2/5 with mandatory straddle.

Villain is a local pro who plays higher. TAG. He’s opening correct ranges, and 3betting at correct frequencies. Always buys in for 5k to cover the table.

Semi-bad LAG who is steaming opens CO to 35. Villain flats BTN, folds to us in Straddle. We complete with JTo.

2k effective with both players.

Flop: 988r (110)
Check, check, V bets 40, Hero x/r to 130, V call.

Turn: 6x (370) (I don’t remember if it brought backdoor flush draw)
Hero bets 240, V folds.

I have a question about preflop. I have JTo as pure defend against CO open facing 3x size. I assume I should tighten my ranges with the extra player in the hand and the 3.5x sizing, and I wasn’t sure if JTo makes the cut. Also conflicted about wanting to play a hand against the steaming player. Not sure on preflop decision. In the moment I felt this was borderline and very nearly 3bet then decided I probably didn’t have much FE versus steaming player so settled on a call.

Next question: If V calls turn, does my hand function well as a bluff on a non-board pair, non J/T river? If yes, thoughts on sizing?

Other comments on line would be appreciated.

Interesting spot with the JTo there:

I actually have a question about this hand myself (keep in mind, I'm pretty bad): is JTo really an x/r on a board like this with preflop action? It also seems kind of weird to iso the good player here.

Doesn't this board really connect with the type of hands a confident player would flat vs. a steam open, or is it fine because you can have a ton of 8s here as well?

Regarding turn/brick river: I think if V calls turn after you've shown strength on kind of a polarizing board you're probably not getting a river bluff through as he has a large enough piece of it to bet/call flop and call a somewhat large sizing on the turn. Can't be sure, though, and I think once you take an x/r, bet turn line you should probably be committed to firing river, looking to get a 9 or something like 7s to fold.

Thanks Michael, I enjoyed watching your last three videos and you’ve gained a sub. Appreciate the advice.

SAAP, appreciate the feedback. I think I should have been more clear in my post about the steaming LAG and tells. Usually I don’t like to include info on tells in my posts but I now wish I had. I have some history with this player and they give off a lot of body language tells when they’re done with a hand. Little things like glancing at phone, generally seeming disinterested in the hand. Those tells were already occurring as I was contemplating my reaction to TAG flop bet.

So I think the read on the main villain is more helpful than the read on the opener, insofar is he actually playing preflop correctly from a frequency perspective or moreso is he flatting reasonable hands but playing wider than he should be. Because vs. a 3.5x I bet his theoretical flatting range should be under 5% while if he pure calls 22-99 that's already 4%, so I think the question is what he might show up with here. A8s, 98s, and 87s I assume are close to pure folds in theory, which will affect a lot of postflop. The range he should have here in theory should consist of a lot of AJs/KQs/A5s/AQo types that completely whiff, but in practice different people flat the button very differently (especially if he thinks he has edge vs. PFR), especially with the pocket pairs.

Anyway, preflop all 3 options are close and I really don't mind mixing in the 3 bet here now and then (probably better with QJo than JTo but you will knock out the good player in button who is capped), I think given you feel like you have good reads on the PFR I would strongly lean to call

On the flop main option is xr but xc is also fine. A lot of good players tend to overcall pocket pairs preflop and undercall other hands so I think his sizing makes sense protecting hands like 55 multi-way.

Turn sizing seems fine

On river I like firing because you should never be bluffing with an 8/9 obviously, so then next best cards to block in my opinion are a J/T to block JJ/TT. I also think people rely too much on blockers for bluffs and not enough on just betting bottom of ranges at right frequency especially in spots where it is unclear what you want to block, and JT is obviously nut-low for you

For sizing on the river I like pot, you are repping trips+ so want to go large, but if you go too large he can mainly just call down 99/88

I think the main thing to keep in mind is you have a lot of JT combos going to flop, so I think you want to mix flop xc/xr and as played on turn want to mix bet/xc/xr and not keep too many combos in one line. I find common mistake for people is to bet 100% on the turn after check raising flop on a card that does not improve you that much (just T7s gets there for you)

Thank you I have a 1000 sub goal so every one matters at this point 🙏 thanks 🙏

Pre splash is kinda whatever this deep w the spot and the pro. I think the flick helps defend a bit from V taking the other guys money. That might all be nonsense, but in my mind it all counts. Post feel a bit OOL if I use my own ranges as a baseline -- I'd like to have a card that might would otherwise have an 8 attached to it - perhaps you're wide enough in the straddle that it doesn't matter though. Ckr+barrel might rival ckc, but again it's all just so wide I can't get my head around what's best.

