Hi everyone,

We are playing 5/25 OTB with an optional straddle. So player on the button has choice of 5/10/15/20/25 OTB before looking at their cards. $25/50 happens occasionally but in this hand button chose 5 and I chose not to straddle.

Hero is TAG in for ~$500 currently down to $400. Most active player at the table. I've gotten it in 4-5 times in the first two hours because of the short effective stacks, especially when more than $5 is put on the button. Effective stack is $300.

Hero raises 54cc in SB to $20. 3 callers. I know in a game like this with short effective stacks this is a fold but w/e. Game is time raked which is a factor that helps me profitably widen my ranges pre.

Main Villain: Omaha Crusher who plays in the big Omaha games. doesn't play as much hold em to my knowledge.. He may be tilted as he's down to $300 from a lot more and just got bluffed out of a big pot on the river but my guess is he has a solid mental game and that this is just a consideration.

($80) Flop Qc3x2c. Hero bets $40. Reg next to act calls. Two deeper stacks get out of the way.

($160) 7x. Hero shoves.

Thoughts?

400$ with a button blind is not the place to be playing 54s in the small blind. Check it pre; you should probably be checking 100% of your range here, and limp/reraise a good amount.

Post your hand is pretty face up as what it is, but you have so much equity that it is hard to be terrible.. but trying to bluff a possibly tilting villain, on a dry board where you don't have many extremely strong hands? He doesn't fold any Queen's here

I can't check here. Unless there's a straddle, only the button has money committed pre. Action starts on the SB

54s is just too loose to be opening where you are. Yet you are TAG. riiiight.

Everything else you say about game dynamics and the villain make it even worse.

This be spew of the highest order.

So if the BTN goes $25, Hero has 16 bbs eff? If that's the case, 54s and first to act = snap fold.

As played, turn shove is fine.

Fwiw, I'd play $1/2 or $1/$3 NL which will allow more post flop maneuverability.

So it's a single blind, on the button game? That seems... Silly. Fold pre, fold almost everything pre unless it folds to you in the HJ/CO then you can play hands like 54s

Weird format. How many people are a this table? It's hard to see preflop being anything other than spew.

When people get shortstacked, some get conservative, others start to punt. You say you think he may have a solid mental game, so I'm OK with the bluff. But normally against a tilted player who I think is looking to punt off his remaining stack, I'm pretty much throwing out bluffs (even high equity ones like this) and looking to open up the value range.

I agree that preflop is spew. The reason I did it is that I’m fairly comfortable with the situations that arise postflop with SCs in this configuration as the PFR and the 3! had died down in the half hour before this hand. I like to shift between TAG and LAG, admittedly depending on how I’ve been running. Also, I was happy that the button chose $5 .

As far as game selection, I think taking a shot in this game with $500 is +EV because I don’t have to participate in the high stakes pots unless I have a premium and only have to commit $5 each round. Also, the deeper stacks have to navigate against varying stack sizes where as I can play my hands well more easily. Playing bigger is fun too!

Yessir. If the button chose $10+ I’m mucking, obviously. Luckily the player to my right chose $5 all night

I play TAG more often than LAG but sometimes I can’t help mixing it up in -EV spots. Definitely a leak. Oh well

So, you're not actually in the SB, as you have no money posted. You're UTG, and it's worse than being UTG in a standard 2-blind structure because everyone that can get involved in the hand has position on you. Fold pre and it's not close. As played, I like the semi bluff shove. Applies maximum pressure to villain's Qx hands, folds out unpaired drawing hands.

Postflop seems fine. 7 isn't much of a scare card but you've got a monster draw with no SDV. If you get any folds this is fine.

Preflop is torching. You wouldn't raise 54s UTG in a normal structure, even worse when the only person with money invested will be in position to you.

Which brings me to the last point: This format is trash. The blinds being OOP postflop is very important to generate action. When the person posting is IP people are going to be less inclined to try to steal it. This isn't to say that it can't be profitable (especially if the people electing to post are encouraged to post a larger amount), but the optimal strategy is a very boring one (tighter ranges except on the BTN). Opening 54s in SB (UTG, I guess?) is an absolute torch here.

Agree pre-flop is a mistake. From very late position it's OK to mix in this type of raise (in the right circumstances), but not from EP.

The rest of the hand is fine.

What do you guys think about a c/r flop, jam turn line?