Live $1/$2 Detroit

Hero $400 UTG+1: Pretty Solid Night. Probably fairly tight image. Haven't had to show many hands. Taking down a lot of small pots on the Flop with C-Bets. Easy Game. I cover everyone at the table. Bought in short ($100) and have about $400

Villain $250 UTG: Terribad player. Came to the table and seemed like he was going to be an aggressive monster. Seemed like all of the Regs and Dealers knew him and he was a $2/$5 player just kicking around at the Kiddie Table. First hand from UTG bet $32 into just the blinds. And has pulled the same stunt a couple of times - every single time just dragging the blinds. Makes a lot of other random raises. Has gotten VERY lucky winning a couple of hands with huge suck outs on the river. Every time he sucks out, he quickly loses his stack and rebuys. Just made a terrible call and had to rebuy for $250.

Preflop
I catch A K

In the past I've bumped Pre with strong hands. Villain opens for $12. I decide that I'll smooth call. If it gets bumped I'll repop it. 3 more callers without a raise.

Pot about $55 after rake.

Flop:
K K 4

Villain bets $22

What's the Hero move to maximize value? Smooth Call? Min Raise? Bigger Raise?

I'm 3betting pre always to iso villain, cos you're not gonna get many flops this sweet. As played I'm flatting here. No point in raising and forcing out players behind you with 55-tt that have so few outs to beat you.

I Make it 60. Min raising looks ridiculously strong. Even a stone cold moron might be suspicious of a call on this board.

Raising lets such a player think that some 1/2 guy is pushing him around. I wouldn't be surprised if he shoved his JJ back over the top to show you how good he is.

I think that this is probably the best line, beginning to end. The flat call Pre was probably too "fancy".

Flatting the $22 is also probably most likely to helping me build a pot.

I love this sort of dialogue, because in two responses you guys have pretty much summed up my entire thought process.

I was thinking that a min raise or call would have been perceived as too obvious. One of the players behind me seemed to be waiting for a chance to punish me - I think he perceived me as someone he could push around. I was sort of hoping to induce him into trying to out play me. Also the Terribad Villain was one of those guys looking for an opportunity to give away some chips. I sort of wanted to give him that opportunity.

In retrospect I think I may have over thought the hand.

Raise to 65 to find out where your at.

Find out where I'm at?

That's sort of the least of my issues. I'm pretty confident that I'm way ahead. I'm not probing for information. I'm trying to maximize my Value on a Big Hand.

He's leveling you.

Let me not be vague.

Raise to 65 as this often represents a live player spazzing with 99 to see if his opponent has a king.

Calling screams "I have a king", and villian opened PF so he could have a weaker king as well.

If we call. Villian is going to check every turn, we're going to bet, and he's going to fold everything but the tip top of his pocket pair range unless he turns a boat.

By raising now, we're setting up for stacks to go in.



Again: We are not raising to find out where we at, obviously we're ahead. We just want to make it appear that way to the villian.

Much like us great poker players level ourselves with "would he bet XX in this spot? My range to him is YY and he is 35% against that range with an SPR of x.." etc. When our opponent is thinking about banging the cocktail waitress.

Fish think that we think like fish, when we don't. Make a raise that seems weak, because imo it will cause him to play back with the logic of "he wouldn't raise a king here".

It worked, anyhow are you raising mid pp's and air in this spot? If not and he's the type to keep bombing away why raise? Sometimes you have to let him hang himself. If you flat he could easily try to bully you off your hand. If he's as active as you say then raising and relying on him to have a bigger pp to get out of line with is less likely to happen then letting him barrel away. Sometimes you just have to let a blufftard be a blufftard.

Sincerely appreciate the analysis.

This was pretty much where I wound up. I raised to $70. Guy behind me thought about playing, but folded around to Villain who tanked & ultimately folded.

I was just wondering if I over thought too many levels (Leveled myself) and should have simplified my line.

Correct play imo. If we flat how do we plan on extracting more?

Preflop I like a min raise to $24, it would be nice for someone to squeeze light behind, but that really doesn't happen all that much. From what you've described UTG is the only bad player at the table, so you can't safely reshove AK against an unknown. Atleast not in casinos at live 1/2 tables, it just isn't profitable. With a minraise it gives him the chance to shove over (since your always calling) especially if you get a cold call or two, but your really trying to iso him, induce a shove, and build a big pot in position.

On the flop, say he is the only one who called your $24 min raise, the pot is $51, he bets $22 into the pot, just smooth call here. There are very few cards that can improve him so all your looking for here is value. I like to play this hand tricky, and smooth call the flop, turn and make a value bet/raise on the river. Mostly your going to be representing 88-QQ, some strong kings and maybe AA, and calling down hoping he doesn't have a king.

On the turn the hypothetical pot is $48 pre + $44 on flop - $92, check behind if he checks, and call if he bets, this is because his stack is about $200 and you want to give him the chance to put it in, if he doesn't have a hand he isn't going to call anything you bet. If he bets anything decent, say $55-$65 then you can shove the river if he checks or call his $140ish river bet. If he checks the turn and river, which he is almost never going to do, bet like $35-$45 on the river.


Don't raise the flop, If you raise the flop your only giving him one chance to make a mistake. Let him play all 3 streets OOP so he can make a REALLY big mistake that will cost him his stack. If he has a king your gonna get paid no matter if you raise the flop turn or river, its going in, so why not let his bluff put on a show for you too.

Raising encourages him to rebluff more often then calling 2 streets

Why? If your raising to $65 there isn't a lot of room for him to maneuver other than hope he goes crazy and shoves. What would make him shove over a tight winning player? You don't have the image of a maniac, he isn't going to spaz very often against a TAG winning player.

I don't agree, play it passively and let him try to run over you

Because there are 3 players behind us as well.

Calling here absolutely screams K.

Calling gives you the chance to have someone who hasn't been paying attention make a mistake, or at least get a round of calls on the flop. It's rare for people to spaz out and to make a play that relys on him going brain dead and shoving his chips in at that very second isn't a winning play. Your definitely losing value here raising before the river.

I probably woulda just 3bet a loose opener, but then I kinda hate life if he 4bets, so I actually don't mind your preflop plan.

With stack sizes the way they are, we'll have no problem getting them in if desired by calling, so that isn't an issue. Obviously if we call with 3 players still to act behind us, alarm bells should be going off, but some players just aren't very good at hearing alarm bells. I probably smooth call and hope someone with KQ behind me goes nuts. If this were HU, I'd probably do a typical 3x raise and get villain to level himself into thinking I would never do that with a K.

GcluelessNLnoobG

yea make a raise on the flop here, to around 60-70. You would be amazed how often fish make comments like "you would never play trips like that" or some other crap like that. Basically bad players just don't know how to respond to aggression/cant hand read so just raise, if he has air he is folding on the turn anyway most likely so its not like you are making bank by flatting the flop.