$500 eff. My image: TAG, young, white, male. Table: super tight, 70%+ of pots heads up, a lot of folding around to the blinds who chop, very few showdowns, pots are small, there's one obvious fish at the table and even he is the nitfish variety. A really tough table to be honest. Villain: young, Asian, male, has shown significant aggression on the button even multiway and he c-bets very often.

I have KJo in SB. Folds around to V in CO who makes it $20. Button folds. I perceive V's range to be very wide in that position and I decide to defend. BB folds.

Heads up to the flop.

Flop: AA6r Pot ~ $45

I check. V bets $30. I call.

Turn: 2 Pot ~ $105

I bet $70.

Now WTF am I doing? That's a good question Here's my thinking. It's unlikely that V has an Ace heads up on this flop. It's also unlikely he has anything. I expect him to c-bet here almost 100% of the time regardless of holdings. I c/c flop putting him on air most of the time. I lead turn repping a trapping line with A or just PPs and hoping to fold out his very weak range that contains a lot of air. My lead out also prevents him from double-barrelling air which he's likely to do on such a dry board.

It's a really weird line and I thought of it on the spot and I've never done it before. Is this flawed, and if so, how?

This can be OK, if your turn bet looks credible and your willing to bet again on river. Making this bet credible to a decent villain can be hard. Aggressive players are going to be aware of exactly this sort of bluffing situation, and are likely to call one bet with any pair here and see what you do on river. Pulling the trigger on another bet is going to be expensive if your called, but you likely have to if you want this bluff to work. Boards with big paired face cards lead to some weird bluffing situations because ranges are so polarized to monsters or air.

Credibility on the turn bet is the biggest thing here. Can you really represent leading turn with AX? Would you ever lead turn with a pair or boat? This bet looks out of place for a lot of players, because if they had an AX they would check turn and hope villain takes another stab. You may also have a problem representing AX out of the SB. What AX would you flat the small raise with from the SB? With nobody else in hand your folding weaker aces and raising the strong ones, so villain may not put much in your range here.

I don't mind this one bit. Maybe I test him PF instead to save money in the event he flops well or if he pulls the ol' "nobody bets trips on the flop" double reverse when the two aces hit, but apart from that, why wouldn't you act as if you don't believe his co raise has to have merit?

I prefer a 3bet pre to defend your blinds instead of defending passiv with this type of hands. I tend to defend passiv with AJ or AT and 3bet with Baby aces, sc and air.

As played i prefer a Check at the turn and if he checks behind (what he will do here alot) i am bluffing the River. If he will bet the turn and shows some weakness i would Check raise and take it down often.

Good points. I agree you should expect to be called often ott. Are you ready to fire big otr? Are you wondering why you are in this hand defending $2?

I don't like your line at all since it doesn't read like a credible Ax holding and villain should call with a pocket pair or maybe even raise if he's tricky/savvy.

The board isn't scary at all texture-wise, so a real Ax would go for a ch/r here rather than risk getting a fold to a donk bet like yours. Hero would be thinking that, sure, villain could check back, but we aren't really sweating any rivers with Ax here and a villain who checks back here would too often fold to a donk bet like yours.

Basically your story isn't believable at all. Could still get folds when villain has complete air and doesn't realize how your bet basically communicates "I don't have Ax," or if he thinks you are a total fish with perhaps a scared Ax such as A3 who is donk betting to see where he's at. Even if villain puts you on a pocket pair, he knows that you know that he has a lot of aces in his range and could easily raise you. Unless I knew you as very tricky (or dumb) type (eg raising a c-bet with 33 on an A93 rainbow board), I would see your line for what it is


*might be different if the board was textured at flop because then you could be leading out turn to make the draw pay.. or at least this would make more sense

this is not ultra aggro lol

if you want to "Defend" 3bet pre you have blockers.

if you really want to rep a monster, check call 2 streets then check raise the river all in.

you don't rep Ax with this turn donk. you rep a bluff. maybe you think you rep Ax repping a bluff. either way it's a leveling war and there's a good chance just defaults to not believing you.

also why are you so sure villain bluffs the flop? i'm sure he knows what his bet looks like when he makes it.

Floating oop with K high isn't the best option imo. And your line doesn't credibly rep an Ax hand imo.

Fold pre dude, you've got $2 in. Do you really want to play one of the worst RIO hands against an aggro player OOP heads up? This usually ends with you losing money.

