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AA caught between a rock and a dumb place - what to do on flop? AA caught between a rock and a dumb place - what to do on flop?

03-02-2024 , 04:01 PM
Let's see how badly I butchered this one...

2/5, $1k max, 9 handed.

H in SB ~$1500 - TAG-reg MAWG. VPIP'ing around 20%, mostly open-raising or 3B'ing pre. Rarely getting out of line. Haven't shown a bluff in ages, but have been looked up going for thin value.

V1 in BB ~$600 - late 20's/early 30's WG. Never seen him in the room. No one at the table and none of the dealers seemed to know him. Sorta LAG-fish - VPIP'ing 30% or more, limping, over-limping, and cold-calling 3B's pre, occasionally opening or 3B'ing strong hands, sometimes min-click 3B'ing with big PP's. Fond of donk-leading flops in weird spots - boards that would favor the PFR in SRPs, and boards that wouldn't seem to favor anyone in 3B pots, but generally donk-betting for value. Sticky and calling wide post-flop, paying off bets/raises in spots that are clear folds. Will over-bluff and bet too thin when checked to on the river.

V2 on BTN ~$1200 - late 50's/early 60's TAG/Rock reg. Played with him a handful of times. Never out of line pre. VPIP'ing around 10%. Doesn't like folding to 3B's when he opens for a raise, but doesn't seem to have a 3B/4B range that extends much beyond AA/KK/AK. Post-flop, plays his nutted hands as traps, his marginal value as bluff-catchers, and only gets aggro when he has a strong but vulnerable hand.

OTTH...

Folds to V2 on BTN who opens to $20.

H in SB with AcAs 3B to $80.

V1 in BB calls.

$240 FLOP - QhTd9s. V1 donks for $180. V2 doesn't think too long before flicking in the call.

Hero?
AA caught between a rock and a dumb place - what to do on flop? Quote
03-02-2024 , 04:29 PM
Given reads on V2 we are either flipping with him or dead. If it was just V1 I’d check call and evaluate turn but against both I just fold. Also this large sizing forces us to play tighter.
AA caught between a rock and a dumb place - what to do on flop? Quote
03-02-2024 , 04:39 PM
With what stack size would you just jam it all in? Would you ever?
AA caught between a rock and a dumb place - what to do on flop? Quote
03-02-2024 , 04:40 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by polarizing96
With what stack size would you just jam it all in? Would you ever?
At spr 1 I would just open rip into both. At spr 4 I would check evaluate. In between it gets murky.

This flop smashes them. They have sets and straights and maybe some 2p. Their pair + draw has plenty of outs. This is a terrible flop for aces.
AA caught between a rock and a dumb place - what to do on flop? Quote
03-02-2024 , 05:13 PM
I fold flop pretty easily and don’t think much of it.
AA caught between a rock and a dumb place - what to do on flop? Quote
03-02-2024 , 05:54 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by OmahaDonk
Given reads on V2 we are either flipping with him or dead. If it was just V1 I’d check call and evaluate turn but against both I just fold. Also this large sizing forces us to play tighter.
Can you elaborate, vis-a-vis my reads on V2 and what range you're giving him here?

Quote:
Originally Posted by polarizing96
With what stack size would you just jam it all in? Would you ever?
Multi-way with a rock on the BTN, the stacks would have to be pretty short for me to just rip it in from up front. Like, at 1 SPR or less, it's a pretty trivial rip. At 2-3 SPR, I might check-raise if V1 bets 1/3 pot or less and V2 flat calls.

Even then - check-raising is dicey. V1 doesn't have much of a fold button, so even if I put him all-in, he's going to be calling a lot, and V2 will be getting very good odds to over-call.

At these stack depths, it's awkward for me to c-bet any size. V1's short enough to jam over my c-bet if he has a hand with decent equity, and V2 is deep enough to fold everything that isn't 2P or better.

Quote:
Originally Posted by OmahaDonk
At spr 1 I would just open rip into both. At spr 4 I would check evaluate. In between it gets murky.

