I haven't had many post worthy hands over the last few months. The hands I find the most interesting these days are ones where a case can be made for a variety of actions every step of the way. I think this hand fits the bill. The game is a run of the mill weeknight 2/5 table. Normally a game like this would have 1-2 pros and 1-2 solid regs but they are nowhere in sight tonight. 5/10 on the toughness scale.

Hero is a 20s guy that has been mostly card dead and playing snug. I've probably only VPIP'd a handful of pots in the hour I've been there.

V1 is a mid/late 30's WG bad rec/losing player. He stacked me once a year ago limp/calling 72s UTG and flopping trip 2's when I had AA. His play is generally erratic and random with hands he'll choose to limp or raise. Post flop is the same way, sometimes he will raise draws, other times call them. I haven't played against him in a few months but generally classify him as loose/bad.

V2 is a MAWW that bounces around between 1/2, 1/3 and 2/5. I have no idea what her finances are but I'm fairly certain she is a losing player (albeit one who thinks quite highly of herself). She seems to do decent in small buyin tournaments but I think she is pretty bad at cash games. Too loose pre, too loose post yada yada.

V3 is a bad 30's rec reg that was down to his last $200-300 earlier but has been playing badly and smashing flops and has run his stack up to $1000+.


OTTH

Effective Stacks: $625

V1 opens $20 UTG
V2 calls $20 in MP
Hero sees a playable A4 on the BTN and decides to ...

Keeping with the theme up top, we have a couple of different options here. My thoughts are V1 and V2 are both bad. They are bad in the sense that they will most likely call 3!'s at a higher frequency than average/competent villains which negates our positional advantage by lowering the SPR. I would rather 3! a polarized range of JJ+/AK and some hands from the top of our folding range like Kxs, Qxs, offsuit broadways, etc.

I think a hand like A4s fits better into our calling range as we can make a variety of "best" hands and enjoy our position on the BTN. We are also unlikely to get squeezed by SB/BB unless they have a premium hand and V3 will probably tag along if we elect to call rather than raise. Folding seems out of the question so it really comes down to flat or 3!. I'm leaning flat...

Not exactly sure how a call here is +EV when UTG opens and gets a cold-caller from MP only 120bb deep effective. Their ranges should be pretty strong here, and the SPR is only 10 if you flat. It's smaller if people call behind, and generally you want big SPRs with speculative hands. The only flops you like are really 2pr+ or a flush draw board. When you flop an Ace, someone is going to have a better ace a lot. UTG + MP cold-call = a ton of big aces/suited aces. And are you really folding TP to one bet?

I only play online, so I'm not totally sure. But as standard, I'd just muck anything below A10s here, and even A10s is pretty close. There's also a lot more squeezing/postflop aggression online & less bad players cold-calling weak hands in MP, so ofc it's different.

3-betting is just spew.

It's a fold pre-flop.

Hero is way too loose if he's thinking of calling. And yes, 3-bet is spew.

Can we get to the next street because we can tell you do something as V3 is in the pot. Want to fix a leak? Fold pre-flop.

Call pre. Folding would be a disaster...

I'd rather 3-bet than flat. We could actually value raising vs V1 and V2 could fold at a high rate.

After thinking about it, seems ok-ish to flat with our V3 in the blinds. Really not sure if I play this hand, whether I'm 3-betting or calling. Might just lean on the call because naturally 3-betting is spew here with no real defined range vs a guy who is going to call a lot I presume. Which could chain react V2 to calling. Easy to play hand. Not really deep but I guess if our V3 is playing bad enough, we can come in and exploit when we hit.

If you call A4s here, what's your call range and what's your 3-bet range? And at what point does your call range change pending stack depth.

All I wanna do in this game is play post otb with just about anything that can make the nuts. I'd imagine in this lineup 3betting was relatively scarce, so with that, V3 itb, I'd flat this time.

You're going to miss too much, and when you do hit, you won't always get paid off if nobody has anything. You basically need to make two pair or better, as making TP is pretty trash. And bluffing into an UTG raiser + MP cold-caller + possible SB/BB is just spew and -EV. 175bb deep I can probably get behind a call, given how bad live players are deep-stacked.

