1/2, haven't been at table long, raised pre/cbet with success a couple times so far. Villain is young Asian reg who I've played with a bit, he's competent/good. He knows I'm on the tighter side pre. I have 296 and villain has about 600 in front.

2 EP limps, I make it 17 with JJ in MP, 2 bad fish flat behind me, villain thinks for a bit and makes it 75 from the button. Blinds/limpers fold. Wat do?

His sizing seemed large but actually correct... I don't want to flat and have 1.2 pot behind, seems like 4b AI or fold are the choices. His 3b range is probably around TT+/AQ+ but I'm not sure if it's all 3b/c or if he's only calling QQ+/AK against me.

Villain: Level 1 player whose raise size is based on the strength of his hand. I had not seen him raise once on a draw or as a semi-bluff. He min-raises pre to $6 in EP. Buncha callers plus me OTB with A7.

Effective stacks: $450.

Flop $33:

A73

Villain leads for $17. One caller. I raise to $55.
Folded to Villain who pushes.

...Are we ever good here?

Absolutely. With the flushdraw out there i see him shipping with AQ/AK- not to mention A3 for worse two pair if he happend to play that hand.

Of course he can have a set also, but for me to even consider to fold top two on this board the stacks has to be very deep.

This is 1/3...so stacks are fairly deep...

Have you seen him 3 bet ship the flop at all in other hands against you or other villains? I mean, if you have any idea of the range he is capable of shoving here?


But i have seen som grossly overplaying by AQ/AK type of hands on boards like this- so i would have an incredibly hard time folding here.

He had played fairly conservatively...but I had seen him over-shove a set before, too. But at this level, we also see lots of players over-playing TPTK like this...

Yes, exactly. I think we give him a pretty unrealistic tight range if we assign him only 3 bet shipping sets here in this spot.

I like my chances with top two, i am allin

1) We completely owns all big A hands like AQ or AK, and worse two pair.

2) Every big shove like this has a bluff percent in it, between 5 and 10 percent of the times. And even though you havent seen him play draws fast before, every villain can spazz out before you know it. I have seen the tightest of villains suddenly spazz out in spots like this with a small flushdraw for example.

Is V the type to minraise AA, 77, or 33? Any of those seem super weird.

He was not a good player. Yes, I'd seen him min-raise small and mid-pairs before.

I don't think we're good here often enough. Given history, I'd be inclined to assign Villain a range of {33, 77, A7, A3s}. I'd discount AQ/AK from a face-up fish's range given he minraised pre.

results:

I think its very easy to feel that way when you run into the very top of villains range, totally understand where you coming from.

How often we in reality are good here is difficult to say, though i have to agree that those minraises (pot sweetner) is small/mid pocket pairs an awful lot.

2-5 w/ AKs 200BB deep line check

V is weak-tight. He usually hits and runs once he doubles up. Buys in for minimum. V currently doubled through a few times within a short period and is up to $1500 from $300. He looks very uncomfortable playing with more than 100bbs actually.

I have $1000. V covers. BTN straddle

V limps UTG. Folds to me in MP. I have AKss. I raise to $25. Folds to V who calls.

$50 ThTc2S
V checks. I bet $35 expecting a fold. V calls.

$120 ThTc2sAd
V tank checks. I check behind. I'm not sure if I could get 3 streets of value from him so I decided to go for two. I think if I bet here, I fold out almost everything but a T.

$120 ThTc2sAd6c
V checks. I bet $70.

Overall, I thought small hand, small pot but maybe b/f for 3 streets is more profitable? Thoughts? Maybe river should have been bigger?

I like as played. Given l/c, there are probably just enough T's in his range to justify playing this one a bit smaller. And checking the turn just might get you paid off with something like 99 or 88 on the river. Unlikely, but it might...

General question... Can it be profitable to play a lag style of poker on average at $1/$2???

