1/2 NL Casino Game

9-handed table $500 eff except for BB who has 800, I cover.

UTG+1 opens for $10, (generally responds to 3! by either 4! or folding) 500eff
($13 in pot)

UTG +2 and MP player call the $10 open, both weak/passives call, they will call behind the majority of their range and often fold their weak hands when raised. Very fit/fold post-flop
($33 in pot)

I 3! $45 from CO A5. I thought I would capitalize on the passive dead money in the pot. The initial raiser would let me know if he had a monster and if he folds (he often does even though it's a smallish 3!) the other two often either fold, or call to play fit or fold on most flops.
($78 in pot)

SB, passive/weak player, decides to call from SB.
($122 in pot)

BB 4! 150. He is good/loose/aggressive, only one at the table beside me (I'm learning to be good/loose/aggressive -namely by starting bad/loose/aggressive.

($270 in pot)

Folds to me. I know it's possible he woke up with a premium but also possible he thinks I was squeezing with lighter hands. I decided to raise to take advantage of fold equity vs his cold-4 betting range given a light 3! from an aggro player (me) and tons of passive dead money and hopefully win the pot at that moment.

I 5! 550
(Pot 775)

Sb folds.

BB goes all in for $800.
(pot 1415 and it's 250 to me to call)

I call.

Should my initial 3! have been more/less/skipped?

Should my 5! have been smaller/all-in/or folded?

Could my 5! have been smaller with a fold to follow when he 6!'s all in?

What is the best way to manipulate my range to take advantage of the fact that this good/aggro/reg knows I have a polarized range vs him even in deep pots? Should I drop the weak hands for awhile and adjust by only 3!/4!/5! with premiums I intend to stack off with?

Pretty easy fold to the cold 4! You are not being exploited here you are simply crushed. 5! is spew and absurdly sized. A min-raise 5! accomplishes the same thing. He folds his junk and shoves his value hands.

On that note, 5!/folding is about the spewyist thing you can do in poker. I didn't run the numbers but unless he has AA exactly (which you have a blocker to), you are probably priced into a call.

With these stack sizes I don't want to get involved in a semi-leveling match that isn't actually leveling and you are just up against a strong range.

quit with the buzzwords and fanciness

Fold to the 4 bet. A competent LAG will have you beat almost every time when he 4 bets out of the BB and out of the BB it will a hand he isn't folding more often. Even if you have some specific history with BB that says you are playing back at each other light, this is a fold. The reason is that you have one of the worst hands for this type of situation. The vast majority of the time when villain has AX he has you crushed and against anything else you only have one over card. Unless he is bluffing with total garbage your equity is mediocre to terrible.

You are correct that once you 5 bet you are committed to calling. At that point your remaining stack is so small that unless villain showed you AA you have the equity to call.

As for the more general question, that is a topic for a whole book. There is no simple or general solution, it depends on everything.

Holy spew batman! Fold to the 4! Not loving the squeeze in the first place unless the $10 raise is a sizing tell.

So you end up playing a 800+bb pot with A5 suited
I guess that just says it right there.
Villains range is pretty much kk/aa
Did you spike the wheel on the flop???

+1

This is spew. You won't get good until you stop doing this.

lol @ getting in 400bb with A5 and 5b over a cold 4b from a player in the blinds. Know when to fold dude.

Umm so what range did you put the BBs cold 4 bet? I'll give you a hint exactly KK+. Want to know how often he folds that to a 5 bet?

Spoiler=Never.

Hand is fugly. Next time you feel like doing this PM me and I'll send you my paypal and you can ship me the ~$500 in equity you want to punt off. Hope it worked out for you this time!

This seems solid, thanks.

Venice, you are agreeing with the "quit with the buzzwords" comment? I am trying to use and understand terminology. If I used it incorrectly, please, by all means let me know. A little more specific of my misuse of words would be greatly appreciated!

I get that it's spew, as evident from others thoughts. But, I think the words I am using should reveal WHY I spewed.

I was not raising for value, I was raising as a bluff using a hand that had a blocker. With the A in my hand he has fewer combos of premium value hands. That being said, this spot wasn't the best spot to use this line of thinking...

