Foreword: I butchered this hand, so by all means, rip away:

Edit: forgot stakes in title: $1/$2

Hero (OTB, $475): early 30s, white, was wearing collared shirt but changed at dinner break to hoodie and t-shirt. been at table for about 8 hours (my playing time, not including dinner break), I’m defiantly viewed as aggressive, whether the table views me as a LAG or TAG is difficult for me to say, I’ve completely opened my raising range in LP because limpers are limp folding to my raises or limp/call/fold to cbet. Multiple people have commented about how not many people are calling my raises (12-15 standard). EP I’m still playing tight, but when getting hands I’m opening. I’ve 3! more than anyone at table, only getting to showdown with premiums, but I have been 3! light too, taking down pots early or eventually folding. Then I go to dinner for about 30 minutes come back and I’ve been card dead for about 1.5 hours, so probably more TAG side at this point. Since returning from dinner break I’ve led into 2-3 pots pre and gotten 0 callers.

Villain (UTG, $330) : late 30s/early 40s, white, big fat guy wearing carhart type hoodie and a nit cap. He’s been at the table playing with me for a few hours, so he’s seen my aggression, he’s also seen me be card dead and barely play a hand in the last hour+. He’s been aggressive in pots, showing multiple (something like 4 or 5 times now) complete air bluffs on pots that are descent size and multiple opponents that have all worked against the nits and level 1 thinkers at the table (i have not been in any of these). Has straddled close to 100%, always protected straddle. Not very aggressive pre though, more of a call pre and play post flop kind of player in my view.


Hero: OTB w/ J J
Villain straddles
$330 effective

Hand:
V straddles to $4
2 limpers
Hero makes it $21
mistake #1, $19 in pot if I call, I think $30-$35 would have been more appropriate)
Blinds both fold
V calls
Limpers both fold

Flop ($53-$5 drop=$48): 9 2 Q
V checks
Hero cbets $30
V thinks for 10ish seconds and calls


Turn ($108): 10
V checks
Hero thinks for 20-30 seconds and bets $65
V calls as I’m sliding an undetermined (to him, we were at opposite ends of table 2 and 9 seat) stack of chips over the line
mistake #2, this should be a check for pot control and reevaluate river


River ($238): Q
V takes about a minute and bets $175 (leaving roughly $40 behind)

Questions:
Is this ever a call? Fold equity is 0 so it’s either a fold or call.

Should I just give up on the turn here?

I really have problems building hand ranges at the table. When I’m sitting around after the fact I can do it, but I have a lot of problems doing it at the table, any suggestions?

Take your time more wen you are IN the hand. This will allow you to have more of a feel of what to do when you are facing a decision on the river. Before you bet turn did you think about the pros and cons of betting vs checking? What worse hands did you think would call you? (Not saying ther arnt any just asking). Seems like you were turning what would e the best hand a lot into a bluff when it might not even be a bluff. Now we get to the river with no plan or idea of what to do.
Check turn evaluate river is best, the pot wa bloated with straddle and double barrel. were in a big pot with a v marginal Hand with no clue what v is up 2.
Pre u can go larger also

It's definitely understandable, conditions at the table vs. off are completely different, and we face a lot of external stimulus & pressure that makes thorough analysis more difficult at the table.

What do you find to be the problem that's causing you to not being able to think it through at the table? No time, or just not being able to focus?

I start putting people on a rough range as soon as they call preflop, using the time that the dealer is making change/counting rake/dealing the flop.

A good way to practice ranging is to do it with the hands you are NOT in. Try to follow through with the hand and see if you are right each street. Do it enough and it'll be easier when it comes to your own hand.

As for this hand, did you mean he called on the turn before you even cut out the chips you want to bet? (Assuming your casino doesn't have the forward motion rule) That seems fishy, but also a tell of strength. Maybe as soon as he called I would be like "uh oh" and cut out less than my original intended amount, haha.

If you checked the turn, I'd think more about calling than in this situation. I think it's a fold as played. And check turn yeah, not many hands you get value from that you are beating.

You didn't play this hand like a nit (re: his playing history), so I think it's more likely to be a value bet than a bluff otr, and you can't call because your hand is essentially a bluff catcher at that point.

I'd make it a bit more pre. I'm surprised you got it heads up with a raise to $21. $30-$35 seems right.

Flop seems fine but I don't mind checking against this type of opponent some times as well. Keeps his airballs in and may convince him to make a stab on later streets. We also know that he likes to bluff (a lot) so we avoid getting blown off our hand if he c/raises with clubs, 10J, 9x, 810, air.

