So Monday afternoon at Casino Rama 5pm


sit down, post and fold a few hands less then 6 before I pick up QQ.

not much information on villian but just found out hes a regular so he can be anywhere from a Very good reg. to a terribad reg.

Hero(utg+1) stack 450

Fold, hero Raises to 25, V1 calls, fold,fold,fold, SB, BB Call


Flop (pot 100)

984

Check,Check, Hero CB's to $45. (I think my sizing is decent here) V1 min raises to $90 fold, fold.......


Back to Hero... I want to know what the two plus two community would do in this situation. against an unknown reg.

Flop bet is too small. I wouldn't call it a c-bet because you have a hand. I'm probably going broke on this hand. Your small bet underrepped your overpair, so if I were V I might think my top pair is good here....he could have 2 pair or a set, but a lot of his range consists of 67, 78, TJ, T8, 99, TT, so I'm reraising a substantial amount.

I bet more like 65 OTF

When he raises me I would re-raise him back

If I go broke, so be it. I'm not folding vs an unknown

My 2cents

I went with a reraise... but whats the optimal size...

200.

C-bet larger 60 seems about right. I think a lot of his hands are top pair is hands or straight draws so he could be raising to get to the river with a draw.

Sine your 3 bet will definitely pot commit you i would make it so he cant draw correctly probably make it $250 and obv call a shove. I don't think a jam by you would be too bad either but you will NEVER have worse call you and with a smaller 3 bet there is still a chance TT JJ or even JT maybe could call you

First - even your 6 hands you must have seen something from the villain - unless he folded every single hand. What does he look like? What's he wearing? How are his chips arranged? Most importantly, what's his stack size?

Pre - fine.
Flop - don't like your sizing. Bet more like $65-$75. Draws will still call you, as will K9, A9 type hands. With your small bet, you have under-repped your hand, and his min-raise is probably a top pair, 1 pair, TT, JJ type hand. This is rarely a draw, since min-raise with a draw makes little sense. Have to include sets in his range as well, but I discount them heavily compared to 1-pair hands. No need to re-reaise to charge draws since they're a miniscule part of his range. Re-raising OTF only gets worse hands to fold and better hands to call. Why not call, check most turns, and check-call or CRAI? Or you could call here and lead blank turns. Of course, knowing villain's stack size would help with these decisions.

...call


Raising him again is worthless and throwing money away. If you decide to do it you should just shove cuz u aren't deep enough to fold after you raise him again

Definitely bet more on the flop. Minimum $60. Reraise villain all day son. If I read this right you have 450-25-45 for $380 left in your stack. With the pot now at $215 (80+45+90), you need to shut down his drawing odds and send a message that your commiting the rest of your stack with a big pair. Either raise it to $225 or just ship it all.

Those of you that are saying 3bet here what do you expect to accomplish? You think Villain is going broke with A9?

Probabaly not, but he might with TT and I hate giving free cards. If he catches his Ace for free or completes his straight it's my fault.

3betting is almost pointless here. We dont want to fold out hands that we beat, and its brutally obvious that we have a big pair if we re-raise....doubt we get stacks in against a random 9. Call and see turn. Its makes more sense to c/s turn than to 3bet the flop imo.

thanks guys...

sorry about the lack of information he had me covered with about 900..

white guy, mid 20's goatee, discussed previous hands with asian regular (so assumed he was a regular as well) stack was neatly stacked and had a gold coin pocket protector.


so moving back to the hand...

after he min raised.. couple of folds... I ho'd and hum'd and made tom dwan faces and then re raised to 200. (I hated Shoving because that seemed wayy too spewy. and not folding as we have an under repped over pair, thats so out of the question as well. so its call or raise.) calling we keep his range super wide because he can do that with a draw, see a lot of good turn cards to give him more equity or even give him a chance to improve his hand. So thought calling was really bad as well. my only option was to raise... but how much?

min raising his raise, was quite foolish and has the same effect as calling because he would flat with everything plus give him an opportunity to blow us off our hand.

so 135 total is out of the question, now I thought about it for a bit making it 150 still sort of prices in his draws if hes feeling froggy.

