9-handed 1/3 NLHE. No reads on table.

V1 is MABG. No reads. $300-400
V2 is YWG. Has everyone covered.
Hero is YAG and with $320. Has recently sat down.

Villain limps in UTG. V2 min raises to $6. It folds to hero, who looks at AsQc. Hero makes it $21. V1 overcalls and V2 calls.

Flop comes Q53ssx. Villain 1 donk leads $45, opener folds, and hero raises to $115. Villain calls.

Turn is a 2s. Villain checks, Hero ???

I think preflop AP is fine. Maybe can go bigger, but I enjoy position on main villain. I think flop raise is ambitious, and I'm targeting some overlimped KQ, QJ, J10, etc. With the nut flush blocker in my hand, I think we can target pair + flush draw combos that continue here with my raise.

When the turn rolls off, what do we do?

Pot is like 300, you have under 200 and can get lots of value. Smash it in.

You're pretty pot commited, so I think it is fine to get it in.

Since the flop Q is a spade, the number of pair/FD combos is near zero. I'd flat the flop lead w/the As.

As played and w/no history, I'd either X back or gii. I lean towards Xing, believing a shove gets called by better. Wouldn't be shocked if opponent played KK this way.

I find preflop a little difficult at these stacks sizes. At large stack sizes, whatever, raise and setup a high SPR where it will still be about postflop poker. At smaller stack sizes, this raise would easily commit us comfortably postflop with TP. But at these particular stacks sizes, it becomes a little awkward, because any "normal" raise is going to put us in commitment spots and yet we don't want to be offering good implied odds if we do so. Our $21 3bet offered the raiser very good IO of 22:1+ (and the limper also fairly decent 18:1+), and meanwhile we've setup an SPR of 5 where we will often be facing commitment decisions for stacks postflop. This is actually one of the reasons I no longer intentionally sit on 100bb stacks (and instead sit on a much easier to play 66bb). What position are we in? If we're in middling position, I would consider just flatting the lol minraise and then consider back raising (depending on who is doing the 3betting). If raising, since I'm often setting up a commitment spot, I'd like to offer poor 8:1 IO, which means a sizing of ~$40ish. In a straddled pot with little dead money, it is probably on the larger side. But those are the things that I would be thinking about preflop (which I don't think is straightforward).

On the flop, the SPR is 4.5. Stacks can very easily be in play by the river. Do we consider ourselves committed on this drawy board? We might. If we do, then I'm fine with raising the flop to setup a turn shove.

Ug, probably the nut low turn card as the OESD and flush draw both got there. But on the other hand we've only got a 60% PSB left; are we folding to a river shove UI? If we didn't have the As, I would probably just follow thru with commitment and shove. But with the As we're less fearful of letting our opponent catch up (he has very few outs if we're ahead) so I'd be cool with a checkback and evaluate on the river.

Gsetupslightlybetterspotspreflop,imoG

First off you need to consider villain's donking range here......most of the time people don't donk sets and it makes zero sense to donk a flush draw into multiple people oop. Most likely hand villain has is a weak queen. I'd probably just call the flop and use position to extract the most out of him on good turns/rivers. Raising isn't bad but it makes the hand a bit harder to play. As played this is so player dependent. I know you don't have reads on this specific villain but what does the overall player pool do in your situation? If they are very stationy and don't like to fold I would just ship here. If they are more aggro or weak I would check back planning to call a bet on the river or shove myself. It really depends if you think villain is more likely to call the turn shove or shove on a bricky river

Agree with assessment on donk. Most often Donk is weak Top Pair, or some sort of middle pair. Rarely see flush draws donked (though of course it happens even though it makes "zero sense").

As for now, ship it, unless we have some other info on villain. He may well call you off with say QJ now, but if say a fourth spade comes on the river, he's not paying you off.

Do live players just hate big aces unless its aces up?

In a live low stakes game when you 3bet pre and then raise flop, that's going to be QQ+ for most players. So you're going to see two types players. The ones like your V who fold hands like AQ, and others who say "F it" and call.


But, let's be honest here.....what's the best scenario for his AQ no spade to call you? You have AK with a single spade?? If you have AQ with As, you're freefolling him. He's crushed against QQ+ without a spade in his hand.......

The flop donk was terrible, but his fold wasn't. You were at about the bottom of your range on this for the average live player. If you have no reads so far, neither does he.



But yea, you're going to see a lot of opens and then call 3 bets with hands like AK and AQ pre flop. Rare to see a 4 bet pre at a live low stakes game. And a 5bet is highly weighted towards AA for most average live low stakes. You'll even see a ton of limp/calling with hands as strong as AQ.

He should have never shown a fold that big. But his fold and show pretty much shows he's used to this being QQ+ in his experience.....right or wrong.

I mean, after he donk leads/calls, we've set up a less than psb to go on the turn. I am freerolling him, that's true, but there's a good chance I don't get paid anyways from his non-spade holdings on the river. If he wants to see another card, he needs to put in all of it. By shoving I get to realize my equity. I'm probably being results oriented, but getting him to fold a chop on the turn is +EV in my book. I feel like the decision tree on the turn is:

1. Shove - force him to play for stacks with a poorly played hand, and I am crushing his pair + flush draw hands that do call off.
2. Check - go to the river
2a - Shove - shoving here anyways because TPTK, regardless of the river because the pot is so big already
2b - Go small for second street of value - KQ, QJ, and that missed can still call a small bet with top pair

I am ok pre. I prefer to call the flop. Raising reveals your strong hand. I agree, at least against an unknown regular in my casino, a donk is here more often a weak Q than a set or flush draw. Raising the flop folds hands worse than yours. Only sets call. Much better to raise this flop with hands you don't want to go to showdown.

Turn is wtf. V with a set could very well check to trap here after hero's flop raise. But the limp pre suggests V is a spazzing with a weak Q. With hero's SD and FD, he has some equity against sets anyway. Shove.