I did end up playing a big one. I suppose it will work great for my image. Just imagine how crazy they think I am when the story gets around. : )

Thinking that villains range is just AA/KK is absolutely incorrect. When he raised me, he has all premiums, sometimes JJ/TT and AK and AQ.

I did not spike a wheel. :/

Most of the players in the game have very little clue how to play back at aggression. I basically pound pot after pot and usually come out on top.

Yah, I'm getting that this was major spew. But, I'm still working my head around all the reasons why.

Learning! Thanks for the input.

Because pounding/winning a majority of single-raised/3! pots POST flop in 1/2has nothing to do with 4!,5! PRE where it is almost strictly card edge and little else.
OK, so you are aware enough that this V could potentially be adjusting to your aggression with a bluff/value 4! squeeze, but I doubt this is happening often enough to interrupt your 3! frequency...and is he really adjusting? maybe he has a hand here? 4! from the blinds? Bueller?

Look, the spew piece is probably best defined for you this way - Am I making an expensive action that is questionably profitable instead of a less expensive action that is likely more profitable. In this case ask yourself "Am I making more money rebluffing Vs 4! range because A5hh has blocking components, but he's gonna shove a bunch too and were gonna get to SD" ORRRR "Am I making more money folding A5hh here since hes not folding enough and I can play my post flop dominant game next hand"

I think it's quite industrious of the OP to have a 5-bet bluffing range at 1-2.

I'm unsure if this addition matters, but if anyone reads this thread in the future, I would like them to be aware of the WHY I was thinking in this hand the way I was.

Yesterday
Same 1/2 NL game as first Post.

The Good/Loose/Aggressive from the post is BB with 300 in his stack, I cover.

Folds to me, I open raise $10 with AA I cover table.

A tight/passive older man calls from BTN, the LAG 3! 40.

Hero 4! 85,

the old man folds

the good LAG 5! all in for around $300 total. I obviously snap call and he has A3 .

This is the kind of **** we have gotten ourselves into. This is the dynamic that has been in place. I'm writing this just so you all know that I was thinking about something that DOES matter in the game I play in. Not against everyone, but this one player especially.

While I believe you all are right that I shouldn't have got so many bb's into the pot with my dominated hand, it's something I must be thinking about otherwise this guy will bluff me out of many pots! I am learning, thanks for all the help!

There are a lot more things to think about at 1/2 then 4b,5b ranges
Unless it is a super hyper aggressive game I really wouldn't think about it

I disagree with this very much. If we are 5bet bluffing, A2-A5 generally have the best equity vs Vs 4betting range. With the exception of AA, we have 30+% vs his entire range I believe

I think what happened here is OP has read/heard some more advanced concepts and he has misapplied them in this particular hand. In 1/2, a cold 4bet is basically never a bluff. There is a very good chance that basically any 4bet is never a bluff. Look at the 2nd hand you posted, you 4bet, you had AA... Also 400bb deep is entirely too deep to bluff. If you're gonna 5bet bluff, I'd look to keep it under 200bb, probably closer to 100bb.

I'm 68 year old OMC.

Why hasn't ANYone ever 5-bet-bluffed me in my entire life?

I am jealous.

lol

Your original 3-bet was a bluff. I liked that bluff, because you were taking advantage of the fact that V's EP opening range was too wide. Even though it is too wide, I doubt it's wide enough that A5s is a 3 bet for value. In that play, you used position well and made a good decision against his range.

When he 4-bets you, you're busted. He caught you. You 3-bet him light, you got caught, and now you lose. That's where the hand should have ended. Even if that 4-bet range includes some bluffs, it's going to be weighted more towards value hands and 5 betting or calling or anything else besides folding are all -EV with A5s.

Some of your thinking here is pretty solid though. At 1/2, you should be able to make enough $ terrorizing the other Vs with your style. Don't mix it up too hard against that reg. Don't let him run you over, but don't put in 400BBs with A5s either. Let him make that mistake.

You took exactly the opposite lesson from this that you should have.

The lesson you should have taken was that the "good LAG" isn't actually good. Your edge over people like that is that you should know better than to spew the same way he does.

Instead you mistakenly thought that "5betting suited aces is what good LAGs do" and you gave up your edge.