I made it 200 to let him know I mean business, now if he ships it sure were "priced in" but are we EVER like EVER ahead?

only thing I see 4 bet shoving is top two pair, sets, KK QQ AA and very very rarely 1010,JJ bottom 2 pairs.

after I made it 200 he thought for about 5 seconds and shipped it in, while i went in the tank hes like do you want to see?.. I lol'd. idiot.. ended up folding and he showed KK...

felt pretty good but not suprised as I havnt had a winning 2/5 session in what seems like forever. Im ALWAYS turning up the best with 1 or 2 cards to go but villian always peeling out miracles.

sickest was when drunk old 40yo sat down and reaked of booze so his SB and My BB I told him at the start of the hand I said "theres no way im chopping this with you" in a friendly laughing voice he took it with severe rage. and when it folded around to him he shoved all in for 380 pre flop i snapped fist pump john macenroe called with KK. I lost to 6 3 off,

incredible how I am decent winner at our weekly .25/.50 home game which i believe is much more -ev to play as the play is a lot more advanced there. vs 2/5 ohh well... i Know BBV is over there.

As said, I bet flop bigger, too. 2/3 at the smallest, but that's also my cbet size on dry flops.

I would like to see more discussion on those saying to felt this hand what they think is raising us? And, I would like to see from those saying to flat what their plan is when the overcard turns?

It's just a rare duck I see c/r us on this board with something we beat. And, a minraise? Isn't that begging for a call here?

"The reason I've been able to stick around playing poker, while others haven't is because I can overcome adversity"
-Paraphrased from the Late, Great Chip Reese

Remember, a pair is ever only a pair, no matter when you got it or how close to Aces it is.

3 bet folding half your stack sounds bad to me only?

I think calling and folding both have merits here vs. different types of players. Raising seems completely pointless. The range of hands he stacks off with here that we are ahead of is incredibly small.

I probably call and re-eval turn vs. an unknown. Fold vs. nitty/solid types.

+1. I much prefer calling his minraise otf and then b/f most turn cards. This line allows u to get value from 9x hands and draws. Plus it should cause him to identify his hand strength ott. I don't think he bluff or semi-bluff raises ott after you take this line.

If hero rr to 200-225 and then V shoves, hero will be laid over 3 to 1 on a call, which means he almost has the odds to draw vs V's tightest shove range of sets and JT. If V's shove range is even slightly wider, then a rr by hero commits.

So, so true.

If you ever listen to the Bart Hanson podcasts (and you should, I think the old ones are still free on itunes), he says all the time that a min-raise at a low stakes table is always a big hand. And he's right. Flat raise, fold to huge bet on turn card that does not help. Don't stack off with one pair against unknown villan.

Some thoughts:

1. Stop using ellipses so much (...). They do not serve as much of a purpose as you think they do.

2. Where is Casino Rama? If it's outside of the U.S. I would tell us where, and what the action is typically like there.

3. As others have said, your flop bet is too small. As others have said, 2/3 pot.

4. Once that many people call you before the flop, your hand has become a pair, ie you are playing it for set value. Take a stab at the flop, see what happens, run away if there is serious resistance. You must remember this. Out of 3 other people, someone flopped 2 pair or better most of the time. Do not commit your whole stack with an overpair against someone that you have no reads on. If you always folded in this situation you'd probably come out ahead.

Small pots with big pairs. Big pots with small cards. Repeat this to yourself, "you either lose a big pot or win a small one with AA."

5. When I saw the minraise, I pretty much assumed he had a set or better. I'd probably either snapfold (face up for lols), or call looking for a J/T/Q. Anything else I would check/fold turn.

6. You are probably winning in your home game because everyone plays tighter, so your good hands hold up, you don't bluff much, and you don't really need to read fish plays.

reraise to 290

I haven't listened to these podcasts, so I don't have the context. But, I don't agree with this statement about min-raises on the flop in 2-5 NL. I do agree on the river. On the flop a min-raise could be:

1. For value with a strong hand.
2. A cheap bluff vs. an opponent who may be cbetting air.
3. A cheap semi-bluff vs a weak-tight opponent.
4. A draw wanting a free card on the turn.
5. Top pair medium kicker wanting to block the turn from being bet and getting a cheaper price then original bettor would set on the turn.
6. To setup a shove from a shortstack when the action is 3-way so that you can then isolate reraise.

I may be omitting some.