1/3

V is young guy who has been splashing slightly but not too out of line. Was stacked an hour before and has been quiet since.

H ran mega hot at start of session but has been card dead for the 2 hours since. Haven’t shown a bluff.

V has ~$400 and H covers

OTTH

UTG old asian man limps, new player to table in +1 makes it 6, V next to act makes it 20, folds to H in SB with AJo who 4! to 80, only V calls. He tanked for 30 seconds before calling and I got the impression he was debating whether to jam or call.

AT7r

H $70, V tanks for 30 seconds, buys time ($3 for 30 seconds more) and jams. H?

Shot clock at 1-3, I'm jealous. Where is this?
I doubt a 1-3 player finds any bluffs here, you're beat very often

I don't like the raise sizing or the downbet on the flop. I would have rather have seen a cold 4 to $70 here then a continuation for $80 on the flop. As played it feels like we're beat.

It is a luxury. My thinking exactly about the bluffs, don’t see any worse for value.

This is Crown Melbourne btw.

Don't like the 4bet, I'd prefer to just fold. A +1 raise over a UTG limp followed by a +2 3bet indicates two very strong ranges that make this a very unattractive spot to get fancy in. I'd prefer using AQs as a bluff here and not much else (tbh I'm not even sure if I'd ever be bluffing in this spot at 1/3).

My intuition says that we should just check the flop and go into bluff catching mode. It's nearly impossible to value bet and get called by worse, so I'd rather protect my KK/QQ checking range by checking our (presumably) weakest Ax hand and hope villain tries to bluff us.

I like the 4 bet with AJ. You have a blocker and most players never 4-bet without a premium hand, so you will get V to fold some of his 3-betting range. If you're aren't 4-betting, you need to fold. You just can't overdo the 4-betting here.

I like the continue on the flop. Could be a little bigger, but it's OK. When V rips it in, it's hardly ever a bluff. You're going to see a slowplayed AA (unlikely - only 1 combo of it), AK, and TT a lot. I would just fold and move on.

Checking the flop basically tells the V that "I hate the ace", and you risk getting bluffed off the hand if V has JJ-KK, likely holdings. Do you plan on holding on if V bets multiple streets? V easily could have AK or TT and you're screwed....and they will bet at least 2 streets, if not all 3. So you're guessing if you let the V take the betting lead.

I would rather bet/fold. I agree it's hard to get value from a worse hand. But you have to protect against KK-JJ. Hero is the aggressor, so he has to bet like he has AK or AA.

I like the 4bet out of the small blind with AJ. Either 4bet or fold. I don't like the downbet though. I don't ever downbet at this stake. Against a V who has been playing splashy I would rather 4bet a little smaller, $70 or $65 and then fire larger on the flop. Downbets at this stake can induce a lot of weird behavior, which is something to consider in this hand whether we induced this jam. Overall I think we're beat here given that the board is so dry.

Grunch

How often has he been 3 betting?

He just three bet an unknown opening in UTG +1 while in UTG +2... Unless you think he's a maniac AJ is likely dominated and he is not going to have much of a fold to 4 range pre.

There are many better spots, let this one go.

I would snap fold pre unless villain is ridiculously out of line.

Check flop as played.

Fold pre when it is two raises in front of you. AJ is a fold to even an open from a solid player.

That changes things a bit. From what I've read, the players there are extremely loose from a US standard, so AJo would be a value raise, not a bluff.

If you are 6bet me, I hope things are going better.

You can't get away from this hand after four betting. SPR is way too shallow to be folding top pair. You certainly cant get away after putting in $70 on the flop. You have put in 40% of your stack and flopped top pair. The rest of the money must go in.

This does not follow. Yes, you represent a very strong range, but that doesn't mean that V will fold. Most LLSNL Vs do not have a 3-bet/fold range, even though they know you likely have a monster. Once they 3-bet a hand, they are married to it, at least until the flop and even thereafter if they catch TP+ or retain an OP.

It goes both ways: we want worse than AX in our betting range to profit from folds from hands like QQ or JJ; and we also want better than KK in our checking range, so that villains can't blithely assume that just because we checked we are giving up.

AJ is just about the weakest ace we are going to have here, unless we are making this play with a hand like suited A5. It is a terrific hand to have in our checking range on this board, precisely because the board is so dry. We are not afraid of an overcard falling, and the biggest draws out there are gutshots and backdoors.

