2/5 - Table is somewhat tight and passive. All are regulars. Some make more moves than others. Only one villain does so habitually, and he is having a tough night.

Villain - Big Blind. Middle-aged white guy with earring, glasses, and Mariner's cap. Competent. Solid. Doesn't get in that many hands but tends to win them. He is usually at this poker room when I am there, but I have only played him once or twice. I am not sure what he is capable of but doesn't seem to get too out of hand. Losing this session. (~340)

Hero - Button. Looks mid to late 30's. White. Plays once per week. Has been playing aggressive but neither tight nor loose. Had raised the limpers pre from CO w/ AJs in previous hand. Won medium pot in showdown. Winning this session. (~700)

MP limps. CO limps. All others fold. Hero looks down and sees Ac10d.

Hero???

$30-$35 looks good to me

Hero, holding Ac10d, bets $25. Villains are capable of picking up pattern tells. All session, I have been betting $15 + $5/limper.

All fold except for the BB.

Flop - A73
(Pot ~60)

Villain leads out for $35.

Hero???

I'd call here.

The best A I could villian on here is AQ or AJ. Could be semi bluff with flush draw though. As I said I would call and see what turn brings. If no heart and he leads out again I would be worried.

Hero, holding Ac10d, bets $25. Villains are capable of picking up pattern tells. All session, I have been betting $15 + $5/limper.

All fold except for the BB.

Flop - A73
(Pot ~60)

Villain leads out for $35. Hero flats.

Turn - J
(Pot $130)

Villain leads for $45

Hero???

wow such a weak bet. Its like a blocker with a fd? I might pop him here $145. Would he bet like such a ghey with a set. Or play pot control and flat?

Or fold. I don't know which is best. I would say 1. Call 2. Raise 3. Fold

With flatting the most attractive option.

I more so agree with your first post. The first thing I noticed was the bet as well, very weak. This is either a block bet or he just caught 2 pair and is asking for a raise. I'd put him on the flush draw and raise him $140. I don't think he can shove with the fd here with 1 card to come. If he shoves then he's gotta you beat.

But then this is r/f and I'm sure most people don't like this.

You can also just flat here and pray to god heart doesn't hit. Either way I think villain is betting river and you're gonna be in a tough spot.

This is one of those situations where you really have no clue where you're at.......time to go with your gut lol. Personally I'd raise to 150ish to see where I'm really at, and because it's cheaper than calling 45 dollars and a river bet of 175 to 225 dollars to see if you're right.

It's that or fold with your tail tucked, but again, I'd go with my gut.

This is the last thing you want to do IMO. You are overrepping your hand. I tank call both the flop and turn. Then I will evaluate the river play. I am tank calling for 2 reasons:

1) To look weak to villain to allow him to bluff (i.e. busted FD)
2) Obviously at this point we aren't folding, but if hes super strong he probably wont make such a big bet OTR if we give off weak signals.

Preflop $30 is about right.

Your line and my line are roughly the same IMO. I don't think a raise here is a horrible option.

If we go with my line, and he calls our raise(and yeah basically we're turning our hand in a bluff here, as you pointed out, but we want to seem like we have strength to accomplish two things; to try and fold out relatively weak hands that beat us such as AQ, AK, and to give him a chance to fold), I'm not investing more money in the pot, as he most likely has us beat with 2 pair or a set. It doesn't matter what he bets on the river, we fold because most likely he's taking us to valuetown as we've gotten the information we need on the turn. So we're down the 150ish bet. If he were weak/on a draw, he would most likely fold here as he doesn't have enough behind to make us fold if he were to shove(in his mind we're strong).

If we go with your line, don't you think we're just kinda sticking our balls out and hoping for the best?

We call the 45, and then we face a river bet of let's just say 100. There's no option for him to fold, but yeah you're right he could be bluffing on a busted FD. But what do we do if he shoved the rest of his stack? Not enough info to call IMO.

Personally I'd rather be aggressive, but again, these are the types of situations where you have to go with your gut/read on your opponent.

Hero pops it to $135. Villain calls.
(pot - $400)

River - 9

Villain shoves his remaining chips ~200.

Extra colour - villain's slightly greater than 1/2 pb on a two tone flop was uncharacteristic of him and table. Also, in recent orbits I had been raising the limpers quite frequently from late (HJ - Button). I was starting to sense a certain level of scepticism.

Hero - call or fold?

Thanks for the detailed response. I never really thought of it this way, partially because I am a former 1/2 player (finally finally making the move to 2/5) This is why I felt it was a bad raise, because level 1 villains wouldnt normally fold stronger aces.

So basically what I'm saying in a nutshell is, based on read/feel, raise if you think hes trying to cheaply draw to a FD// it gets him off stronger aces, and slow call if you are playing a level 1 aggrotard.

As played, I fold the river because you overrepped your hand (for decent reason though) and he's still shoving in. Our raise on the turn is supposed to send a message that we aren't folding. I would assume villain has the sense to not shove bluffs, and only continue with big hands (2pair++)

But I am a little hesitant in my decision on this because wouldn't he shove the hands OTT that I just listed above? (2p++, sets)

This is a sick spot. Maybe my slowcall play wasn't so bad T8 hearts is a possibility though

His river shove is weird. What hand shoves the river that doesn't 3b shove the turn? Missed hearts is a big part of that range I think, especially after the tiny turn blocker. I'm quite tempted to call getting 3:1.

Not a big fan of raising the turn, feels more WA/WB.

did he show you A9

If villan is bluffing then well played, I'm folding river as played.

Hey no problem, we are all here to learn. I'm definitely not saying my line is the "correct" line, just explaining my thought process.

And yeah, you're right, how you react definitely depends on the level your opponent is at and how good your reads are. With this opponent outlined I'd raise, with another opponent I'd fold, and with a super aggro donk I'd keep feeding him the rope to hang himself.

With OP's update, I'd fold the river.

I can't see calling river.

Villain has obviously shown strength this entire hand. How many people 3 barrel bluff in 1/2 even after you raise them showing your strength?

Raise 35 Preflop. Call Flop. Call Turn.

River is a really tough spot to be in and it's your own fault IMO. Since a flush draw (or combo flush/straight draws) is such a large part of his range I think you have to call here. LMAO if he turned over Jh9h or 9h7h.

The fact that this also beats you (even though its a thin shove) makes me think you have to fold here. Our equity sucks hard here even getting 3:1. Bluff shoves like this in 1/2? I doubt it.

This isn't 1/2 though. This is 2/5.

^^thanks, forgot.

Whoops misread hand, disregard comment for anybody who read it before this edit. I'd fold river pretty begrudgingly.

(Game is 2/5 but that is the lowest nl level.)


Hero goes into tank and agrees to donate a "contribution."

Villain flips over A7


I think villain is an every day player and capable of doing many things but does not do them often. I also thought he would call me preflop and play back at me wider given the recent history.

Calling the turn would have been much better, but I was very suspicious of his small flop bet and thought he might be on a draw. The turn bet clinched it, and I felt confident about the read. I wasn't so confident by the time the river came and villain shoved. However, I had a hard time backing off the 3:1 odds given the strength of my initial conviction.

A 4bet on the turn would have let me off easily. I had a hard time imagining he would give me cheap cards and free cards with 18 outs that he would not like. (Okay - maybe my over the top tipped him off that I didn't have a FD in my hand.)

Interesting line he had here not getting it in OTT like you said. There is a lot out there that has him beat with your turn raise, so his river shove isn't quite thin, but close. You look as if you have AK++