5/5

~$500 effective

MP - Middle-aged Asian guy. Played with him for a few orbits, but haven’t seen anything noteworthy. Mostly an unknown.

MP raises to $20, Hero BB calls with 54

Flop($45) 8 6 5

Hero checks, MP bets $30, Hero calls

Turn($105) 4

Hero leads to $60, MP tanks for a while and calls

River($225) 6

Hero x, MP bets $125, Hero folds

I’ll explain my thought process during the hand: The turn is a really good card for my range since I have a lot of low cards in my preflop calling range. My opponent likely has overpairs or high cards that would check back here, and I didn’t want to give him a free card, so I decided to lead out with a bet.

Fold Pre here. I get we are closing the action, good price, blah blah, but SCs don't play well OOP.

Post flop - flop and turn seem fine. The Turn hits your range more, and over pairs may well check back if we check.

You could choose to bluff river, and rep the straight/boat, but I'm reluctant to do that without a hecka good read given we have limited data and don't know if he has a fold button.

As playe, after you check, and he bets, river is an obvious fold after we get counterfeited.

FYP

If the game is raked then we could fold pre facing 4x. If it is unraked then we can't fold pre.

Turn is an okay spot to donk, but mainly with our donks we want to go smaller, like 33% pot. River check is okay, but it is a very compelling spot to check jam as a bluff, repping the full house, blocking hands like 65s and 55. It just depends how stationy he is and how thin he is value betting on the river. It's kind of dumb silly for him to be value betting worse than a straight here. His size doesn't really tell the story that he had a boat here. Not even super convinced he had a straight. Actually you may have the best hand here sometimes considering he can have missed hearts. But just in case he is clicking buttons with a hand like 8x or an iver pair, I like check jamming as a bluff as long as our opponent isn't stationy.

Hey OP - I've noticed all the hands you post are 5/5, but usually only $500 effective. Why is that? Is this one of those weird Cali games with a low cap and a huge rake? I'd think that's worth knowing, as it might change some of the advice you get here.

As for the hand...

Pre looks fine.

EDIT - sorry, I forgot we're only starting 100bb deep. Pre is not fine. Raise or fold, but calling with low SC's at this stack depth is leak-tastic.

Flop - he's c-betting too large, I think.

His bet size suggests he's not c-betting his entire range, so he's betting more polar (I think?).

Unless this is his range c-bet size, he's got over-pairs, and some un-paired over-cards like AK/AQ/KQ, and maybe some 1P + a draw combos, but it's hard to see him blasting off with 22, 33, 44, and suited aces that just whiffed.

I'm definitely not x/r'ing, and I could see folding, but flatting seems okay.

Turn - not crazy about the donk here.

We've improved to 2P, and he was mostly repping over-pairs for value on the flop, so I think this is a good hand to bluff-catch. I'm not really expecting him to barrel huge when we call his big flop c-bet, the turn brings in a lot of 2P and straight draw combos, and he could already be behind our flopped 2P and sets that don't x/r when he bets 2/3 pot.

I think checking turn, to call a 2/3 pot to pot size bet, is better than donking out for 60% pot, which just seems like we're playing our hand like a semi-bluff. If you want to donk, I think it should be bigger. We can rep 2P+ and straights, and have plenty of bluffs in our range.

If he bets small, half pot or less, I think then I would check-raise, because now it looks like he picked up the flush draw, or just has 1P, and we don't want to let him see a cheap river.

River - Aaaannndddd...this is why I don't like the turn donk.

Now we beat nothing but bluffs. If we bet big now, we are bluffing, but with showdown value, which is just meh. I guess we could block-bet for $75, and fold to a raise. We could check-evaluate, which is mostly just check-fold when he bets big.

It sucks when he bets around 1/2 pot. It looks so milky. I hate it, but I think we have to fold.

Yeah, typical Cali 5/5 game. They also have 5/3 with a $300 cap, but it's not worth playing due to the same drop structure. You really have to dodge the rake in these games. I’m playing $500 effective because I always table change if the game isn't good and that happens quite often lol.