Being bluffed at is not a bad thing if we have a hand that can call bluffs.

As for multiple streets, we should pay close attention to how the turn card connects to the board. If it is a total brick. like a trey that completes the rainbow, then the villain's turn bet, if they are a skilled player, is going to mean that they aren't continuing with a backdoor draw that has improved, and so their range gets weighted more towards value. If it is a card higher than an 8, and/or puts a flush draw out there, it connects with more backdoors in the villain's range, giving them more bluffing combos in their continuing betting range. Pay close attention to our own cards; if we block the backdoor draw, that makes it a little less likely that the villain is continuing to bluff.

Then again, this is 1-3, and we shouldn't need to think on this level to make profitable decisions. But then, this is 1-3, and we probably ought not be making four-bet bluffs in the first place.

I don't like this hand. If we cold 4bet bluff AJo here, I think we're doing it too often, with a poor range. The main exploit for these stakes is that people call too often and raise too infrequently, consequently we can assume the villain's range is strong or very strong and will flat too often and that flatting range will crush us.

On the flop this is literally our nut bluffcatcher so let him bluff. AP sigh fold.

tl;dr fold pre, poker is EZ

Pre seems like button pressing/fps. As played it's an easy simple fold.

With no information on V's range pre, and after he raises an UTG+1 raiser, it's just an easy fold but what do I know I'm just a pro in the states I have no experience with players down under and their default early position 3betting ranges for unknowns.

Fold, we don't have the equity against his range to make this a profitable call.

Preflop you should fold this as well. Only if you have seen V showdown a widened 3bet range should you consider 4betting this hand. The reason is the reverse implied odds when you flop a worse ace (less chance) or a jack high flop versus QQ+.

I don't hate having a 4bet range that includes some bluffs, but those bluffs would be A5s, 87s, 76s and that range is villain dependent.

QQ+/AK is a good assumption at these stakes. Obviously varies radically between villains but assume premiums from unknowns and go from there. It's common to have a table where ~65% of hands are family limp pots and ~25% single raised family pots. You can go half an hour or longer without seeing a 3bet.

4bets are turbo-nuts, like I assume KK+/AK from a frisky young gun type. You generally shouldn't continue to an unknown 4bet without KK/AA.

It really is going to depend on the size of the four-bet and stack depth (i.e. immediate and implied odds) and on our position relative to the four-bettor.

A pocket pair is only very slightly worse than a 3:2 equity dog versus the range {KK+, AK}, is better than 3:1 against {KK+, AKs}, and better than 5:1 against {KK+}

If we re-raised to 9bb and the villain made it 30bb to go, and if the effective stack is something like 1000bb, we are going to see a flop with a rather wider range than if the effective stack is 100bb. Likewise, if we re-raised to 9bb and the vlilain shoved for 13bb, we would also be calling with a wider range, although perhaps differently composed from the 1000 bb case.

"You generally shouldn't continue to an unknown 4bet without KK/AA" is a statement that puts loss aversion ahead of expectation and profit.

It's a correct statement in the games I play, which contextually is what we're discussing, as I responded to Playbig's post.

Let's note that I qualified what I said with the word "generally".

So yeah, if we're 1000bb deep or the 4bet is a shove for a tiny amount extra, that's not a good time to make quick hero folds.

1-2 NLHE, typical rando opens for $12 in MP. Loose fish calls in HJ, we are on the button with QQ and 3-bet to $50. SB folds. Peet Starbuck in the BB puts down his newspaper crossword puzzle, looks at his cards, and shoves his $62 stack into the pot. Everyone else folds.

There is $137 in the pot, and we are facing $12 to call. We are getting more than 10:1 and our call closes the action for the rest of the hand.

QQ is neither AA nor KK. Peet Starbuck is such a flinty fossil that he probably doesn't have KK; his range is 100% AA.

Are you really going to fold here?

Really?

I'm sure you can come up with a bunch more edge cases if you like, it doesn't invalidate what I said.

IME it goes more like this:

Standard middle aged reg makes it $16, 2 overcallers, folds to hero in SB who makes it $90. Reg makes it $205. We are $500 effective. Snap fold QQ.

In that scenario, we are getting 2:1 for our call. If the villain has any AKo in their range it's a snap-call, not a snap-fold.