I recently moved to 2/5 and this was one of my biggest losing hands of the session. I'm not sure if this goes into the "maybe next time" or spew category.

Been at the table for about 4-5 hours. This game is running with the people that busted out of a 1000+100 tournament (tournament is still running). Hero has been playing aggressive, picking up medium sized uncontested pots, rarely getting to showdown but mostly hitting flops or flopping good flops for my range. I raised this guys button straddle twice so far and took it down preflop once and checked down a monotone KTx Q xand I bet river with AQ and he folded.

Villain looks to be around 30-40, looks cleanly dressed (polo) with khaki shorts and gelled hair. He has been playing pretty tight, he doesn't look like a standard "old man nit" but he hasn't been playing many hands. He looks like he knows how to play though, he is definitely not a weak-passive by any means. He also mentioned how he qualified for the tournament by satellite so he is probably not as tilted as the rest of the table who busted out early (including me) lol

My image is tight but aggressive tonight. I did have headphones on and another guy kept talking to me about online poker and his sick roulette heater stories to me but I pretty much just listened and just nodded along in conversation with stuff like "oh cool" once in a while. Villain might think I am getting out of line because no one has really seen me showdown much.

HERO (CO)1400 K5
Villain (BTN)1200

BTN straddle to $10, folds around to HERO, HERO raises to $40, Villain calls.

FLOP ($85)

A Q 3 rainbow (didn't record suits so I forgot them, not sure if it makes a big difference as it was rainbow)

HERO bets $65, Villain raises to $155, HERO re-raises to $375, Villain goes all-in for 1200, HERO folds.

i like the pre flop raise, late pos with a nice suited hand that can flop well... (ignore the clowns that say just fold pre)

V seems to be a decent player like you said so he button range can be very wide here. pairs, face cards, suited connectors blah blah

This flop hits a lot of your range so for V to come over the top of your cbet i think he has to have a hand that hit that flop. this looks like a leveling war but from the 2/5 games i have played in the level of play isnt high enough between hero and villain for that to be going on.

i think the best thing to do is just fold his flop raise

Feels spewtastic without a read he's trying to steal the pot from you.

His flop raise size seems designed to get a call from Ax which scares me.

A little too spewy imo without any pot equity on the flop.

Even a backdoor FD helps you out a lot. Your bet/raise sizing looks good, but relying solely on fold equity on flop is not something I like to do.

If you play with this play with this guy again, this hand creates an interesting dynamic since he knows you can take a light b3b line.

I agree with bvan.

But I think if your trying to rep a big hand, I'd flat and raise the turn. Very dry board and I don't think 2p and sets 3-bet this flop in order to keep bluffs in. A flat and raise OTT would make a more believable line to V.

with no dynamic there is no reason to think he is light otf, so 3b is spew.

Pre is good. If the 3 was a diamond, I might c/r with our triple backdoor draws. Like rumor said, 3b flop is spewy w/o that read.

Just b/f for $50 (3/5 sizing) bc if we have AK this is a wa/wb situation anyways. $65 is too much and needs to work more often.

K5s is meh preflop. I wouldn't try that very often but against a villain who is straddling every time, it is worth doing some of the time. I'm not really sure how to read your villain here, he sounds tight but is straddling, which is an odd combination.

On the flop, betting is obvious. This could easily hit your range hard, and if your going to bluff preflop, then this is a good board to bet. Once you get raised on this flop though, you need to go away. Unless there is some history between hero and villain to suggest a bluffing game, the raise here has you crushed and is probably a hand that is willing to get it all in vs AK, so folding is unlikely.

So say if I had AK here am I c/c flop looking to find a way to get 1-2 streets? I am not bet folding here with AK right?

When you suspect people will assume you are making a move, that is the worst time to make a move. That to me makes this spew.

With AK and a co vs btn dynamic against a possibly decent tourney player, I will lead the flop, as he expects us to cbet junk as well with our image. When he raises, I flat or fold AK. I mean, he didn't even stab at that ugly broadway / flushed board before when you showed weakness, so perhaps he's playing very fit or fold. Making me want to respect his raises.

He sattied into the mtt, so he must have some patience in him...doesn't seems like he's the kind to turn AJ into a bluff post.

he´s got just so few combos he can continue with, and this is a great board for a bluff/raise. i guess villain has to fold here quite often, it is not necessarily bad. i hope you snapfolded and didn´t hollywood tank btw.

Yeah thats what i was thinking more along the lines of. I know he thinks I am aggressive so he might try a one time reraise to keep me honest. He could be turning a Queen into bluff (by design or accident) or even a weak ace. I know he wouldn't enjoying folding the ace but he will if he doesn't have 2 pair+. I didn't hollywood fold but I opened my King and just said nice hand. When I said that, he opened a Q so he had it. He asked if I had AK and I said yeah.

Seems like a perfect spot to bet/raise. I'd think villain 3bets AA QQ AQ AK pre flop the vast majority of the time, especially against you. It feels like he binked with 33 or A3 or decided to take a stand and put the last bet in with a random w/ Ax.
Still, based on pre I'd expect to get a fold here way more than not. I really don't see anything wrong with your play. Every once in awhile they just "have it."

I would not be bet folding AK here either.

Grunch:

PF is fine. Flop Cbet is fine as it folds out his smaller PP. I don't mind the bluff 3-bet, and I like that you're thinking of these types of moves. The problem is you're playing against someone who has played relatively tight, hasn't gotten out of line, and aside from not seeing you showdown a hand really has no reason to believe you're getting out of line.


I play very aggressive, especially when 5-7 handed as opposed to full table. I've been at tables where I've raised 70% of my hands, Cbet flop, and people obviously notice I'm playing anything but I still only had people playing back at me with top 10% type hands.

I'd recommend only thinking someone is playing back at you lightly after you've seen them do that to you or someone else, or also aggro players who will raise fold boards like this.

As played, what hand are you ever 3-betting that flop with, realistically think of any other hand you could play this flop like this. All sets and AQ would most likely flat, planning to get it in by the river. There's no real draws to charge and he's shown that he likes his hand, I don't see us 3 betting much on that flop.

There are good boards and bad boards for a cold 3bet raise.

This is one of the worst possible ones.