Table is weak tight, all middle-aged guys, though surely they show hero (table captain ldo) no respect. Villain is $50 and Asian, and raises pre > average. Hero daydreams between hands but assumes he's a typical spewy 1/2 clown.


Hero is dealt XY: , raises to $5 in MP, 4 callers including main villain in SB. Hero has $150, Villain covers.

Flop - K105

SB leads $17, fold, Hero calls, two folds behind. Pot is now ~$60.

Turn - 9

Villain leads for $30. Hero calls. Pos is now ~$120.

River - 7

Villain bets $40. Hero calls.

---

1) What is the optimal XY range for hero to have here?

Yeah, that preflop raise of 5 bucks in a 1/2 game is bad. I don't care what you have.

The rest is just whatever.

I know you have something to say about leverage, but you're wrong as a generality. Sometimes you're right, but often enough you can build a pot to unlimited heights @ any raise size, and as long as you're considerate of the frequency of callers + 3-bets you face @ any opening size, and image, you can do what you feel.

This table is prime for peppering with frequent, small openings.

Yeah, you're either not getting max value or raising junk and not getting folds. It's a leak.

I couldn't disagree more, but whatever. As long as you're gauging the # of people you want in a pot, and the desired size, and your image(balance), it doesn't matter what you raise to. This has been proven over a decade-sample of "standard openings(plays)" in constant flux, which historically have been shrinking in relative size.

KJ, KQ, AT, K9, T9.

What is villain's stack?

raising to 5 makes poker too hard for me



(can't raise two pair on turn cause QJ got there)

This. As played ak or kq is the worst hand I'd call with here

I'd think you need 2 pair+ here. The only thing in a villains donk bet (3x) range your gonna beat is busted flush draws and bad 2 pair types like T5, K5.

Villain has ATC range w/ a $5 raise pre and 4 players in the pot when it gets to him in the sb. The fact that he donked into you every street makes me want to have more than top pair in this spot despite super wide pre flop range.

Agree but I even fold these some of the time.

But I really hope your not opening to 5 with these hands. Your giving everyone great implied odds to call pre. Why not let them make huge mistakes by putting more in the middle with dominated hands?

Only time i consider making a small raise pre that I expect to go multiway is from ep with small pps. You avoid l/c a larger amount and if there is not much 3b going on you can safely build a pot with great io.

kx minimum, if he is agro then Tx might be an option but u say they are weak tight, im profbably folding anything under kj here

this is a major leak btw

bad players can be bad in many different ways, knowing exactly how they play lets you exploit them as much as possible.

is villain short? really chatty and occasionally plays 2/5?

KQ+

Where as I can see small sweetener raises can be optimal in some games. I can't see how they ever can be optimal in a weak tight game...

In a game with loose players who call too big bets with too weak a hand...sweetener raises may make sense as its easier to get stacks in if your not forced to over bet. Committing large amount of your stack preflop without a maid hand makes little sense, so even hands like AK my be argued for a sweetener raise in some games.


But in a week tight game your strategy should be to build big pots, with few callers when you have a wide range of hands pre flop...Then take the pot away from them on the flop and turn. If your not planning on getting to the river your hand does not matter. but position helps(though a little equity helps slow you down and add a bit to your win rate)...

As played I can't read your hand...but I can read his....

he bets out over 1/2 pot into 5 players and the original raiser....His hand should be a K+ or qj or a club draw...

Turn is not a good card to continue bluffing...yeah he could rep the straight with his flush...but its unlikely...and it gives you to many pair and draw comboes...Most likely a top pair type hand...say KsJs

river looks like a blocking bet...probably a hand like KQ or KJ personally If your just bluff catching his unlikely flush draw with Kx of clubs or spades...a raise is going to be better then a call with your week made hand....

Kx+

I only see two hands hero could have that take this line. KQs and T9s. The $5 raise preflop is only useful for price setting, and means a suited connector or a small/medium pair. However, those hands either hit this hard and bet/raise at some point or they give up by river. Big pairs and big aces need to raise more preflop. KQ probably should raise more pre to isolate but at a loose table I might price set instead. The call down line with top pair good kicker makes sense, though I might raise flop/turn with KcQc. Even at a passive table, most villains would raise AK over the small bet, so KQ is likely good. The T9 doesn't want to give up to the donk bet and once hero has two pair the hand is good but a raise probably only gets called by better hands.

On river I'm calling. The KQ isn't happy but $40 is too small to fold in that big of a pot. T9 might be worth a raise vs a station, but against most it is probably marginally -ev because it only gets called by better hands.

Man, about the only range I can put you on is decent Kx or Tx if you think he's bluffly (although that's probably bad in a 5 way pot). No reason to flat all the way down with 2 pair+. No reason to call river with draws.

I suppose you could have AA here too, not sure anyone said that.

The lack of info on villain's post flop play hurts this read, I mean, how am I to know what you would call with when I don't know a thing about the villain?

And the $5 raise pre is awful as ike noted, playing 5 way here is bad.

K9 maybe AK its tonight to call 3 streets on a scary board with a naked K I think 2 pair should be bottom of your range, maybe K10 but you should be raising that flop with top 2 IMO

Also if this was a real hand you should be raising more than 5 pre

i wonder if this is a hand where the op is one of the tags and he valuetowned himself against a loose asian, then is coming here to post backwards to get confirmation that he should have vbet as wide as he did