I'm playing 2/5 regularly the past few months, and the biggest adjustment to me is the deepness (1K cap) of the game as opposed to the higher limits. Here's another hand fairly easy at 100 BB stacks, not so much at 300 BB stacks.

V1 - 1500 - taggish, but at least opens wider than pure TAG - i.e. opened A9o form EP.

V2 - 1400 - older Asian guy - seems straightforward.

Hero- 1500 - opening more hands than most - prolly seen as somewhat aggressive



V1 opens UTG to 25, one call, V2 calls, H makes it 125 from SB with K K - V1 calls, fold, V2 calls

Flop(395) Q T 9

Want to keep checking range balanced on bad flops OOP, so H checks, V1 checks, V2 bets 300..Hero...

What's the plan this deep OOP in mw pot?

Don't get flops like QT9 I guess would be best plan

V2 would need much more description than straightforward to give a good answer for myself anyway.

If you don't have a better read (like are AQ/TT/KJ/QT/9T in his flat flat range; does he bet position on flops with just a piece or a draw, does he check back turn alot, etc), given the pot will be 1000 with 1000 stacks remaining, and your hand is unlikely to improve, can't fault a fold here.

If villain is really straight forward and he called a raise and then a 3 bet...then he bet $300 on this flop when checked to then he should have a range of something like QQ, JJ, TT, 99 AQ, maybe KQs.

You have about 60% equity vs that range. Lots of guys would be afraid to bet JJ and would just take the free card so we have to discount JJ somewhat. He probably puts you on AK so hes gonna bet AQ almost always.

Being OOP really sucks. It makes me want to jam all in, but we are too deep for that. He will probably fold AQ/KQs and call when you're crushed. Calling $300 OOP sucks also. Unless the turn is a Jack, we wont be happy and we will just have to check and pray he doesn't bet huge. My guess is hes gonna jam the turn so I dont want to call.

If I cant jam and I can call, that leaves folding. This hand sucks, but Im folding.

Perhaps it might be better to raise more preflop. We have to avoid being multi-way and oop here.

AP: There’s only one combo of kqs left and I’m not sure he’d overcall with it anyway. He has 3 Aqs versus 6 sets that have us crushed and sometimes some 99 (3 more combos). Mike might argue this guy can have some AA too.

We’re getting 2-1 so if you can discount his 99/aa I suppose we have the correct price. But what’s our turn plan? If V has JJ, he’s playing perfectly. Rep a set and try to bet us off overpairs while blocking Ak’s straight outs. I’d rather raise/fold here than call down. He can easily barrel any brick and we have no idea how to respond.

Exactly, wich is why i agree with Mike that puke folding is something we have to at least consider here. I cant think of a much worse scenario than being OOP in a bloated big pot, deepstacked and with a hand that is capped to being a one pair hand on most runouts.

This hand is a good example of an argument Ive been making lately that playing deep isnt necessarily more profitable even for the best players. Sure, if you have a couple whales at your table who are also deep, then playing deep is the highest EV long term, but overall, I'm not convinced of it.

If we were 100BBs deep, I'm never folding this and like I said, against the range I listed we are about 60/40 so being this deep and probably being forced to fold is costing us a good deal of money in this particular hand.

I would likely fold aces here but I probably peel kings since we unblock AQ and have a gutshot. We are still a favorite against a range of only AQ and sets. We do have a problem in that it’s a lot easier for him to get value with his sets then for us against AQ so I don’t think folding is absurd. If this were heads up we have a pretty mandatory peel but 3 ways on a board where both us and the other villain have a lot of strong hands folding KK can be considered.

Or stated somewhat differently, we have to place a higher value on position when we're deeper. I'd guess most of us bluff in position way more in our deep games versus the 100bb eff casino scenarios we face routinely at llsnl wherein most hands like this are "ABC" affairs.

(I saw a hand I wasn't in a few months ago at Aria 1/3 just like this where the V with JJ ip got the oop PFR with KK to fold. (They were also mw post-flop at perhaps 250bb eff)).

For me, the key mistake here was not raising more preflop to get HU. MW + oop = big trouble this deep.

Of course, the problem then becomes maintaining balance oop and deep. Crafting a balanced "iso" range oop and deep is an expert's business and is beyond my ability unfortunately. Even the books/videos on this subject aren't always terribly helpful.

I don't think $125 is that bad. Its the flop that made it bad. Is $150 really that different? If we go as high as $175-$200, we're just going to get folds most of the time.