Its all about the last sentence and the investment to recoup the cost of the flat later in the hand. A MP cold calling range facing an EP open is generally the opposite of what it should be, and those ranges are played so poorly that we needn't always have to hit bingo to take down a mid-sized pot (as we hopefully see downthread).

look out of the corner of your eye at the blinds and try to see if one of them will call. If they're both folding, we can fold. If one of the blinds looks like he's gonna call, calling is fine, we would be 4 ways.

I think this spot is close between call and fold but since they call 3bets often, we shouldn't 3bet this light.

Also, we don't always have to flop a FD. If we flop aces up vs AK/AQ/AJ we're also in heaven.

I know it's a pahwm so call (don't 3bet please)

I wish we were deeper, but I'm looking to play lots of hands IP vs these guys, especially ones that make the nuts, so call. Don't like a 3! at all.

Seems like an easy call to me. Don't like 3-betting for the reasons you've described (we're likely getting called in at least one spot) and I wouldn't a suited ace on the button in a pot going at least 3-ways for 3% of effective stacks. Having position here could also help us pot control if we hit a single ace.

Light 3 betting TWO villains who are both stationy makes no sense. We rarely take it down pre and therefore create a bloated pot OOP with a weak ace against players who aren't going to easily lay down to a c bet either.

Folding is fine but I'm happy to play poker in position with a suited wheel ace against these opponents.

Call.

Call. I don't understand why some folks ITT are advocating folding a suited ace in position to a single bet with >100BB effective, especially if we:

1. Expect the flop to go at least 3 ways.
2. Don't have reason to expect a 3bet from the blinds.

We're not looking to flop TPNK and we probably can't "outplay" the station after the flop. We want to make a nuttish hand like Aces up, trip fours, the wheel, or the nut flush to stack someone. Even better if we hit the latter 3 hands and win some kind of 3-way all-in. This is how we make money at LLNSL.

I'm 70% calling and 30% 3-betting to 75 here.

If you play enough live, you will find live player sucks as hell. Against V1 fitting into that description, he can be raising a lot of junky hands UTG, like 78s, ATo etc.

Those players sucks at postflop. Too much fit or fold and sticky when get a piece.

Calling with speculative hands against those players are really +EV.


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lol at folding this pre. Good lord the nits can come out around here sometimes.

THIS.

What do you think will happen if the flop is K44 and we're up against AK and 54s at this table?

We're definitely not looking to outmaneuver A9o and A3o on an A72 flop.

I would not 3! pre against a relative tight UTG opening range. I'm happy to call here and play in position against two weak players, who probably have weak postflop skills.

I agree folding is out of the question. Hero should never get stacked or call multiple barrels on an A-x-x flop. There is no threat of domination when hero can dump TP to strong action.

Never folding.
Occasionally 3betting but flatting most of the time.

Prolly flat here given dynamics.

Not folding and generally not 3! This line up. Open to all other options

I see what you did there...

Flat. Not folding, and I don't want to bloat the pot. Doubt we have much FE unless we size huge.

As Vs 3! calling range gets bigger so should our 3! value range. There is a point when A4s actually becomes a value raise and not a light 3!. V is described as calling 3!s with 72s. Our value range should be giant against him

That being said, I'm a nit and tend to play smaller pots. we are on the button, calling isn't bad by any means


Never folding unless we have a solid read SB/BB are raising

Flat for all the reasons already given. Folding is lolbad against these Vs 120bb deep. Could be talked into a 3b against different Vs, but I doubt we get enough folds against these two.

I think he l/c'ed 72s, no?

OP, can we move on to the next street plz

A few more thoughts over lunch...

A 3bet from the button over an open and 1-2 callers often looks exactly like what it is: a positional squeeze/isolation 3bet that is FOS.

If we flat and the blinds end up 3betting, when it calls or folds to us, can we back-raise 4bet bluff (given our holdings) and rep AA/KK trapping a squeeze?

If we had AA/KK on the button this is exactly what we could do, and we have a good 4bet bluffing hand.

That being said, I'm not sure if our Villains are switched on enough for us to try that level.

As an aside, I feel that PAHWM threads should ideally have discussion around our plan for future actions/streets before the OP reveals what he or she actually played.