$1/$2 9-handed. At the table with V since it opened two hours ago. I am sitting on $500. Villain is a good regular player. Nothing fancy, pays attention to the game and reads (my bets and hands) quite accurately. So far has put me accurately on two hands when I had taken some pots without showing. He is sitting on ~ $400. I presume my image is TAG.

Get dealt AA in LP. One limper to me and I raise to $20.
SB (Villain) and BB call. Limper folds.

Flop ($62): J85

Villain in SB leads out for $35. BB folds and I flat with nothing scary on that flop at the moment and am very likely ahead with position.


Turn ($132): 7

Villain leads out again for $35. I don't really like the 7 but is not too scary yet. I raise to $70. V flats.


River ($272): 9

Villain leads out for $75. Hero ?

Appreciate comments on all streets.

One of the things I always consider when a V donks into me from OOP, is that they are semi-bluffing a good draw. What would his PF calling range be from the blinds? His donk was just almost a 1/2 PSB right? So he is effectively pricing the turn for himself at 3:1 if he gets one caller 4:1 if you both call... Is T9 in his range here?

Why are you raising the turn? You think he's slow playing QQ or KK? A good hand reader has you on an OP. Your raise offers him direct odds to call with a draw. It is completely useless.

As for the river, you're getting over 4:1 to call. I expect to lose often, but call.

I raised the turn to a) get more info from V. b) try and build the pot a bit more with over-pair if he is sitting on a pair. I think a larger raise will scare him off a worse hand that i beat, and a call will keep the pot small?

So what did you learn from the raise? If you learned something, you wouldn't need to make a HH out of this.

Raise flop to 120. Turn bet feels weak but he is just feeling you out. If he is drawing, your min raise on the turn has made his odds pretty solid. Either raise flop 120 or raise the turn 200.

Min-raise flop. Call turn. Call river but expect to be beat. You're probably beat.

This is real V dependent with the (same bet as before) scenario.

Min-raise flop to charge draws.

Puke calling here, not expecting to see a straight, but mainly a) JJ, b)910 c)

You're not going to get 200BB in by flatting otf.

Once you don't raise the flop, and a wet card hits the turn, I probably just flat the turn and river. That raise is absolutely useless, you're just handing SB $, might as well just write him a check. If you're going to raise make it big, although I'd just flat at this point.

This one made me laugh. Thanks man.

Thank you all for your comments and agree with your line to raise flop to set up the play better and make my life easier on later streets.

Results if anyone is interested.

I agree w/ raise flop/ call turn/ call river line if we think he has more draws then made hands.

I read the results and seen he had TP ok kicker. I played a hand the other day with a bad pseudo reg. seems like the same type villain He buys in deep(500 for 1/2) (1000 for 2/5) and plays a few times a week, he knows all the older guys, but is real bad imo.

anyway I raised KJ otb, he limp called, heads up, K xs xs, he donks flop/I call, turn x he donks again, river x no straight, no flush he donks a 3 rd time. I think I'm usually beat but he bet like 1/3 pot, so I call thinking he has a busted FD enough, he proudly flips over K8? I win the pot.
Anyway, I think the donk lead from bad players is rarely a monster. I think if they are made it's w/ a hand like these two, a lackluster TP or maybe 2nd pair big kicker. So the "trick" is to try to determine if your opponent is more likely to donk bet draws or weak tp's. Because if it's the former we want to raise the flop or turn bet because they aren't likely to fold their big draws, but if it's the latter we want to call down.

IDK maybe this type of villain donks both?

^ Yeah thanks. I think i gave too much credit to V in this hand, though his previous reads had me conflicted and was trying to disguise my hand a bit. WRONG. (in hindsight after seeing his QJo) was kicking myself even more for not raising his flop lead and sticking with ABC.

Raise flop!!! Ap call three streets

When villain donks into you on the flop he likely has top pair or 910. Flatting here is really bad.. Also with raising you can see where you're at, since you said he's a good player if he comes back over the top otf you can safely say he has two pair or a set