2/5 game. Villain is "learning poker". Yound Asian girl. Hero has history. Villain is chasing Hero in most pots he enters.
Effective stacks $600
SB: Hero with Jh9s
BB: Villain stack
*** PREFLOP ***
Hero: raise $15
Villain: reraise $45
Hero: call $45
*** FLOP *** QhJcQs pot $90
Hero: check
Villain: bet $30
Hero: raise $125
Villain: call $125
*** TURN *** QhJcQs6c pot $340
Hero: bet $100
Villain: call $100
*** RIVER *** QhJcQs6c8h pot $540
Hero: bet $100
Villain: raise all-in $330
Hero: ?

Am I reading this correct? The action folds to you on the SB and you raised the BB?

Folds around to you in SB and you raise and then call a reraise with J9o? Why?

Where I play, when it gets folded around to the blinds, we chop, which is what I'm doing (or folding) here.

Can you explain your rationale for betting 15% pot on the River?

Is it important? I am committed in any case, but I would say that if we check/check keeps AJ and KJs in. She can potentially fold (?) them because they did not improve...

With $640 in the pot, you think she would fold AJ for $100 more?

What is the point of any of your bets?

Fold to the 3bet obv.

I don't know where to start tbh

This seems to be turned from value to bluff and back to value despite being weak along along

Calling a 3bet OOP with J9o is pretty marginal.

You flop a weak second pair when BB can have a whole load of Qx. So presumably your check-raise is a bluff against better Jx? When you get called the opponent's range strengthens. So what is the purpose of the turn bet?

On the river one of the main draws gets there but you bet your weak hand again and get raised. This should answer questions which could have been answered a long time ago.

Personally I don't think stealing blinds in a cash game is worth it. I just chop. The blinds don't increase, just take your bets back and move on.

Hand is utterly insane.

+1

Thank you for your comments, even some of them were "non-constractive" ( to put it in a polite way...).

Two points to highlight:
1) the villain's flop bet size, and
2) Villain is learning poker

Anyway:
Hero: calls all-in $330
Villain shows AKo

Blind chop in not allowed in this game.

That was some excellent button-clicking!

OP, I think you'd have to go into the history more for any of us to get to the conclusion that your line was best.

Otherwise, I think we'd lean toward either checking to induce bluffs or value betting small the whole way. The flop c/r is neither of those.

I understand this thread is at least 75% look at my great reads, due to my experience, but this is just bad ... 3x open with J9o is w/e, but SB responds to 3x 3bet by folding all QJo/A9o and almost all KTo.
From just this one hand OF COURSE Villain is "chasing" hero if she has done almost any recent studying.

Ok, so I guess you think this is good on your side ... except from the value 3bet range V has 16 combos of AK and 2 combos of KTs and 5 combos of TT ... and everything else is crushing you on the flop. Maybe she also has the scattering of bluff 3bets like A5s/T9s/Q8o/J8o/T7o which you are also in front of ... but I'd doubt it.
Maybe due to post flop sizing V often has the small part of her value 3bet range you are in front of, and V could def. size differently on different streets ... but in general I'd be much happier with her getting AI with her hand than you doing so with yours.

OP - the general consensus here is the hand was a trainwreck (I agree with those sentments), so I'm interested in what would you do differently next time?

1) I do not have the skills to play J9o in this situation, even against a weak opponent. So, fold preflop.
2) The flop check/raise intended to find whether V holds a Q or not. I am not sure that her call, strengthens her range. I think that she would 4b/shove with a Q to protect the hand against draws and for value.
3) The river bet size does not make sense. However, all my bets sizes aimed to be aligned with my weak hand strength. In that way, I can get calls from weaker hands.
4) As played, I was convinced (given the history) that V does not hold a Q. On top of that, her river shove eliminates AA, KK, AJ, TT. The only hand that is consistent with her line is AK.

As a final thought, I was dragged into this hand without a clear plan for future streets line.

Stop "raising to find out where I'm at".

This logic is almost never followed up by knowing where you are after their response. It's circa 2005 bad poker logic that still floats around.




I actually don't mind the sizing on river given V's description. Contrary to normal logic, you can actually take a backwards approach to bet sizing with fish. You bet large on flop, smaller on turn, and smaller on river.

The logic behind this is with fish, you can get away betting your hand for the exact equity it has. Which goes down on each street when you just have a hand like TP or another pair.

Continuing vs 3bet has little to do with skill level. It's that you'll be OOP with a very weak hand against a far stronger range than yours unless this opponent is wild enough to 3bet close to 100% of hands. Skill level is largely about judging when you're behind and not putting more chips in an unfavourable spot. This is one of them.

I don't understand why you would check-raise "to find out if she has a Queen" but take her call as a sign that she doesn't. This makes no sense whatsoever. She probably has loads of Qx from preflop and calling the check-raise would be absolutely normal. In any event she probably now has a hand which beats yours or a draw.

You're correct that the shove eliminates AA etc but all the nut hands (QQ, JJ, QJ) are there and T9 is now a straight. She might even jam AQ here.

Honestly it sounds like you've been blinded by the personal dynamic so much that you're reluctant to lay down a mediocre hand.