This flop smashes them. They have sets and straights and maybe some 2p. Their pair + draw has plenty of outs. This is a terrible flop for aces.
This is very much what I was thinking. They both have straights, sets, 2P and 1P + a draw in their ranges. Against one or the other, this would be an easier spot to navigate, but against both, it seemed like checking was the best choice.

V1 was prone to taking larger sizing with all his value and his bluffs. I didn't know what to make of his donking out from middle position, into the original raiser and 3B'er, after he just flatted pre.

V1 seemed more likely to read my check as weakness than to understand I could check a lot of strong hands in this spot. But I didn't think V2 would float very wide when I could easily put in a big check-raise.

At a minimum, I figured V2 would never call with worse than a strong top pair + a draw, and would only raise with sets/2P or better. I didn't think he'd raise a flopped straight here, instead preferring to flat-call, so I could call or check-raise, or to let V1 continue to blast off with worse.

Last edited by docvail; 03-02-2024 at 06:00 PM.
AA caught between a rock and a dumb place - what to do on flop? Quote
03-02-2024 , 05:57 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by docvail
Can you elaborate, vis-a-vis my reads on V2 and what range you're givinghim here?
I assume he’s fast playing sets and 2p so he has KJ or pair + jack
AA caught between a rock and a dumb place - what to do on flop? Quote
03-02-2024 , 06:19 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by OmahaDonk
I assume he’s fast playing sets and 2p so he has KJ or pair + jack
Yeah. We're pretty much on the same page. I know he doesn't have AA/KK, obviously, but I haven't played with him enough to know if he has KJ or QQ here, or KQ, or JT. I probably only have a few hours with him, and he VPIP's at such a low rate I just don't have enough info to know what his range looks like.

He could definitely have 99/TT. I didn't think he'd be as wide as QTs, but maybe he has T9s. With how splashy-spewy V1 was, I wasn't sure if V2 would fast-play his sets and 2P as a raise, because it might seem like a way-ahead / way-behind spot for those hands.

Also no idea what he thinks of my play. I could have all the sets, 2P, straights, over-pairs, and 1P + a draw here, but also a lot of AXs and lower PP's that are just going to check-fold on this board.

It never crossed my mind to turn my hand into a bluff to rep KJ, but if I did have KJ, I'm pretty sure I would have either donk-led 2/3 pot, or check-raised enough to put V1 all in. Not that I'd expect V2 to be worried about me check-raising if he has 2P or a set, but if he does raise, then I'm definitely jamming KJ, and it's just a gross spot for him.

So, with how wet the board was, it seemed like V2 might not raise anything at all, or might raise 2P+, or possibly even play off his rock image and raise as a bluff, though that would be pretty wild.
AA caught between a rock and a dumb place - what to do on flop? Quote
03-02-2024 , 06:23 PM
How is v1 able to donk if hero is in the SB (first to act on the flop)?
AA caught between a rock and a dumb place - what to do on flop? Quote
03-02-2024 , 07:54 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Man of Means
How is v1 able to donk if hero is in the SB (first to act on the flop)?
Yeah, sorry, I should have said I checked, and he bet. Not a true donk. In my head, it seemed donkish, because V2 opened and I 3B. Betting out of the BB seemed weird.

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AA caught between a rock and a dumb place - what to do on flop? Quote
03-02-2024 , 08:47 PM
Ugh, I don't want to fold here bc v1 is fairly wide and v2 has a lot of AQ, Kk, JJ. But we can imagine the turn going through same action and then river being a ???
Would have rather used a flop lead and see how they react. If v2 overcalls or raises then am prob done.
AA caught between a rock and a dumb place - what to do on flop? Quote
03-02-2024 , 09:20 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Man of Means
Ugh, I don't want to fold here bc v1 is fairly wide and v2 has a lot of AQ, Kk, JJ. But we can imagine the turn going through same action and then river being a ???
Would have rather used a flop lead and see how they react. If v2 overcalls or raises then am prob done.
You feel my pain, right? I didn't want to fold, but even on a brick turn, what do I do sandwiched between a guy who blasts off and a guy who doesn't believe him?