I plan to change my strategy and stay longer at the same table to build a decent stack, which can give me more value in the night games. I feel awkward when the game is good with a lot of action, and I'm sitting there with $500 like a dork, because I've spent the whole day chasing $200 fish at other tables.

Just read the rest of the thread.

I don't like donking small on such a wet board with bottom 2P. When we donk small, we're going to get called a lot, and we're going to hate too many river cards. I think we basically want to fast-play our hand for max value right now, or play it like a bluff-catcher on brick run-outs.

I think checking, possibly to check-raise, is better than donking, but if we're going to donk with bottom 2P, on this board texture, we should go larger.

I thought about check-raising the river as a bluff, but...why are we donking 2P/sets on the turn, for 60% pot, and then checking the river? Seems like our 2P/sets would want to bet bigger on the turn, if they don't check-raise the flop.

The turn bet sizing just doesn't seem like we have super-strong value. It looks like we picked up some equity and just want to see a cheap river. I don't think V is betting $125 into $225 and folding when we jam for $390, unless he's bluffing, and if he is bluffing, we can just call and win.

I'd get those thoughts out of your head. Most casinos cap buy-ins at 200bb or less, so it's out of your hands. FWIW, in my mission the past few months to begin trying to play more optimally, I've gone back to buying in for only 100bb, and topping off if it dips below 75bb. I've found that doing this makes it easier for me to try to play more balanced and to feel less afraid to make the needed bluffs.

However, since I've been on a good run as well since making these changes, I've generally been playing with closer to 130+bb in front of me.

At these stakes, players tend to play pretty tight, and many would rather check the turn with overpairs. I don’t want to give him a free chance to see a 6 or an 8 on the river, or any card that could give him a better hand. I rarely expect to see a second barrel from my opponent here. This board favors my range more than his.

Yes, but if you start your session earlier and stick to one table, there’s a high chance you'll be playing a fishy night game with a $1000+ stack. People tend to straddle more at night, and if you’re sitting with $500, you’re essentially a short stack in a 5/5 game with a $10 straddle. Standard open raises are $40.

Cali games are more stressful and swingy, and there’s more rake as well. You pay the same rake for a $20/$100/$1000 pot, which means that everything under a $100 pot feels useless and unbeatable. That’s why the standard open raise is so large ($20).

I’m still trying to find a solution.

Play tighter and raise bigger pre, fast play thick value post.

Donk this turn huge. See if he wants to play for stacks with 1P or AK.

That's the best I can offer.

you can do alot of things on this board given how ranges interact but id never do this lol. if you want to bet id just bet small w range ott, this is too big and honestly your hand is just nowhere near good enough to start doing this if you want to develop a large turn sizing (questionable). there are assumptions i can guess u could make where this is ok but this should not be your default line

i find it pretty tough to take the fold preflop comments seriously

re the x shove river idea presented earlier. i would honestly rather c/c than c/shove the river here. i doubt IP is betting one pair, and i doubt he is b/f a straight to this action. dont think id really look to do that either but atleast u beat bricked hearts, i think u just lose that much more the times he actually has a value bet

Tough hand, well played. On the turn, I’m ok with a check/call or small bet or large bet. I was surprised that your equity on the turn against V’s continuing range is about 62 percent. The 6s cut your equity to just 7 percent against V’s continuing range. Yes, you block the full houses, but will pairs 99+ fold? I would need a read to make a river bluff.

At what rake does defending 54s in the BB become unprofitable?

In California games with low caps and high rakes, 54s is better played as raise or fild, not a flat call.

In that case, donk turn, but donk bigger, because our hand is strong, yet still very vulnerable.

In theory it is 0 EV vs 4x open at 10% rake 2bb cap. So I guess there is an argument that if you have an edge, maybe it's profitable. But in general I don't like overdefending too much vs 4x. I would rather defend hands that flop good top pairs and sets.