As played I think turn is a definite check. 10c is not a good card for us at all. I'm trying to get to showdown as cheaply as possible at this point. Just to clarify from your OP, are you saying that the villain basically snap called the turn as soon as you slid the chips over the line?

As played, I think river is a fold.

V turn call clarification: I pulled out a stack, there wasn't anyway he could really see (he's in 2 seat, I'm in 9) the exact amount and as I put it out he immediately called, before I let got of the stack. Then after saying call he had to ask the dealer how much.

Your PF raise is at the low end but not crazy for an opener. I try to be consistent with my opening bets but always adjust my raises for the pot/player situations.

The Flop bet is fine .. no reason he shouldn't think you have a Q or better here with that bet size and you have back door straight opportunities.

Bingo!! Best possble 'non' improving card in the deck. I wish you would've bet a little quicker but you I think you need to continue to bet here. If he has nut flush draw you will get paid large on your 2 outs to str-flush. You are OESD with 3rd nut flush draw .. nothing wrong with betting here.

I don't really like the insta-call from him but you have many outs unless he has flush already.

The River is probably a fold but you had the type of hand and board that you need to bet into in order to get paid when these hands hit. GL

Against any other villain, this is a standard fold.... but I think in this exact situation you HAVE to call this down.

First off, you said that he has been bluffing at the table therefore this could possibly be a bluff. He might have sensed weakness with your 10-20 second hesitation bet on the turn. If I were think as if I was villain, you betting on the turn represents that you don't have a flush... because a flush would try a c/r in this situation.

Secondly, his age and him straddling 100% of the time (i interpret as) means he is an action guy probably has been playing poker for a while and has seen every kind of situation. I wouldn't be surprised of him bluffing more than you think he bluffs (even though you say he bluffs quite a bit).

Conversely, he might indeed have a flush here, but I feel like a flush would value bet ~150ish(2/3 of pot) to get a call from you. Same goes for trip queens. If he does have that hand, he'll know that your a bluff catcher and most likely would think twice before bluffing you in future hands. (this is level 2/3 thinking i believe).

Unfortunately I disagree with basically everything that was said above.

First, calling this particular hand bluff just because he has been bluffing before is horrible logic, especially when no thought has been given to how the hand was played out. For one thing, H has NOT been playing the hand like a nit or a level 1 thinker, which seems to be the player type that V has been selectively picking on.

Second, "a flush would try to check-raise".. what? H was in position so that was not even possible. Also H can take just as long to think about how to bet a flush vs. how to bet a hand like JJ - that timing isn't significant enough to be a tell.

Third, your analysis on the bet size otr is basically one that's trying to compare him to how YOU think a person should be playing the hand if they weren't bluffing there, and since he didn't play it the way you would expect him to, he must be bluffing. Did you notice that he left himself short behind? He wanted a call so bad that he didn't want an all in to scare H off.

Don't start thinking about the hand from the turn. Take preflop and flop into consideration as well. Calling for less than 10% chance that V basically floated 2 streets just to bluff you on the river, is not worth it compare to folding and waiting for the next time that the V makes such a money-burning bluff.

Weird, that would be a huge leveling spot for me. You probably know more about him than me right now though. Like is he actually fishy enough to snap call with a huge hand/draw (that's either flopped or turned) without knowing how much it is because he is just so attached to it, or is he just pretending so to outplay you later? The latter seems really advanced for 1/2, but it's confusing because he seems to at least somewhat know what he's doing, and a blind call like that is just incredible bad imo. If he's one of those players that get so excited with their big hands that they call bets before the betting is even complete, I'm even less inclined to call otr.

first off, thanks for the advice, i do appreciate the help with becoming a better player

honestly, i was expecting a wider than usual call because i am on the button. i could easily have been barreling with my entire range, which is pretty large, and i felt like he was good enough to know that.

probably any Q, 10, 9, single , open enders (obv only 2 left), and overs because K is a gutter ball and A high is possibly the best hand still, and the obv made flushes/straights/sets/2 pair.

as i said in the OP, i felt a check would have been a better play.

i think it is more trying to focus on various things at the same time and as i'm thinking of other things, the hand progresses and then i get lost. i really should prioritize hand reading to the very top of the list and, like you said, practice as much as possible.

by this time in the session, the two limpers were not calling any of my raises when i was in position. they had been in the beginning and i was exploiting them and they eventually were smart enough to realize i was able to play against them easily with position


and that was really where the hand started getting weird for me. on the river when he led out after the snap call without even knowing my bet i tanked for a probably 2-3 minutes, playing the hand in my head again, trying to figure out combinations of hands he would play this way.

Results: