2/4 Barcelona

HERO (€800) Been playing tight, although this may be irrelevant because the two villains in the hand don´t appear to be respecting anyone´s bets. This is only the third time in the night I´ve limped in.

SB (€260) is a station. Big, serious looking South American guy. Since he doubled up through me with AA vs AK aipf for €120 a few orbits ago, he is not letting go of any piece of a board. e.g. In a 4-way limped pot (me BB) I got 3 streets of value with K9 on a Ks6s3d3cJs. I am looking for more of the same.

BB (€290) Older Asian guy, also stationy but not QUITE as bad. Will probably chase bad draws then give up on later streets. Bets big hands big (got very excited with his AA on a paired turn earlier, 3 bet someone got a fold, tabled his hand like the nuts, which obv it was), not sure if he is very hot on relative hand strength.

The hand

2 loose passive limp in, HERO looks down at QJ otb. I decide to limp in (?) because I´d like to see a cheap flop IP against SB and BB with a medium strength hand. Feel I have more value in keeping their entire range in this pot rather than just their top 60%. Reasonable?

Blinds tap the table and we see a flop

910J (€20)

SB leads out €20, BB calls €20, 2 folds, HERO...

does what and why?

This is the second time I have seen SB lead out so strong. Last time was with 2 pair. He clearly likes this flop and am assuming the diamonds are worrying him. I suspect the diamonds look a little better to BB.

This is a RIO situation. If you call and then hit another diamond, you're paying off the two better flushes. At the same time, somebody without a diamond is folding and even the 8 high diamond flush isn't going to go to the mat with his hand. HU, this is an easy raise. With the BB calling, I'm done with the hand.

This is a tough spot. If you knew, no one already had a made flush, this would be an easy raise. But, you don't know that. BB could be sitting there with the nuts. I was trying to think if raising big on the flop would give you information, but you might get flatted or 3bet by the nuts, 2 pair, or nut flush draw. I would say call the flop bet, but unless you hit the straight flush, you are not going to be able to try for tons of value. So, if you hit and are behind, you may lose a lot (RIO), but if you are ahead, you will not make a lot and might even get blown off your hand by a worse hand. You don't have implied odds to go for the straight flush. As nitty as it sounds, I think this is a fold.

I would definitely raise preflop. I'm not used to 2/4, but if it was $1/2, I would make it $15, so make it like 25. You want to narrow the field to make for easier decisions later, and also take the initiative.

I'd have probably raised pre, but I do understand wanting to keep them in. As played, you wanted to keep their entire range and you got a flop that makes it nearly impossible to figure out where they are. I'd probably just call here and see what happens on the turn. Easy fold if you don't improve or there is too much action on the turn.

Why would you open to $15 otb in a 1/2 game? Your never going to get called by a hand you have a significant edge against and if sb or bb 3 bets you have to fold due to their awkward stack sizes. I make it $7 in 1/2 and $13 in 2/4 to define their ranges, keep the betting lead, and be able to peel one off otf if you want to.

I don't play 1/2 very much anymore, but when I do, bet sizing really doesn't make much difference on what you get called by.

Most 1/2 players don't think "oh thats 7.5 bb", they think "its just 15 dollars."