had been squeezing a lot but no show downs.

Later on I have $350 and MP player raises to $20, I make it $65 with QQ. BTN 4-bets to $165. He has me covered. Original raiser folds. Hero?

Another hand I have 10-10 in MP and call an EP raise to $20. SB squeezes to $125. All fold to hero. Hero?
Thanks,
DT

Just a note to please separate each hand in an individual post. It might get better results. But here goes.

Hand 1:
I’m honestly not sure in the flop, but I think just calling preflop put us in this position.
I think preflop might have been better to shove since you’re saying he had squeezed a lot without showdowns.

Can you tell us what the flop was? 479 is way different than 2JQ once you’ve called his bet.

Hand 2: ugh. That’s sick.
I assume no one called your $65 before button raised?
What was the player type? Age, race, clothing, demeanor?
Had you ever seen them four bet before? Or what was their usual style of play that night?

Hand 3:
I assume you still have $350?
If so, I snap fold this hand and don’t mind at all. Much better places/odds to fight IMO.

AK hand flop was unconnected low cards. I totally whiffed.

QQ hand villain was young Asian. Never played with him before.

10-10 hand I had around $400-$500.

Ok then.

Hand 1: fold.
But I don’t like your call for $125. You see 60% of the board and committed 25% of your stack. Next time you have to shove or fold to the 4 bet IMO. (And I can see arguments for both, but calling isn’t great since AK doesn’t always flop, it needs all 5 cards)

Hand 2: sigh call, but not loving it.

Hand 3: Snap fold even quicker than I mentioned above.
Maybe I’m nit tight but no way I’m in for 25% of my stack with TT. You’re either crushed by over pair (likely), or 50-50 (in a best case scenario.

Hand 1: jam pre. This is a great hand to 4bet jam as a semibluff because you block out half the combos of KK/AA and villain is going to have a hard time calling it off with TT-QQ. He might even fold AK which is great for you.

Hand 2: flat the 4bet then x/jam any flop that doesn't contain an Ace or King in it. Otherwise x/f the flop.

Hand 3: fold. SB should be super nutted here and you're going to have a tough time playing TT postflop with such an awkward SPR.

Shove pre on hand 1. You have a lot of good reasons to.

Hand 2, shove.

Hand 3, meh. Same squeezer?

Game sounds pretty tough.

H1: shove pre
H2: shove pre
H3: fold

think all these hands are player/read/dynamic specific, but just against randoms, I would

shove pre hand 1.
shove pre hand 2.
fold hand 3.

hand 1 shove pre

hand 2 depending on read of V here
calling leaves us a 1/2 pot bet to shove any non AK flop if he'd 4-bet light
Ax call
if you think he's only 4-betting AA KK fold
I think a shove here pre he would call

hand 3 insta fold

Hand 1 is the easiest spot, gotta be a shove. You have equity vs pairs, good hand to put your foot down with. If he has AA or KK it was just the perfect storm.

Hand 2 I hate my life and shove. Vs cold 4 bet you can fold almost everything but you gotta go with something and QQ is the best non-nutted hand to do it with.

Hand 3 usually can be a fold, if you're last to act and you think he's out of line you can put it in sometimes, also depends on how much money is in the pot when he squeezed.

Do you have any reads on any players? In a vacuum, hand 2 is the only hand I'd have to think about all that hard, because Hand 1 is a pretty straightforward shove in an aggressive 2/5 game, and Hand 3 is a pretty easy fold against a normal 3 betting range sitting ~100 bb deep