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AA caught between a rock and a dumb place - what to do on flop? Quote
03-03-2024 , 01:21 PM
Hero ended up tank folding.

I can't remember the exact run-out or action, but all the money went in on the turn. The turn and river went runner-runner diamonds, with the Kd on the river.

Somewhat surprising reveal led to some interesting strat discussion with a couple other players not in the hand...

Spoiler:
V1 says he has AQ as he rolls over his hand. V2 turns over KQo, for top 2, leading V1 to cry, "Oh, c'mon!", before the dealer announces "flush". V1 didn't realize he had the winner, which I guess means he didn't realize he had the flush draw when he jammed turn with TPTK.

I wasn't sure how to feel.

On the one hand, I folded the best hand on the flop. On the other, I don't think V1 would have folded if I put him all in with a check-raise on the flop, and V2 might have come along. I probably wouldn't have bet turn, but if I did, and V2 called, which I think he'd do, I'd have lost both the main pot and the side pot.

V2 probably would have bet river, and I might not have found a fold. So my tight fold on the flop saved me a ton of money, despite being "wrong".

Hearing that I folded AA sparked discussion about whether or not it was a "good" fold in my spot, or if I should have c-bet instead of checking, or check-raised, whether or not either or both V's would have called, could I ever get called by worse, could AA ever be good there, against these two V's, given the action, etc.

It seemed like one of those scenarios wherein we're just going to lose no matter how we play it. The only thing I think might have made a difference here is if I 3B larger pre. As soon as I bet and V1 called, I knew I'd made a mistake, though I wouldn't call raising to $100-$120 and taking down a $27 pot a big win for AA.

Last edited by docvail; 03-03-2024 at 01:28 PM.
AA caught between a rock and a dumb place - what to do on flop? Quote
03-03-2024 , 06:00 PM
Just call flop and then see what happens on the turn
AA caught between a rock and a dumb place - what to do on flop? Quote
03-03-2024 , 08:50 PM
Call flop can be ok if there's a good chance we're ahead now (not clear due to nut peddler read on v2).
but we should have a plan for how to get the money in on good turn cards. K, Q, J are bad, T seems neutral and A-9 are good.
AA caught between a rock and a dumb place - what to do on flop? Quote
03-04-2024 , 10:52 AM
In game, what I was thinking is that both V's have an extremely tight 4B'ing range, but a fairly wide range for calling my 3B in the BB and on BTN.

So not only could I be in bad shape against 2P or better, most of the 1P hands I could target for value would have 6 to 10 outs to improve to 2P, a set, or a straight. There could also be some BDFD's added on the turn, making it even harder for me to navigate.

If it were heads-up, I could hope for a best-case scenario of being up against AQ, but even then, holding AA, there aren't very many AQ combos my opponent could have.

I didn't see any way to continue, OOP against two V's, on this board.
AA caught between a rock and a dumb place - what to do on flop? Quote
03-04-2024 , 10:58 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by docvail

So not only could I be in bad shape against 2P or better, most of the 1P hands I could target for value would have 6 to 10 outs to improve to 2P, a set, or a straight. There could also be some BDFD's added on the turn, making it even harder for me to navigate.
A hand like JT has 13 outs and is nearly a flip. I thought that would be one of the worst hands V2 could have. I didn’t think he would call a 3b with KQo given your player profile.
AA caught between a rock and a dumb place - what to do on flop? Quote
03-04-2024 , 11:27 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by OmahaDonk
A hand like JT has 13 outs and is nearly a flip. I thought that would be one of the worst hands V2 could have. I didn’t think he would call a 3b with KQo given your player profile.
He's on the BTN behind a TAG in the SB and a lag-fish in the BB, getting 3:1 on his call, closing the action. Seems like a reasonable call with KQ.

I didn't have a ton of time playing against him. I just noticed that once he entered a pot, he didn't like folding, and his 3B/4B range seemed to just be AA/KK/AKs.

I probably should have added that he did limp / over-limp occasionally. When he raised on the BTN after action folded to him, I wasn't sure how strong he'd be, because his raise would only have to get through the blinds.