Agree.

Table change. I was on one of these yesterday for a couple hours late at night, it was the only 2-5 going. Your red line will be great, but winning the big'uns is near impossible without a cooler.

As for the line... i'm on the fence about it. Mainly because your hand has sdv. You can check-call the turn and expect him to not bet the river without trips or better.

True, it's difficult for him to call your lead on the turn. But if he does, you are risking a lot to win a little. You just put in 100 to win 75 (call 30otf donk 70ott, you acted twice before he could act once so your bets come together). And what happens if he calls your turn bet?

This will get called SO often you won't believe, trust me I've tried that liine many times lol.

Well thing is, I would play Ax exactly the same way. Maybe that's not the best way but that's how I would play it. Would not CR flop as CR tend to blow off any semi-competent player and this guy was. Would not check turn again because he could just check back and I'd lose value.

That is pretty reasonable and I will sometimes lead the turn here with AX for exactly that reason. Particularly against bad regulars who will take a stab on flop with anything but give up when called. That makes a bluff here workable, if villain sees you as tight and preferably has seen you bet trips like this. Just be ready to put a second bluff in on river, because your check/call on flop looks bluffy and a villain with a pocket pair is likely to call turn.

It's not how YOU would play it, it's how villain would think you would
play it. And most would by far in your situation would go for ch/r

Err, yes it is how I would play it. I think I know a little better than you how I would play it lol.

BTW, would most say KJo is a 3-bet here preflop?

I don't even think KJs is a 3bet here pf

The reason that you play Ax this way is to try to tell the story you do not have AX. So bluffing by doing a similar line will not tell the story you have Ax, and therefore won't work as a bluff. (I'm not endorsing your line with Ax btw).

KJo plays poorly even vs a wide range of hands. Folding it is probably best. You can 3-bet some of the time as a bluff but don't make it a default/think its better than folding.

If you think villains turn barrels are a lot of air why don't you c/c or c/r the turn? Donking loses value vs that part of his range.

I can't expect V to fold any Ax or any pair, and imagine he'll float you some of the time... don't know how well you can play the river.

Seriously? You do realize that Villain is a competent TAG open-raising from the CO? I would likely be 3-betting KJo as well.

It makes me sad to read that someone who's become a very good player would make the bolded statements. Although there is nothing wrong with folding due to the fact that the CO is a solid player who will be IP, the decision to fold should have nothing to do with how much money you have in the pot or your seemingly fallacious assumption that the Villain's open-raising range from the CO is so narrow that KJ is likely to be dominated.

A lot of villains who are tight but not terribly aggressive will check back trip aces on such a dry flop, hoping you will will make a pair or stab at the turn. This is especially true when they hold AT or lower and are already worrying about their kicker in the event you also have an ace (lolnits.)

He may also check back 77-KK in the name of pot control. If true, this leaves him very polarized when he bets $30, and there are a lot more airball hand combos than AJ+ combos. Long story short, I definitely like the idea of playing back here.

That said, a small, trappy looking turn C/R seems a lot more credible to me than the line you took. Probably 3x or so, depending on how much he bets. While you do put more chips at risk, you also win his turn bet when successful, and look SIGNIFICANTLY stronger imo.

If he calls the C/R you can shut it down.

If he checks turn behind you can bluff BIG on most river cards (perhaps everything with the exception of a K or J) to make it look like you are trying to make up for value missed on prior streets.

This works much better if villain views you as a guy who sizes bets too large in general.

Where did I say that KJ is dominated by CO opening range? KJ is probably 50/50 against a solid player's CO opening range but that has nothing to do with it since we aren't running out all 5 cards. Playing a hand that mostly just makes one pair OOP against a solid player just ends up with hero losing the maximum when dominated and winning the minimum without a cooler. Hero is going to c/f most flops and get value owned when he is dominated. My decision to fold is based on "KJ sucks and I'm OOP"

I'm somewhere in between this and 3betting. Though I think folding Is def > 3betting. Given how high co's opening range is, KJ is certainly ahead over 50% of that range but not strong enough to 3bet for value

If I'm playing KJo in this scenario it's for a 3-bet, meaning that I'm probably c-betting the vast majority of flops. If the game is as nitty as described, I doubt the CO is both calling PF and then continuing past the flop unless he's got a very strong hand.