$1/$3 NLHE Live. Effective stacks $300

BB: Youngish guy. Hasn't done anything out of line, hasn't been very active. No other reads.

SB: 35 ish, came from tournament, previously folded AQ (according to him) when I limp-3bet straddle to $75 from $16 in a squeeze to win a nice pot. That was his first hand. I told him (BB could hear) that I had a pair and that we were probably 50/50.

Hero: I have been fairly LAG over the past hour, but have not shown any bluffs.

Folds around to Hero on the button AK. Hero raises to $6. SB calls, BB re-raises to $20. Hero 4bets to $75. SB folds, BB (after a good bit of thought) calls.

Flop ($156) [AJT]

[Question: What sort of range do you put BB on for 3betting to $20 and calling a $75 4bet?]

BB checks. My thinking is that his range is TT-KK, AK, maybe 99 or 88 at this point. If he has KK or QQ, I may have a hard time getting a call if I bet here, and I will never get away from my hand if he has flopped two pair or a set (or straight) if I bet. So I checked.

Turn ($156) [AJT][8] BB counts out his chips. He has $211 left. He then cuts out $80 of that and bets it. Hero?



Hero calls. My thinking is that if he is taking a stab with a hand that has solid showdown value (and maybe a big club), he will check the river as I am almost never folding (unless I called with a big club). Likewise, if he bets the river, he is never ever bluffing.

At this point, I have his range at AT, AJ, AQ, AK, TT, JJ, QQc, KKc, KQ, 8c8, 99c. Against this range, I am in pretty bad shape. Is this range too wide or too narrow?

River ($316) [AJT][8] [5] BB shoves all-in for $131. Hero? Am I just committed now? Do I have to call regardless b/c of the price?

I would appreciate your thought on everything from my raise-size, whether to four bet (and the size) and reasons therefore, and of course whether to call, fold or shove on turn and river. Please give your range for villain's hand and the reasons therefore.

Thanks!

I he had AJ he probably was checking to get you to bet then shove over the top of you because you are so aggresive. He might also have tt or jj based on his turn play, he is just value betting at that point. Aces kings queens are out of the question because i think he woulda gotten his money in on that.

4bet looks good, sizing and all. I'd probably just shrug and jam the flop.

Really? Two replies?

I didn't reply because I don't know WTF to do. My first reaction is to bet the flop, but I think that is mainly just cause I don't know WTF else to do rather than I can justify it being good.

I like pre though.

I think at the table I would have 4-bet less than $75, more along the lines of $50, just because if he has QQ-AA and will 5-bet then it's either all-in preflop or on the flop itself.
That flop sucks. I want to see the turn, but I don't want to check and let him buy the pot.I would probably c-bet a little less than 1/2 the pot. If he calls then I can reaccess the turn and if we're raised, then I don't know. Seems like we're beat with a few outs left.

First, table change! It just folded to us on the button, I hope this isn't typical.

I raise way more first in on the button; what's with the minraise? I probably just make my standard $15 open (which I would probably make with any two playable cards in this situation).

I probably just call the 3bet. How common are 3bets at your table? They're not very common at mine. I kinda don't wanna put in 1/4 of my stack only to be raised AI, which there is a very likely chance this is going to do. We've got position after the flop, plus it isn't even the end of the world if the SB decides to come along for the ride. But I'm pretty passive, so whatever.

Even though flop is sucky, we just created a situation for ourselves where we flopped TPTK with a redraw to the nuts and an SPR of 1.5. All we can do is 1/2 PSB and ship the turn, no?

GcluelessNLnoobG

HATE ur pf mr, just awful. Until I see villain 3 bet a bunch I'm putting him on AK, QQ+, maybe JJ and AQ pf. I don't mind checking the flop since I'm putting villain on a narrow range of hands. That which we beat probably folds to a blop bet. I call turn and snap call river. A tiny % he has JJ and he almost never has AJ. Ur looking at a chopped pot, AQ sometimes.

So when a perceived LAG player opens from the button, and gets 3bet from the BB by a young player, you're assigning his 3bet range as that narrow?

I am in a live game. In my limited experience I don't see a lot of light 3 betting in my local 1/2nl game. Just the other day there was a dude w/a pfr probably around 60% and he almost never got 3 bet except by me.

Ok. And yes, I mostly agree. But this is button vs. blind, two (relatively) young players, one of whom has been very active. It seems like a better assumption to assume his 3bet range is wider here. If that's case, then wouldn't hero be better off 4betting here?

- folded to BTN = bad table!
- min-raise pre is awful
- 4bet is fine (but I don't 4b AK vs. Very tight 3bettors)
- get it in on the flop as played.

You 4-bet pre and flopped TP ... He barely has a pot-sized bet left. It's $156 and he has $211 left, right? He bets $80. Once you 4-bet, I think you are playing for stacks here about 99 percent of the time. You also gave up the lead in the hand. Why?

Pre, I agree with Gobble and Masaraksh...calling 3 bet is better since we have position, and we can see what he does on the flop before acting.

If you want to 4bet, then raise less.

AP, my initial thinking is to cbet flop. But I don't like that too much either cause it commits us to the hand. It's a very difficult spot.

If this is your description of villain, I can't think of a single hand you beat, to be honest. His KK, QQ etc will want to get to showdown.

To me, this looks like a nutted hand, AK or AQ
His turn bet seems like he is setting up a river shove.

All you beat is AQ. You're chopping with AK and losing to AK and AQ. and this is a super optimistic range here

I min-raised on the button b/c I wanted to play a pot with a very strong starting hand in position. I really didn't want to just steal the blinds. With the raise being so small, the 3bet is not a typical 3bet. I assign a MUCH wider range to this particular 3bet, since he is only raising to $20 (the top end of a typical opening bet), and the most active player at the table raised on the button. So, I think 4bet is the best play. The size, I'm undecided on. I am leaning toward $50-$55 giving myself and BB a wider range and being the better size.

Re: it folding around to the button, this was the ONLY time it happened in the entire session It was a decent table.

Thanks for the few comments so far. Results:

4bet PF is good IMO. his flat id say his range is JJ+ AQ+ but not AA. His turn bet reeks of a hand like QQ with a club.

i think we need bet about 1/2 PSB on flop, checking back looks very weird after we 4bet PF. then turn we shove on any non K or Q.

We need to try to get 2 streets of value here from QQ, KK, or AQ (id think KK would be pretty low since most Vils have no problems going AI with KK regardless of PF action)

Certainly must be -EV thinking, particularly if:


Right?

I don't think it's -EV to minraise AKs there. It's not like I'm stacking off if I hit top pair. I will play more carefully depending on the size of the preflop action and SPR on the flop. There's not a lot of reason for the blinds to defend since the standard raises are 4-7X BB. There are plenty of better spots for them to put in $15 than facing an aggressive player with position on them.

I don't want a fold, and the small raise might induce a 3bet (which it did).