So I couldn't rule out him having 2P or better, or just 1P and a draw. I didn't think he'd be continuing with worse than top pair with a draw to the nuts, so I figured KQ/QJ would be the worst hands V2 would have here.

V1 cold-calling my 3B over BTN's open and then leading out when I checked to him on the flop was hard to decipher. Because he'd been donking so much, both for value and with some draws, I couldn't rule out him having 2P or better, either. Even J8s seemed to be within his range, given how loose he was pre-flop.

I was surprised V1 had AQdd. It was the only combo of AQs available, and even though TPTK might seem like an obvious bet there, what does he do if V2 raises or I check-raise?
AA caught between a rock and a dumb place - what to do on flop? Quote
03-04-2024 , 06:27 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Man of Means
Ugh, I don't want to fold here bc v1 is fairly wide and v2 has a lot of AQ, Kk, JJ. But we can imagine the turn going through same action and then river being a ???
Would have rather used a flop lead and see how they react. If v2 overcalls or raises then am prob done.
I can't remember ever 3B'ing out of the SB, the BB cold-calling and the initial raiser on the BTN over-calling. OOP against these two V's, I wasn't sure if I should c-bet this board, or if I did, what size I should take.

I didn't see the point of c-betting 1/3 pot or less, unless we're trying to induce someone to raise for value, so we can more easily fold. But we can do that "see where I'm at" thing by just checking. If V1 bets and V2 raises, we can fold and save $80. If the action checks through, we can make a delayed c-bet on a brick turn. If it checks to V2, and he bets, we can flat call.

Betting 1/2 to 2/3 might fold out one or the other V, but we'd still be OOP with no idea where we were at, facing either a call or a raise, and possibly even a raise and a call. I figured V1 would probably call with any piece of the board, and V2 might want to come along with the odds he'd be getting.

All we'd be doing is bloating the pot, MW and OOP, not really knowing more than we already did.

The problem with calling the flop was that either opponent might have 2P or better, or might have 1P + a straight draw that picks up a BDFD on the turn, with a small enough SPR to jam or call off a jam. Even an A or a board-pair on the turn wouldn't fill me with confidence. The only bricks would be 2-5 of clubs, but they do us no good if we're already losing to 2P+.

No matter what the turn card was, I didn't see the action checking through, once V1 bet flop and V2 called. I figured V1 would jam almost any turn card, with less than a half-pot sized bet left behind.

If we flat call flop, and V1 jams turn, I figured V2 would only call off the jam with a fairly strong hand, knowing we might over-jam, so we'd be forced to fold if V2 called. Even if V2 folds, we'd still need to win 23% of the time to break even on a call. It was hard for me to figure out what range V1 would need to have for us to flat call flop knowing we might have to call a turn jam.

Calling flop knowing we might have to fold on any turn card didn't seem to make any sense. Even if the turn checked through, we'd still need the river to check through again, which seemed extremely unlikely.

When action got back to me, it seemed like a fold or raise spot. But if I raised, it felt like I'd be turning AA into a bluff, to rep KJ, and hoping for folds. I'd rather turn JJ into a bluff, double-blocking KJ and J8 and all the 1P + OESD combos, with 10 outs to improve to a set or straight. AA blocks nothing in either V's value range, other than AQ, which we're crushing.

There was $600 in the pot by then, and even a min-click puts V1 all in. If V1 called, which seemed likely, it sets up a jam-or-fold spot for V2. He's never folding straights, and probably not sets, so we'd only be trying to fold out his 2P, and deny equity from worse hands that could catch up.

I figured my raise would have to be at least $500 to get V2 to fold if V1 called, and if V2 did fold, he'd probably be folding a hand we were beating, since I didn't think he'd easily fold 2P, getting 4.5 to 1.

It just didn't seem like a good spot to keep putting money in, since I could never be too far ahead of both opponents' ranges, and was more than likely behind at least one, if not both.
AA caught between a rock and a dumb place - what to do on flop? Quote

      
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