2/5 NL - Horseshoe Hammond

Brand New Table - 1st Hand

Villain: ($500) Winning Reg, ~30 year old black buy, his problem is he has a lot of bad habits, always has a beer in his hand, constantly leaving to smoke, doesn't sleep much. Although it might appear he sucks, he is actually a regular who I know beats the game pretty well, sometimes he plays 5/10. I have played with him a couple times in the past and he is very aggressive, but I haven't really gotten involved in any hands with him or seen him showdown too many hands, so I don't have much info on him.

Hero: ($500) I think Villain views me as a standard winning TAG.

Preflop: Folds around to Hero on the Button who raises to $20 with KJ, SB folds, Villain calls in BB.

Flop: ($40) JT6 Hero bets $25, Villain raises to $80...

I am going to include the spoiler because I want you to know the ******ed thing I did, and I want to know what you guys would've done differently and why.



-Am I supposed to just give up and fold to his aggression on the flop?

-Am I supposed to call and re-evaluate on the turn? However, I don't see the point in this since he is always betting the river no matter what he has...

-Am I just supposed to make a decision after his re-raise if my hand is good or not and ship it like it did?

As played, I would have fold OTF because:

1. A c/r usually means strength.
2. I want to avoid playing with against a villain who is capable of c/r bluffing.

HU, IP, I check back flops that are Jack-high when I hit a pair.

Never folding this OTF after opening from BTN and described villain flatting in BB!

Shipping is obviously spew, but i would call. You've got a couple of backdoor draws and there are many cards on the turn that will freeze the villan's action. TT is just one of many possible hands he could have there (JT, 66, KQ, 98, AJ, AQ, AK, 98, diamonds, etc). I think you are often ahead here and for many hands in his range he will check OOP OTT a bunch of times. I'm definitely calling and OTT:

1) bet if a total blank (e.g., 2s) or a jack comes and he checks
2) check behind if a scare card comes and he checks
3) call if a non-diamond queen, a club, a jack or a king comes and he bets less than 3/4 pot

You're supposed to put villain on a range of hands. Sets are a tiny part of that range. I don't think you can fold to the flop c/r though. He's aggro, defending the bb, and expects you to cbet probably 100%. TP+ backdoor flush and straight draws has decent equity against a range that includes lots of draws and weaker pairs.

He's (almost) always betting OTT.

Still not the right odds.

Bet/fold is fine on the flop. Not sure what the big deal about it is.

It's hideously exploitable. That's the big deal.

Call and see a turn IP

Check the flop 80% against this type of villain in the LP hands when you flop a good hadn like this. It will rarely sting you later in the hand, any "scare" cards will likely result in SD type cards anyways for your hand. He will have a hard time figuring out how strong you really are, and your hand will then look like 78suited or w/e trying to steal if you do. Remember getting value off good villains for 3 streets is hard to do.

i haven't read the spoiler, but i agree with check on the flop

You started with $500, put $45 into the hand at the time of villain's check-raise and then decided to re-raise all-in for your remaining $455. I used to do stuff similar to that a few years ago. It backfired on me about 33% of the time.

I wouldn't necessarily fold to aggression in this spot, but if you didn't have those backdoor draws, then I'd seriously consider it. In other words, you're most likely beat here unless your opponent is more maniac than winning regular (which he isn't, apparently).


VS

Advice on this hand is completely irrelevant.

What really matters is what OP did after backing into a double-up on the first hand. How many nits did OP vehemently berate with the "Tony G" treatment after this first hand? That's what really matters. Gotta get rid of those nits and show off in front of a bunch of other dudes, right?

I bet the flop too. You raised the button and hit top pair good kicker. Checking back against this type of villian is ok too for pot control but I usually just bet for value anyway. there is a straight draw and a flush draw on board so I want to make them pay to draw. as played I call the flop raise for sure. You're in position, you're getting around 2.5:1, you have top pair good kicker, an overcard, and backdoor draws. If a brick hits the turn and he bombs it, you can fold, but I think you're getting a good enough price with your equity to peel here. Of course shoving is insane but you already know that.

I'm betting the turn aggressively if a K, J, or broadway club hits the turn

If you are scared to play a big pot with a marginal hand against a agressive player you should probably check back the flop for pot control and plan on calling most turns and evaluate river. I assume he would bet 100% percent of his actual hands and most of his draws(if they hit or not) on the turn. And if he checks to you ott definitely cbet for value

I think calling is best against non-passive opponents. Anyone who is good is not betting turn with their whole range. Very few people are betting turn/river with their whole range. Because you have position, you gain info on each street. Against some players calling river to fold turn is +ev. Against others calling flop/turn to fold river is +ev. It's up to you to have a handle on your specific opponent's tendencies.

As played you took the worst possible line. You shove with 1 pair when you shouldn't be committed and when your equity against villain's calling range is terrible and your fold equity is too small to compensate.

I probably peel one OTF and call his raise. Thats a really draw heavy board. ALSO we're in position so OTT we get to control the free card (if he checks we can check behind). This is really read dependent though, have you seen this villian play any of his draws really aggressive? Thats the key in this hand and how I would make my decision.

I wrote that paragraph as my first line of thinking (first 15 secs) then looked over hand and re-evaluated.... but then I came to the conclusion of "wait, if he has a draw why am I checking back the turn?" then I thought "if I call on the flop and I try and bluff him off his draw on the turn if he shoves I have to call and might be crushed" so after re-evaluating I think your relative hand strength to whats in his range here is pretty bad and you have to pitch this hand. It looks so weak but as long as hes not exploiting you I dont think its a bad fold. At worst I guess you have to pray hes raising with QJ? or QK diamonds or some hand that has good equity against us?

After about 3 minutes of thinking this hand has to be a fold on the flop.

Edit: Just re looked at hand cause its really interesting to me and saw you have backdoor club draw. This actually might not be a bad spot to call like I first thought you have a lot of good cards that can come on the turn.

Wow I need to pokerstove this hand I'm really confused. I hate these types of spots ><

Edit#2: I just did a pokerstove of his potential range and we're only around 25% if he has (TdTh, TdTs, ThTs, 6c6h, 6c6s, 6h6s, AcJc, AhJh, AsJs, KdQd, JhTh, JsTs, Th6h, Ts6s, 9c8c, 9d8d, 8d7d, JcTd, JcTh, JcTs, JdTh, JdTs, JhTc, JhTd, JhTs, JsTc, JsTd, JsTh) I took out all combos that arent possible of each hand and added some semi bluffs etc..

*Grunch*

Flat flop raise, with the plan to fold to a large turn bet unless you hit a non-diamond King or pick up a draw.

Also, I'd probably bet $40 on the flop. If he smooth calls, THEN check turn for pot control. I guess checking flop for pot control, rather than turn, is fine but you should call down pretty light in that case, or make large turn/river bets if he keeps checking.

People always say this and it drives me nuts. IT'S ONLY EXPLOITABLE IF YOU SHOW THE FOLD. HE DOESN'T KNOW YOU"RE FOLDING TOP PAIR TO HIS CR. He's just going to think you folded Ace high after standard c-betting as long as you don't hem and haw and just muck quickly. And for that reason it's good to know how you will respond to a CR before betting any street in position.