OTT had you been called, you'd have to shut it down.

Thanks for feedback all.

For my 8x, I have 86s, T8s-A8s. (I 3bet squeeze 87s and 98s pre quite often in this spot, so I’m missing a couple combos there). On turn I have 75s (with BDFD on flop) and T7s.

I think Villain can be flatting a bit wider than usual because the blinds and me in the straddle have not been very active. I think he’s 3betting 87s,98s and 99, maybe A8s. He probably has some A8s in his preflop flat range, though. Maybe K8s, but I’m not sure. I didn’t think he’d be flatting Q8/J8/T8 all that often because I generally don’t see him doing a lot of flatting preflop. If he’s playing those hands I think he’d prefer to use them as a 3bet, but again, I’m really not sure.

excellent post

on btn's ranges pre, i do think this is the type of spot where btn may be calling (and vpip'ing) more often than normal as a result of 1) calling some hands that are usually borderline folds and 2) 3betting a slightly tighter (and more linear) range. the combination of inactive blinds (per chaos's post above) and perceived edge on the opener (as you noted) being the main reasons for 1; 2 would be an adjustment to the fact the opener is steaming (maybe more likely to underfold vs 3b), so he may prefer to (for example) add 99/AQ and drop some suited one gappers, etc (although i would have less confidence in this than 1). the net impact of 1&2 being more 8x and less 99 than normal. relevant additional info would be a) how he views the play of the blinds (bad->can call wider) and b) additional info on opener and any specific dynamics with btn (also if hero is effective stack in the hand, how deep are opener and btn with each other).

i would also flat the JTo here pre and agree with the rest

Think flat pre is fine even vs bigger sizing, think vs 5x I’d go just squeeze or fold…multi-way think the unsuited connectors play okay especially getting > 3 to 1 pre… as played think flop can go either way (call or raise) but like raise in general since CO prob bets too many value hands multi- and will have a weaker checking range… V if competent has a high frequency stab here on flop and like the open-ended + 8x blockers as a bluff, turn is a good card to bluff as 79 gets there and V should have more pocket pairs than nutted hands…on rivers it sounds weak but I’d prob give up a lot of rivers, think most live pros fold most of there weaker pocket pairs on turn and they prob fast play their 8x more on the turn (assuming only 1fd)

Could have just said BTN flats too much because lollive

lol fair. i think you just made like half my posts obsolete...

obv was joking before, but yeah I'm guilty of it (overcalling) as well... I wonder if live regs overcaling it is a function of trying to reduce variance?? the solver obv has flats from the BTN but the range especially against a bigger open is going to be alot tighter than 98% of live pros are playing so I wonder if its a function of trying to reduce variance as opposed to 3! which is the solver approved play...

Pre: Probably fold, 3 ways makes this more of a fold, it's real hard to realize equity multiway out of position.
Flop: If we check/raise all our OESD, we're way over check raising here. Call with our JT combos, maybe raise quarter-half our QJ combos and some 22-77 combos.
Turn seems ok, I was thinking about an overbet but I don't like it on this kinda board vs his kinda range.
River bluffing we have a not great hand for bluffing, since we block villain having JT/JJ/TT, 9T, J9, and those are what we're targetting to fold, we probably want like an ace or 22-55 type hand

There is no way JT isn't a more frequent hand to xr with than QJ, you want to build the pot with a high equity range

Well, you don't get squeezed as much live as the solver would expect. I wonder how much the calling range would widen if you could lock the positions behind into 3-betting 3%.

Some live games have hardly any 3-bets at all. Playing 2|5 at the local joint yesterday for 6-7 hours I got 3-bet 0 times and had KK get shown down against me 3 times by different players where I was PFR and they had just called. Pretty sure I'm justified in such a game to start flatting in LP a lot more and flat some in early/mid positions where I'd normally 3-bet or fold.

sounds like ur just looking for any reason not to bluff imo check yo self

yeah i agree with this. the skill of the players left to act is also important- the solver isnt going to assume the sb will peel super wide then play poorly postflop (which will substantially improve the ev of calling vs 3betting and shutting the player out of the pot, and also make marginal folds into calls). imo the combination of these means it is probably correct for a good player to flat much wider than the solver in a soft game. i dont think this is why most people are overcalling though, imo practically it has more to do with being uncomfortable in large pots with hands they consider marginal.