1/3 NL, effective stacks against main villain about 350. Main villain MAWG. I am new to table, but assume he is bad as limper.

4 limpers, SB folds, hero checks in BB with Jd8h.

Flop (15) KsJh8c, hero bets 15, only last limper in CO calls.

Turn (41) KsJh8c5s, hero bets 35, villain calls.

River (107) KsJh8c5sTs, hero checks, villain bets 40, hero ???.

Ugly runout, but you can't really fold anything when he bets this size. I wouldn't be shocked if he has something stupid like K9 that is just monkey betting. Fish also love to bluff small.

Turn bet at least 50

River bet 1/3 then fold to any raise

turn bigger, call river. id rather bet river small though.

id consider trying to CR the flop small. depends on how people play weak Kx. i think you can slightly overbet the flop too and people will still call Kx, QT, and T9.

Most of the time a back door flush doesn't help H or V and especially not the guy who bet the flop. I think what happened here is that you showed weakness by betting flop and turn but checking river, so he min bluffed you. That is a tactic expected of a bad player who is afraid to commit to a real bluff with a bigger bet.

Of course, I could be wrong and he got there with something like Q9ss, AJss, A8ss, and he has put out an amount begging you to call. I discount that probability enough to risk a raise.

He might have the completed a straight with an AQ (less likely due to no pre action) or a Q9 (also not likely because he called for a gutter) and bet small to encourage you to call. Odds of that are so small I'm giving it no weight.

I would at least call, that's a no brainer. But depending on what I think of the V, what kinds of reads I had, there's a good chance I raise here to 100. If he reraises, insta fold.

While 100 is small for a reraise in many hands, if all he has is a good K, we want him to call. If he has anything better than that, you lose.

No matter what you do, you're going to be wrong sometimes. Once I learned to be at peace with that and to go with the odds, my BB/hr went up significantly. I'm making that 100 bet and expecting a fold because he has to fear both the straight and flush that he can see on the board. He doesn't have the reading skills to see that your best bluffing hands were QT and T9 so you are even less likely to have made a straight than him.


BTW - Meta game advice - if you are the sort to sit there and count on your fingers, tilt you head back and forth, and look at the ceiling as you "Hmmmm" thru various possibilities to get to the conclusions I made here (whether they are right or wrong) that's fine, just make sure you do those same gestures a few times on hands you know you are going to fold. Sure, it is Hollywooding a bit, but you need to show the table that your pausing to think and consider various options is not a sign of strength. Of course, a lot of bad players will never see your act, but you need to make it part of your routine so that you can use it later.


I recently used this play to seemingly reluctantly just call HU with KK. I feared the V would fold if I 4B. Flop came out T hi and he shoved with JJ.

The straight draws and backdoor flush that got there are a small portion of villain's range, since they are not the flop draws where V calls your psb's. AQ got there too. It's possible you're beat by a straight or flush but not nearly often enough to fold.

Then it's mostly a question of whether Kx has one or two pair at this point, and if weaker one pair will tend to fold if you c/r. I think I'd tend to just call as one pair often take the free showdown.

Can’t raise. Can’t fold.

I honestly hate these situations, been stacked with the free play from the blind and it feels unavoidable sometimes.

No nitpicking, you played it fine - but I think you should have bet the river. Something about that 3rd barrel - too many times when I felt like I was in trouble, and I watch villain sigh fold the river.

Call as played
I don’t expect him to ask if you have the ace when he turns over his flush, but he’s got something. Hard for me to believe anyone bluffs like this. Still, you don’t have to be right often with these pot odds, so easy call.

We can beat some value once in a while.

I like the river as a check/call.

My plan was to x/c, but reevaluate to a big bet. Called and he showed Js9s. Called pot on the flop with 2nd pair and backdoors, which was sort of typical. Thought his river sizing was also bad.