I ask because after experiencing a prolonged number of hours at $1/$2 for the first time' I am astounded by the inability of the fish to fold. I tend towards the tighter side of play, so that's fine for me but for those who play a skilled LAG style, can you ever find enough FE at a table to make it work for a high win rate?

Curious because if I do open up my game, as I am working towards, should I just take it to $2/$5 and skip the frustration of trying to play that style at $1/2?

This is very location/room/player pool dependent imo. I've played in rooms where V's kinda freak out when a bet hits $50 or more, regardless of the pot size and their cards. Other places, they only freak out and fold without the nuts. Other places, they actually play back at you eventually.

If I'm V I'm not 3betting to 75 here with TT and AQ because I'd feel sick if I got 4b after shoveling that much money in there. I think he has QQ+, AK, and I'm folding.

Never thought of that. I find myself thinking this way too. Didn't explicitly realize the connection to villains hand strength till right now. Makes sense though

The bulk of your profits in any poker game come from either inducing your villains to put in large quantities of money with a worse hand than yours, or put in a lot of dead money and then fold. Live 1/2 is immensely profitable because your villains are donkeys and you can put a ton of money in good with a wide range of value hands.

Games where you have a large amount of fold equity are actually very difficult to beat for a large winrate live, because 1) you have to be cognizant that everyone eventually opens up when you start running them over, 2) villains capable of bet/folding are usually thinking opponents thus hard to beat, and 3) live rake is too high to make much money stealing small pots. You need to either cap the rake or have an edge larger than 10% in the hand.

Furthermore, it's possible to make a splashy game work for you in a very loose table, but you wouldn't be fishing for folds. Rather, you want to play for thin value against wide ranges (again, making very sure that you're staying ahead of the rake!).

1/2 on a Tuesday evening.

Villain is young white dude, kinda stonerish, has 7/10 gf railing him, he added 100 with dirty 5/10/20s to 200 while she was in the bathroom earlier. I picked off a tiny river bluff of his recently and he limp/rr'd to 30 from LP vs. my BB raise to 15 earlier (I called and c/f'd a A55 flop). Seems a bit clicky in general, he has ~220.

Hero has somewhat aggressive image, I cover with 475.

H opens AA to 10 from EP, 2 flats, V flats SB, BB folds.

Flop is A98sss, V checks, H bets 27, 2 folds, V says something about seeing another one and calls.

Turn is red deuce, V checks. Check behind and see what happens on the river or bet/call?

This is an excellent post IMO. "Just nit up and wait for big hands" hurts your winrate so much if people will not fold anything

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My question is about developing better assumptions to work with when we have little info vs fish.

What do you guys think about those I have ? (+any more readless assumptions)

Wet boards facing a raise on the flop/turn are the spot where I never know whether to put draws in their range (and which ) without info.

I also don't know how to range underbets readless (esp. the "bet the same $ amount every street") since I have quite a small sample of showndown hands with them

Pretty standard bet/call here. Lots of spade + pair, spade + straight draw, two pair naked straight draw types hands in his range.

Nah I couldn't get away from a bad player with this. AK/A3... Cooler.

UTG: Weak Tight
MP: Has history w/ Hero. MP will get it in light, has shown a huge bluff, has previously l/rr w/ AA. Knows hero can have a wide range when I 3bet. He will get paid off when he has strong hands. Has $1000
CO: Spewy aggro. Gambler. Will pre- call extremely wide. IE. Will call a $55 dollar open with 58o. He gets paid off when he has strong hands. Has $750.
Hero on btn: In current session, has been coolered twice: Had sets both times vs draws, got it in on the flop. Draws hit.

2-5 $500 effective

UTG to $15. MP calls. CO calls. I 3b to $85 on btn. Blinds fold. UTG folds. MP calls. CO calls.

($255) 6h6c8d
checks to me. I bet $125. MP raises to $300. CO folds. Hero shoves.

Standard?

Standard if we have QQ+.