$2/3 NL game. villain is crazy agg guy who has been going nuts for about an hour and amassed a small fortune ~$1400. bet/raising basically every hand, and calling all ins and somehow winning everytime. a hand of note, he made it $20 utg, and then called $50 more pre, flopped a flush draw w 74 and open shoved for $500 and won vs. a flopped set.

i've yet to play a hand since i sat down an hour ago,

hero($245) is button with QJ, 3 limps to me, I make it $18, villain($1400) in bb calls, 2 folds,mp calls,

flop($62) J73
villain checks, mp checks, i bet $35, villain calls, mp folds

turn($132)10
villain bets $60, I raise AI $192 total

Bet bigger on the flop, more like $50-$60.

As played, I am shipping turn also, nh.

I think you're beat virtually all of the time you get donked into for 1/3 of your stack like that. What hands do you expect to beat?

EDIT: Didn't see your description of villain. But actually I stand by what I said--no hand that you beat is calling. If you want to play for stacks just call and let him shove river for you.

1-2nl

villain(sb)(~$225)
hero(hj)(~$800)

Villain is younger hoodie wearing LAG, I have seen him triple barrel bluff on many occasions, but also is capable of firing 3 barrels for thin value. He probably views me as a solid TAG. Hero had lost a few pots in the last orbit due to getting the money in good and loosing, once with a set vs a flush draw and once with KQ vs KT, villain most likely noticed this and may think hero is tilting, hero is not tilting, well maybe a little.

ACTION

2 limpers, hero limps with 89, villain raises to $15,mp calls(~300), hero calls.(pot$45) Generally I'm not a big fan of l/cing but with my hand and position I feel this is a good spot for it. If anyone feels this is a mistake i'd be glad to hear opinions.

flop A94

V bets $35 mp folds hero calls. (pot$115)At this point i could easily have the best hand and feel if i fold here i might as well have folded pf. I know that V knows this is a great board to c-bet and will probably be betting 100% of his range here.

turn Q

V bets $77, hero calls (pot$270) V would prob bet AJ+ here for value and would continue betting with air, mostly because he knows I'm unlikely to have l/c'd with any big A and may possibly be bluff catching with Axs. I don't think villain would continue to fire with TT,JJ,KK as he would probably use those as bluff catchers himself. At this point I'm sure V is going all in otr whether for value or as a bluff. I decide that i'm calling river if i improve with a 8,9 or a club and will not call unimproved. I don't think calling turn is a mistake because i can count on V putting the last $100 in no matter what. Is my thought process wrong here?

river 9

villain shoves hero calls

So did i play this hand wrong/bad?

Turn call is kinda thin, but against this villain with IO+14 outs, *shrug*, nh.

i think if u call turn ur gonna have to be prepared to call a bunch of blank rivers unimproved.

Agreed about calling rivers UI. I'd push the turn. You lose value when he has air but you will make big mistakes on the river UI vs this opponent. He is turning TT-KK into a bluff just like he is bluffing with the rest of his range because your hand looks like a weak ace.

Hmm, my initial thoughts were to raise the turn. And the more I think about, the more I agree. Flatting the turn is so weak and I would expect ~100% of half decent players to barrel almost any river putting you to a hard decision with light holdings.

However, as played it appears you probably extracted the most value... !

Why not raise the turn?

As played I guess when your tilting. You think l/c oop is best for the situation.

There was an earlier thread here on a limp-raised pot and many here put the limp-raiser on a very narrow range: KK+,AK seemed to be the common theme. It also seems most thought LR has limited value. I have always been of the opinion that LR has its place and now I have some evidence to share.

Last night I got a table change to a deep-stacked action table. This is a very difficult table to play OOP, because many of the players like to steal from position post-flop. The players changed a bit through the night, but there were some common villains (stack sizes varies, so I'm just going to show some ranges for the night)

