Blinds are $1-$2, but game is $2-$100 spread-limit where the most you can raise is $100 over the previous bet.
Villain is an Asian man in his 40s, a regular, winning player at this game. Plays too many hands (and open limps a lot), but otherwise very smart and aggressive and with a lot of GAMBLE in him. (He’s a regular at the much-higher-staked Omaha game, but that table hasn’t opened yet.) Has had to show a couple of $100 airball bluffs on the River this session, but they haven’t been *suicidal*, he’ll bluff $100 when the flush comes in against a guy who obviously just had top pair, that kinda thing. Not a spewtard, just a smart player who wants to have fun and win.
He has a stack of $500 and Hero covers.
Of note: twice in the last 30 minutes Villain has 3-bet Hero’s open raises, and both times Hero has folded. The hand *immediately* prior to this, Hero raised AKo UTG2 to $12, and Villain in LJ 3-bet to $70….Hero went low-variance and folded. (The other time, Hero had KJo in the LJ and opened to $10 and Villain 3-bet to just $35 on the Button.)
(Villain in general is the only player besides Hero who ever 3-bets…as is pretty common at these stakes).
THE HAND:
Hero is UTG and raises to $12 with QhQd. There’s a call, and then Villain 3-bets to $50. A few folds and the SB (stack $300, young kids on his 4th rebuy) cold-calls the $50. Back to Hero. He 4-bets MAX to $150. Villain calls the $150. SB folds.
Flop: 5s5c4s (Pot: $360)
Hero bets $100. Villain snap-raises to $200. He has $150 behind.
Re-pop it and gii. Guys waiting for Omaha in general bluff more than typical holdem players. You just made a lay down to his 3-bet the prior hand. Plus, you folded to another one of his 3-bets. He probably has the idea in his head that you will fold any time he turns up the heat. If he has AA/KK/A5, oh well....just a cooler.
Never folding to this villain in this spot. Hand looks good up until now.
Why on earth did you fold AK to a 3 bet from a dude who clearly has bluffs and is waiting to play a bigger Omaha game? The "low variance" route is max raise and bet most flops. In those scenarios he folds a lot. The high variance route is to call and lean on the strength of your hand vs his range and show it down. You took the "automatic loss" route.
Basically the same hand I recently posted but vs one player who likes to gamble. Easy decision here. Get it in. You are probably ahead 75-90% of the time.
AK was also easy 4bet. Folding to a gambler with AK? Not eventhe nittiest OMCs would consider that move
I’ll add that my thought at the time was that I was very happy to bet QQ for three streets of value on almost all runouts—assuming I’m up against JJ/TT/99—but that I did pause after getting raised just because it seemed so unlikely for him to *raise* with one of those hands. I just wasn’t sure—it was obviously a 125BB decision.
I mean it’s slightly more scary when he raises flop here vs goes all in when playing a regular no limit game, because the structure of spread limit games is such that people kind of stop bluffing once the pot is of a certain size. So that makes this range potentially stronger than, say, someone going all in for 350 total after you bet 100.
But eh, on that same logic, he could have a hand like TT trying to “see where he’s at” or to charge AK. We have too much hand here to not entertain GII.
If you’re going to fold AK (and all 3! from the same V), and you think he’s aware enough to realize you have folded, and now you’re playing back……
You’re basically playing your hand face up.
When he has AA, he knows any safe flop and he can stack you. If you’re playing deep enough, he can set mine you with smaller pairs and fold the flop anytime he doesn’t smash it.
The “low variance” is making you extremely exploitable by even intermediate players if they are half paying attention.
Also, if you know he’s paying attention and capable, there could be an argument to flat his 3!
And also an argument to be made to fold his flop raise.
Unless you’re absolutely sure he’s likely just trying to push you around, you have folded every time he pushed you.
So, it should be sending alarms to him you’re playing back. And he doesn’t seem to care. Which should in turn sound alarms on your end.
It’s two big overpairs vs one another. So in the grand scheme, doesn’t matter.
But the details concerning the past hands and now current hand can definitely be used to plug a leak when it’s say AQ/AJ on an A high board and the V or other V in similar spot doesn’t seem to care you’re playing back.
