Hand played over the wkend.

Hero (SB) -- ~$1200 -- Playing fairly LAG like I always do, opening lots of pots pre, getting irritated at the slowness of the game and relatively little action. V1 recently moved to my left. I think he was trying to specifically get position on me.

V1 (BB) -- ~$1000 -- solid player, seems fairly TAGish (for this game anyway), saw him play a set very cautiously earlier when he ended up folding a river shove with a set on a 478xx board against a flop chkraise, big turn bet/river shove. (other guy showed the nuts). Haven't seen him do anything out of line, big bets always seemed to be with big hands, but I'm sure he's capable of bluffing.

V2 (CO) -- ~$200 -- a woman, not very good.

V3 (BTN) -- ~$400 -- random bad player.

V2 limps CO, V3 overlimps on button. I'm irritated at the LP limpers, look down and see A7dd, and decide to raise -- I make it $35 (normally I just complete here). V1 quickly calls, V2 calls, and V3 calls.

Flop -- ($140) -- A74r.

I lead for $75. V1 thinks for a bit before calling, V2 calls. V3 folds.

At this point, I don't entirely like V1's call. It just felt strong to me. I think he was likely to have 3bet with AK pre. I felt like he was stronger than AT. So I'm really putting him on a hand like AJ or AQ, a set, or possibly 56s. I think he would have raised A4s... I'm not sure if he calls 56s or A4s pre though... I'm pretty certain that V2 has some random A.

Turn -- ($365) -- A74r6 (brings BD spade draw, A is not a spade).

I decide that if I check that either V1 or V2 is certain to bet. I'm planning to check-raise, and to go to showdown with V2 when she gets all her money in, and I think that V1 will fold all one pair hands. V2 has ~$95, maybe a little more.

I check. V1 quickly leads for $200. V2 calls all-in.

Now, my problem here is that based on gameflow and my reads on V1, the $200 bet is representative of a very strong hand. I think that AJs or AQs with the BDFD is possible, same with A4s (but I would have expected a raise on the flop), maybe A5s or A6s (but I think he was likely to fold to my flop bet with these hands). I think he might even check aces with a FD or SD, not wanting to be chkraised off the hand. I don't see him showing up with a random AJ or AQ, and definitely not A8-AT. I think 44 and 77 are a huge part of his range... I just felt like if he had one pair -- a hand like AJ or AQ -- his bet was likely to be around $130.

I tank for a bit, and even consider folding! I don't like flatting because there are so many bad river cards for me, and it's going to be hard for me to get a 3rd street of value if my hand is best.

If I call the bet, eff stack sizes are $700.

What's my action? Should I just stick with my plan and check-raise/get it in?

You are shoving or folding. Since you have underrepped your hand very effectively, I don't think you can muck top two pair when you fear only 44 and 77.

Also, you don't know that he would have 3bet pre with AK. Flatting pre IP against a LAG can be an effective way to clean up. His adjustments to you might include the above line with AQ or AJ as well. Your half betting the flop and checking the turn is not indicative of 2pair+ held by an aggressive player.


I agree though that you can rule out A4 and A6. Those are not situations a TAG wants to be in against a preflop LAG raiser. The TAG game is all about patience. I'm not sure about 56s though. That starting hand requires serious postflop aggression against an opponent who will give free cards seldomly, but the stacks are pretty deep...

simple jam here. if he has one of the 4 hands that beat you (77 1 combo, 44 3 combos) so be it. you run in to 58 or 53 here so little its not worth worrying about

I lead for $200-250 here OTT. As played, jam now and never fold. For the same reasons stated above.

pre raise was a bit :\. Flop was nice, turn was great, river easy jam.. nh

Yep... I jammed... V1 had 77. nh... The reason I question jamming here is that I'm pretty much *never* getting called by worse. So, there's three possible situations: I just fold and lose $110 in the hand. Sucks if I was ahead... I jam, V1 folds, I win a bit over $500 most of the time, but sometimes lose $100 when V2 beats me. Or I jam, and V1 calls. I lose $1000 like 95% of the time, but sometimes hit my 2-3 outter... So, I have to be good close to 2/3 of the time. In this situation, given gameflow/dynamics, and my reads, I think it's actually pretty close -- but I lean towards my jam being correct.

I find a quick call in situations like this to be a medium-to-low pocket pair a lot of the time, especially if Villain is deep, too. Good aces, suited connectors, and high pairs generally give at least a slight pause before acting. For the most part, small pocket pairs play themselves after the flop, so pre-flop reactions to raises are usually quick and clean.

Agreed... Quick call pre. Slow call on flop. Insta big-bet on turn. Looks a lot like a set... All part of the reason I think this hand was discussion-worthy, and not a simple fist-pump-jam.

Also, I know there are only 4 combos that could beat me. But assuming that V2 has an ace, there's only 12 combos of AJ-AK left for V1, add another 2 combos of A4s. Given action, I think all of these 14 combos have to be discounted quite a bit. Looking at it this way and knowing that I need to be ahead 2/3 of the time in order for a jam to be correct, I don't think it's right to think this is an "I have top two" auto-shove.

I don't really agree with the jam here since you are playing so deep. At the point when you were faced with a 200 dollar raise, you still have a stack of $1100 in front of you. You could have definitely picked a better spot to stick your whole stack (218bb) in.



He has to call 690 for the pot of 1550 in this spot which makes it a marginal call even if he had a hand such as AsXs (It might be close though lol)

I assume that you think flatting is best then? If I do call, what's my river line? If I check the river, I expect him to check back any one pair hands almost always. But can I really call turn, and check/fold river if, say, an offsuit T peels? Can I bet/fold river? I guess I could bet like $300, but folding the last $400 would be pretty tough given the pot size and the fact that over 50% of eff stacks went in. And he's probably folding AJ-AQ for $300 *a lot* of the time... Point is, I get no value on river if my hand is best. And, if I am best, I don't want him seeing the river for such a cheap price with something like AJs with the BDFD.

Flatting does have the benefit that I could turn my hand into a bluff if a 3, 5, or an 8 peels (putting a one-liner to a str8 on board), but I think jamming on the BD flush hitting would be really bad.

It's just way too hard on the turn to be even know exactly if you're ahead or behind. Calling to evaluate might be the best line to take. Folding is a bit nitty and raising you're not going to be called with anything worse because the stacks are so deep.

Let say a spade hits on the river, and you Bet $300, I don't think villian will shove his whole stack. In this situation you'll get to the river for $400 less. Very unlikely too but he might even fold this hand LOL

Maybe hindsight but I totally agree if he had a one pair hand with a flush draw he'll probably bet less like $150 just to sweeten the pot. $200 seems kinda strong to me also.