$5-$10 NL, effective stack $1350. Nine-handed game.

Villain, on BTN, is the only player at the table I would even consider playing a polarized range against. They are sitting on a stack of $7,500. In the past hour they doubled up from $3,000 or so by a masterfully played small suited connector that turned a straight flush. They can squeeze very light, and are a decent hand reader.

I am UTG+2 (BTN -4) holding Ad4d. Folded to me, I open for $35 (this is loose, but the big blind is a very special player). UTG+3 folds, LJ and HJ both flat-call, CO folds. BTN squeezes to $210. The action folds around to me.

I have the sick feeling in my stomach that my range should be polarized here, so I reraise to $500, leaving me with $850. The two passengers drop out, and the villain tanks for a bit and then calls. $1080 in the pot.
The flop comes Ah Kh 7s.

The big question in my mind: does my money go in better if I bet or if I check-call? Or should I check and hope for a cheap showdown?

Doesn’t seem like too loose an open to me, but then again I don’t play 5/10 so my lineups are probably softer.

Why not bet a small sizing like 1/4 pot? If he has air he can still bluff shove and if he has something like TT we don’t mind a call or a fold.

What do we think villain's 3bet range is here? It's a 6X 3bet so I'm guessing he is heavily polarised himself. If that's the case then his bluffs are probably AXs/KXs and his value is probably QQ+ AK.

The danger I think we face in this scenario is a big chunk of Villain's preflop bluffs are bigger AXs than ours against which we're hoping for a chop at best.

What does V do if we check to him when he holds KXs? He can't bet it for value because our QQ/JJ are all he beats and we're unable to call with A and K onboard. He can't turn it into a bluff because we can't fold any of our AX to a single small flop bet and he can't afford to bet big on flop incase we trapped a strong AX or KK+

I reckon same goes for his AXs really.

Therefore I think our best strategy is to check/evaluate flop with a view to checking it down. If he bets small at some point we can make a decision. If he wants to GII I guess we're losing.

Second thoughts I hadn't fully considered the flats from LJ and HJ. Depending on how they play this may drastically alter BTN's 3bet range.

If he is just linear here then he's going to have a bunch of no hoper pairs QQ-88 and some AQ and big BWs.

If that's the case I'm not sure you should be polarised with your 4bet. If he's linear aren't you better off being linear but stronger with your 4bet or opting to flat more instead?

Postflop vs that kind of linear 3bet range I think you are in kind of the same spot as villain was in my other post: you can't get any value from his hopeless pairs and you can't fold out better hands. So I think you still need to check but I'd just be more keen to call a bet because V might think he can value bet KX or turn QQ- into a bluff against your and KX QQ-

lol if I'm villain in this hand and flatted the $500 without shoving I probably have ****ing ace-ace and you are in a deep pile of **** no matter what you do here

^ yeah thinking about it whatever 3bet range V has he can't really call anything other than big pairs and big suited Broadway. We basically only beat QQ and KQs and they probably won't bet at any point so we only win if it checks through to showdown.

Can we just accept this move was pure bluff preflop and once he calls we're done with the hand?

Not deep enough to do this and don't like 500

What is V’s calling range on the flop? You’ve repped AK+ and the flop smashes that. The 0.85 PSB behind makes this extremely awkward. I think I’d plan for a delayed 1/2 PSB c-bet on the turn. With AA, KK, or AK that’s what I’d do. If V fires the flop I guess it’s soul read time with me likely calling. V could easily check flop w/ AQs and then find a fold on the turn whereas they’re probably calling a flop jam. The flush draw should be of no consequence to either of you.

Agree that if H was deeper this would be a mandatory cbet.

130 BB's effective I probably just play a tighter value range up front given a LAG that likes to 3bet light.

As played there's no way your stack doesn't go in when you flop top pair in a 4bet pot with an SPR <1. Given that, I think x/jam is your best bet. You've got a lot of QQ-99 that will be forced to x/f so you need some weak Axs in there that can stack off via x/jam.

This!

True, but don’t forget that most people are awful.

Still silly to do this here tho imo. Just fold and get owned pre.

At these stacks I think we should be checking our entire range. Like there's less than a PSB behind; if we flopped AAA or KKK we can get it in on 2 streets with tiny bets anyway. Plus we have like 0 bluffs on this texture.

Definitely this.

You seem to think very highly of this v. If money goes in AP I don't think you will be having a very good time. If you have a clean tight image this just wont end well for us but game flow matters a ton too. Really depends how out of line this guy is. If v is as good as you think he seems and you haven't given him reason to defend wider vs a 4bet or get out of line then its a bad spot. If you're in under the 1500 cap and you guys aren't that deep I wouldn't expect this v to defend that wide vs an ep pfr/ 4! unless he has history with you.

I would rather just fold pre unless I have seen v pick similar spots to get in a light 4!. The specific hh's from his squeezes/light 3!'s that we saw here matters a ton here.

AP I would check flop and try to get to showdown

Fold (or shove) pre. Shove flop now and maybe he'll level down to calling with some non Ax hands.

Interesting hand, think checking and betting are about equal, on the one hand he calls with every single hand that beats us, on the other hand we could use a bit of protection from the turn card with only 5 cards to improve and we never get any value off 2 of them. tho our hand might not need much protection, it's very hard for him to have a FD here, in fact we probably can discount it, he at most has 5 outs when behind

this isn't too bad of a play pre flop it kind of seems standard in a sick way, we'd like to open here but we need to protect our opening range some of the time, i don't think calling is that bad since we can mine for nut diamonds in a MW pot, folding is certainly fine too but there is a lot of dead money to play for and as soon as his 3ball range gets light this should be a fine play pf

note that with this sizing he is never folding so that could be a good thing or a bad thing, i think ace high has enough showdown value so I'm good with the sizing

I think checking is best as played, probably always checking this flop with every hand, tho it's possible we should turn QQ with heart and maybe JJ with heart into a bluff on this texture

Rather bet the board that hammers my 4b range than check it. I'd also feel real good about getting V to fold, winning a yellow chip, and then showing him the 4d.

Agreed, villian could fold better aces e.g AQ AJ. I would hate check calling. yes it allows some worse hands to bluff, but unlikely given that board and your 4 bet...

I also agree that with only 135 BB's we shouldn't be making these kinds of fancy bluffs.

As played are you really thinking about folding top pair with a 75% PSB left and 40% of your stack already in the middle?

+1

I also agree if we're going to make these kinds of plays you need to jam pre and fold out all but the very top of his range.

Cmon dude. Guy bluffing after we check is 1000x more likely than flopping a pair of aces in a 4bet pot and then folding to a <1 SPR shove.

what is the bluffing frequency of your V? If you check it to him and pretend that you can't beat an A, how often is he going to fire? How LAGGY does your V view you as? If you think that your V will fire at that flop, check it.

In a vacuum, 1100 dead dollars is enough dead money that I am going to shove this flop against all V's except the most tightest of players.

You are probably correct, but although <1 spr, not by much and jam bet size is still substantial.

Would also ask if married to hand, if i am going to call off I would rather bet than call. We are repping big, i rip and get called by better, may fold out worse (yes, horrible), but there are a few hands that beat us which may fold - to a jam - which we would call off against.

Yeah betting this hand as a bluff is pure lunacy. If we jam and he has AQ, he's going "ugh, if you have it, nh" and putting the call in.

Really easy check on flop.