1-2 game in casino.

villain, young guy about 24, seems pretty loose and bad. Has made some $7 raises and some $12 raises. On a $7 raise, got 4 callers, he bet out a dry 10 high board, everyone folded and he showed 55. He and his sister are both playing, telling stories of how his sister won the biggest pot from him in a 2-5 game so he has played before, but seems pretty bad. Have not seen him play in a 3 bet pot, well its 1-2 and in the last 5 hours I've 3 bet once (I ran card dead) and no one else has 3 bet. Calls $12 type raise pretty loose.

Hero seen as tight, maybe nitty, villain probably has not even noticed.

effective stacks are about 250


2 limpers, villain makes it 12 from Co, folds to hero in BB with AQo don't remember suits, I make it 40, folds to villain who calls quickly.


Flop $80 ish 2 way...

K 8 6 rainbow...



Honestly don't even know how to range this guy, though expect its a little wide. He had to call $28 so should not be set mining and I doubt $12 bets are made with small pairs. So I'm thinking something like AK AQ QQ-tt and maybe some other I feel lucky hands like KQs AJs type thing.


Don't really know if I bet $40 if he folds QQ-TT too one barrel...

Thoughts and your plan for the hand appreciated

You have to c bet here.. Then re-eval turn , your oop so be prepared to to fold....

I don't like bluffing in this spot, it's gonna be tough to get him to fold TT+ (he's hardly ever folding for $40. We'd have to bet like $60 and probably follow it up for a bet ott and even then he might get stubborn). The quick call sounds weak to me, like JJ-TT or AK/AQ that is starting to get nervous about whether he's good or not, but who knows

I just check and hope he lets us see an A or Q ott for free when he has a pair lower than the one we hit

The 3bet pf is questionable depending on his opening range for the larger amount. If it's TT+ and AQ+ then we're just value betting for him when we 3bet since his range is well ahead of ours and he has position to go with it which will make his range that much more profitable. In fact if that's what he opens with for larger amount we can just muck our AQ oop since we can't play the hand profitably for a 3bet or a call against that range

65/all in seems good to me.

I don't feel like I know much about villain's iso'ing tendencies after reading the OP, which would pretty much be my basis for every decision in this hand. You mentioned like 8 times that vilain is bad, but in what ways is he bad? Limping too much pre? Opening too much pre? Paying off too much post? Playing to loose pre only to fold a ton post?

Being bad isn't really an exploitable tendency; we're all bad in comparison to Phil Ivey. That doesn't mean you can profitably vbet TPNK for 3 streets against any one of us. We just all have our leaks that can be exploited in a different way.

Sorry, didn't mean for this to turn into a lecture, lol.

Could you explain why? I'm not doubting it being right, I'm just interested.

Fare enough, he is probably playing a 40 20 style, with a high cbet but quits after that, have not seen him raise another players bet after the flop so far. Chases too much, not concerned with odds. $12 raises are probably a range of ATo+ A8s+ KJ+ 88+ QJs KTs about 11% with $7 raises being JTs-65s 22-88 A7s-A2s QTs-86s making a total of 20%...

Have no idea how he plays in 3 bet pots....1-2 players tend to have a large disconnect here. Many super loose call $10 with 86s will fold Ak to a 3 bet for $40....If I had to guess he is on the looser calling side, hope to cooler players, not likely to make moves in a 3bet pot. Weather he puts me on AK and folds to an A or a K with QQ-TT don't really know.

Werd, definitely like 3b'ing pre, and I'll probably fire one big barrel on the flop. It sounds like he has the typical live leak of calling with hands he knows are behind but might catch up, and not much caught up on this flop, and an A or K hit, so every single combo of KK+, AK is ahead of his JJ.

Hate the 3bet, and here you see why.
* So you've 3-bet with that oh-so-sexy AK/AQ and missed the flop. Now what? Bluff? Probably your best bet to win, but what if he calls/raises? You've now put half a buyin in the midddle with Ace-high. Check-fold? You've got 20bb invested, that seems spewy.
* 3-betting from the blinds is especially bad. Now you've missed the flop, and are oop. Villain expects a cbet, and can play you perfectly. If he hit, or senses weakness, he'll easily snap your cbet off. If you check, you're turning your hand face-up, and he'll bet you off it every time.

I think I need some help as this seems counter-intuitive to me so I may have a big leak.

Assuming that we agree with OP's ranging of villain then we are losing value preflop if we are not 3-betting when we are ahead.

What is the logic for not notching this up? Are we trying to play a small pot when we are OOP and this is more important than getting the preflop value from AK/AQ ?

3 betting here often takes advantage of many of the leaks low stakes players have. His range is wide, and he is most likely not going to play aggressive post flop in a 3 bet pot, or his a lag tard and he plays way too aggressive. Both are easy to exploit.

If he is passive and calls to light hopping to play fit or fold, then on many flops I can take it away, I can definitely bluff flops I don't think hit his range. I can also manipulate him when I hit a flop, by checking a round. I may also dominate hands in his range (if he is calling light KQ AJ, some suited Aces, and only get dominated by AK, which If he raises I can fold too).

If I think he plays to aggressive, I can check raise shove on a lot of flops, AQ will flop over cards a lot, and have 20 to 25% equity against his calling range..so I need him to fold much less then 50%, which is the case if he's betting his entier range when I check.

As long as his calling range is wide, and he plays an exploitable style I can exploit him.

If his calling range was too tight, then 3 betting might work because I make enough money by his folds, but calling AQ might be better to keep his dominated hands in. However once I call I also have to contend with the two limpers calling and playing AQ OOP in a multi way pot.

Here I expected his range to be wider (how wide was a guess as he had never played in a 3 bet pot. My problem on this flop is the K gave me problems....I no longer have two over cards for equity. HIs expanded range, may have Kings in it KQ AK pKJs or other , and if he is sticky (I just don't know) getting him to lay down QQ or JJ for just one bet in 3 bet pot may be difficult..

but in general I believe 3 betting AQ against a player with a large preflop raising rangle has to be profitable...He either calls with a wide range and you can exploit him after the flop, or he folds too much, and you gain by the fold equity pre-flop...