$1/$3 NL

3-seat - ($>1K) Very aggro and especially loose preflop - will play in most multi-way pots and likes to raise anywhere from $15-$25 with a wide range of hands. Makes decent reads post-flop, but will also do some really ******ed things.
4-seat (Hero) ($600-$800) Somewhat loose-passive preflop image. At this table I really am there to play a bit of bingo and I'm trying to play a lot of multi-way hands with good IO. Hero' limp range UTG is 22+, AJs+AQ+ and is balanced by some suited connectors. Hero will call raises with good multi-way hands if 4 other people are in the hand or with good IO on paired hands and with hands like AK or AQ that are ahead of the likely range of raisers.
5-seat ($300-$1200) - Really likes punishing limps or pots raised by LAGs with many callers. He made AI move from the blinds a couple of times into $50 pots for $300. He eventually got called on one of these and he had QT. The guy who called only had JT and a desire to gambool.
8-seat ($200-$400) Another aggro player who tends to overvalue his hands.
10-seat ($1000-$1500) Likes to make a lot of small raises to build pots that he selectively picks off on the flop. He also likes to make bigger raises to pick off blinds or make a decent 2-3 way pot that he can take down. Since he does this a lot, he doesn't usualy have much and will fold to 3-bets. He is a good reader (hands and people).


Hand 1
Hero limps UTG with AQ
3 callers
10-seat raises to $25.
2-seat and 3-seat call
Hero raises to $100
all fold. Ten seat took his time about it. He might have had AK or some decent PPs that are ahead of me. He is a loose raiser, but he can make a tight fold - especially while his investment in the pot is still small and his holding isn't huge. Of course 10-seat also hollywoods some when he is folding garbage, so I can't be sure.

After the hand 5-seat accuses hero of having QT, so hero reaches down and picks one card turns over Q (I figured if I got the A they would put me on AA and the Q would be funny, but they would likely put me on QQ)

Hand 2
Preflop
3-seat limps UTG
Hero limps behind with TT
5-seat raises to $10
8-seat calls
3-seat calls
Hero raises to $40
5-seat folds
8-seat calls again
3-seat folds

Flop (pot ~$100)
973
Hero bets $50 (with the intent of looking like an AK hand that is c-betting, because villain plays back based on flop textures and calling $50 commits him anyway.)
Villain shoves AI for about another $100 more.
Hero wants to snap call, but just folded a bottom pair hand to villain on the river just a few hands earlier when villain had a high bluff probability. Hero says, "Well, I guess you hit a set, but I just folded a hand like this to you and I'm not going to do it again." (might as well induce future bluffs from this guy)


Hand 3
Hero UTG with QQ
Hero calls
4-seat raises to $17.
2 callers
Hero raises to $100 and takes it down.
I sized this one a bigger, because I had a sense that 4-seat had a real hand (TT+, AQ+) and I didn't want to make it cheap for others to call behind him if he called. Also, if he raises here, I'm almost certainly beat and can confidently snap-fold knowing I'm behind and look like I was bluffing.

After everyone folded 4-seat said, "Dammit, Tiger, bet your own hands!" My response: "I just did!" Then he accused me of bluffing, so I turned over one of the Qs and said "Queen-Ten". Remembering the earlier hand he said, "You must hate pocket QQs." I dunno. I thought they did exactly what they were supposed to do: win me 15-20 BB.

So what is the point of these hands?

• I got 3 hands that are difficult to play OOP
• I got 3 hands that don't play well multi-way
• I got 3 hands that can get you in trouble in deep-stack poker
• I'm at a table where any standard raise is getting called multi-way and any big raise turns my hand face up (and may still get multiple callers).
• By letting people make their standard aggro plays I got what was effectively some position in the hand, some dead money in the pot and an opportunity to invite people to make some mistakes with a 3-bet.
• The one invitation that was accepted ended up in a HU hand with the other guy shipping his shortish stack.

This probably isn't a sufficient sample size, but it seems to me that OOP on aggressive tables with hands that play poorly in multi-way pots this is a great option. If everyone limps behind me, I can cheaply dump the hands on the flop if I miss or if overcards come out. Any lost equity here is more than made up for by the extra money in the pot the times I take it down. Also, I only had to see a flop once. Taking down a decent pot without the other guy getting a chance to flop a set or a str8 is also a good result.

Dualaces: This is wrong.

I didn't realize how much equity your pocket aces have on that board, pretty clear cbet/shove.

Would like a line check here, 2/5 NL.

Playing against a tight old man villain a couple seats to my left. This guy rarely raises and rarely calls a raise. Earlier in the session when I raised to $25 with some crap in late position to try to steal some dead money, he simply called with KK in the SB. It worked out for him as he hit a set on the flop, and he check-raised. When everyone folded, he proudly showed his set.

I have around $1000 in front of me, he has around $500. I'm in early position and limp with 22. Pot has 5 limpers I think, off to the flop.

Flop: K T 2 rainbow

Hero is first to act and bets $20. Perhaps I should have checked but whatever, I wanted to get money into the pot. Villain, who is next to act, re-raises to $65. Everyone clears out. Anyone else, I re-raise, but with this guy, I decided to call the $65. Here's why.

I know he either has two pair or a set. He's definitely the kind of guy who would limp and not raise with TT so that's well in his range. KT (most likely suited) is also in there since that's an acceptable limping hand for a tight player. While he's the kind of guy who might limp with AK, I'm hardly putting it in his range because I truly don't believe he'd play TPTK aggressively like that. He would just call. And as for KK, he probably would have raised pre-flop with it, but because he's a nit, I'll leave it in his range as a remote possibility. And he's not even limping with K2 or T2 so those are out. So basically I think his range is weighted about 47.5% to TT, 47.5% to KT (with heavier weighting to the suited combos of that), 4% KK and 1% AK.

Turn: K T 2 6, completing the rainbow. Hero checks, villain bets $100, hero calls $100. I took the check/call approach for the reasons stated above.

River: K T 2 6 4. Hero checks. I'll refrain from letting you know if villain checked or bet the river, but I will let you know that it ended with a showdown. My thinking was that even if he shoves for his last ~$330, I have to call and hope he doesn't have TT. On this non-scary board, I just can't fold a set.

Would like opinions on all streets. In doing so, assume for the sake of argument that a solid poker player in my shoes would have the same reads that I did. As played, if he jams river for $330 do you call?

I hate the way you played this hand. You stated that the guy rarely raises. But he raise your lead and you flat. Why? I hope you don't put villain on a set. If so you shouldn't be playing pocket 2s. You have to reraise on the flop. Or fold if you have MUB syndrome.

As played you decided to trap and go along for the ride. So the river is a must call. The board didn't change much with turn and river cards. Given villain image and range. If you don't call river you played the hand terrible. As for your plan and reads on the situation.

22 should go out of the preflop playbook if you plan to see the possibility of a higher set being out there just because a tight guy bet. Call river, you can't fold after putting money in on two streets.

+OneThousand

1/2Nl at Parx.

I've been playing for about 5 hours and have $520 in front of me. I look like I'm 15, but my image at the table was that I actually had a clue.

Villain is ~30 years old, foreign (Russian maybe), pea coat and scarf, and from what I can tell not too good. He moved from another table about an hour and a half before this hand and luck boxed his way to a ~$500 stack from the $140 he sat with. He was literally hitting everything. Standard raise at the table is about $12, but the table in general has gotten a lot looser in the past 30 minutes. Villain had recently taken a few decent pots from a guy who tilted away a few hundred dollars.

Villain (CO) $500
Hero (SB) $520 - dealt AdAh

Preflop
2 limpers, Villain raises to $25, Hero raises to $60, three folds, Villain thinks for 15 seconds and calls

Flop - JQ9r
Hero bets $100, Villain calls

Turn - K
Hero Checks, Villain Bets $200, Hero thinks "f**k poker and literally the worst board for me in this situation", Hero Folds


So, what I want to know is if my line of thinking here is correct, and how my bet sizing was pre and otf. Is the turn check ok, and are we ever calling? I obviously put the guy on KK or QQ. I guess AK can be a very small portion of his range, as well as JJ. I don't think he could have the made straight w/ TT or AT because I don't see him calling the pf raise.

Thoughts? Thanks!

You don't think he'd call that raise with TT or AT pre because you wouldn't? Or you've played with him enough to know that? I had a guy call half his stack ($100) one night pre with TT against me in a $1/$2 game. I had a guy Friday night call $100 pre with 37 suited. Yes, 37. Seriously, you just can't assign such narrow ranges at $1/$2. I've played at Parx. Players aren't any tighter there than they are anywhere else at $1/$2.

I puke fold FWIW.

if your that deep you have imo two choices.
first and imo the better choice, you can reraise bigger (75-100). 60ish is crap, he'll call with a lot of jt hands you dont necessarily want to see
makes play much easier and you can easily commit yourself when you hit a good flop.

on the other hand, you can just call and hope for a 335 flop and that villain has TT or something.

but then again, you wont get his whole stack probably,,


so reraise bigger.

as played, well... i would not bet for value more like blocking bets.
75, on the turn 95 and on the river 125.

Understood then.

I didn't make that assumption because of how I would play. I made it because I had been watching him play for 1.5 hours. He had never raised to $25 pre, and he had not made a big call pre. Also, the other AA is a possibility but a very small one of course.

re: the limp/reraising. If you are trying to take these hands down preflop, you should not be doing it with solid value hands, you should be doing it with trash. I can see doing it with QQ, because this spot works ok with a polarized range of something like QQ+, and a couple of trash hands - you might lose a bit of value from your premiums, but you are making it up by gaining value from your trash. Merging hands like TT and AQ into this range is pretty bad IMO - you are not adding value to the bluffs in your range by having these hands in that range, and you are losing value from the hands themselves.

Game Dynamic:

Live 2/5 NL, game is soft. Max buyin is $1,000.

Mostly regulars, but they are mostly terrible. These regulars are not to be confused with grinders or skilled players. These regulars are retirees who play poker 4-5 days a week to socialize. A lot of these guys have been playing together for decades trading money back and forth. Some are nits, some have massive egos and are extremely reckless, some are loose passive.

The table mood is fun - Lot of hands being shown, regardless if having to be showdown. Pots are moderate in size. Soft, very social game. Straddle comes and goes, it is off this hand.

Reads / Image:

My image is probably loose and aggressive. Some of the regulars are competitive and respect my play. Some of the other regulars, and the opponent in this hand - clearly view me as a villain. They don't like loosing money to a younger person, and their ego gets in the way often. If you put a beat on one of these guys, they can tilt away racks to you. So I'm unsure how my opponent views me, but he probably hates me.

My opponent is an older man and is a spastic player. He employees reasonable, but still way to loose hand selection preflop, and is aware of posistion somewhat. He plays an overall tight aggressive game. But sometimes, he just does outrageous things. He is winning on the night and hasn't got out of line yet.

Another opponent in this hand is a earlier twenties kid, who is horrible. Everyone hates him, not just the older guys. He is a massive nit and is always talking about poker at the table. Chirping in with his insight. You know the type. He is just the worst. But he is probably a winning player in this game over the past few years. He is at the casino all the time ruining the fun.

THE HAND

Annoying Kid [MP]- $500ish
Me [CO] -$1700ish
Old man [BB] - $2,000ish.

PREFLOP

Some folds, MP opens to $25, Some folds, I re-raise to $80 w/ A6 in the CO, Some folds, BB calls $80 from the BB, MP folds.

FLOP - Pot = $200ish, A64
BB checks, I bet $125, BB calls

TURN - Pot = $450ish, A64, 4
BB checks, I bet $275, BB calls.

RIVER - Pot = $1,000ish, A64, 4, 5
BB checks, I bet $550, BB raises all-in. $650-$700ish more to me to call.

I would be calling $700ish to win $2,800ish. So getting a good rate.

A flush draw missed, my opponent is capable of being spewy, It's a 3bet pot he plays reasonable but still too loose PF, this board shouldn't really hit him that hard. If he has 78dd, or something else gross then so be it, right?

Calling here is perfectly fine right? Especially considering the read?

Basically, just looking for a line check.

I know I'm going to hear it as well - If you are not comfortable playing this deep, or didn't have a plan for river, blah blah blah. It's the only 2/5 game this casino runs, and sometimes big pots just happen.

I'd call too.

The biggest mistake...3betting the nit who opened with A6 especially with your image and his.

Now...I think people need to get in the habit of assigning ranges for villians...its important and helpful to everyone.

I mean if he's tight as you say what pp is he calling with pre from a 3bet? I don't se 55-88 and sometimes 99-1010.

With That said easy call.

Unless you have some ranges That portray something different.

Do you think he can flat pre with AA is he trappy at all...considering he's spaztastic as you say I doubt he has it in him to trap.

Unless there's info disqualifying my assumptions easiest Call ever.

Edit: you have some very contradictory statements...older villian in first description You say is over all tight aggressive...but can spazz.....then You say later he is overall too loose pf ...this needs clarification asap. If he is to loose pf this changes the hand IMO especially turn play.

Also young villian You say is horrible....yet a winner past few years....what do you mean.

This.

After you've gone this far, you've got to call.