10 handed 1/2. Most of the players are loose/passive and very sticky. They limp/call with their entire range. They might raise per or limp/re-raise w/ premiums (AA, KK, AK). They will call down with almost any draw or pair.

V ($150) OWG, raises more than anyone, maybe even more than I do. Raises are often and wide. Usually raises $7 to $15 depending on limpers and sometimes on his hand. I think the $7 raises are suited connectors, small pairs, etc. Almost always c-bets. He thinks I raise too much (LOL) and doesn’t always believe me, although I usually have something. He can be sticky like the rest of them.

H (covers) OWW, but younger than V by 30 years, LOL. Tight aggressive. I raise a lot (usually $12 - $15) and 3bet more than anyone at the table. Been getting crushed tonight, though. Nothing is connecting. I must look a little spewy, but I’ve been raising AJ+, all pairs (nothing above 88 so far – or for the entire night for that matter), KQs, suited connectors, etc. Always in position.

OTTH:

One limper and V makes it $7 from cutoff, I call from BTN with 8d9d, blinds fold (miracle), limper calls. With how this table plays, I didn't see a reason to 3bet.

Flop (~$20): Kh8s7h

Check, V bets $10, I raise to $30, fold, V calls. He is c-betting almost always, and I think I have the best hand. Anyone just call? Fold?

Turn (~$75 after rake) Kh8s7h 6h

V checks, I bet $50, V calls. Is anyone checking here? I can’t imagine he’d check hearts, but who knows?

Kh8s7h 6h Ts

Bink. V checks, and I don’t see any option except putting him all in.

Our hand does much better vs his whole range. By raising flop you are condensing his range to mostly better hands or good equity draws. I would call flop.

Turn is a check back. You are basically bluffing here.

River too short to do anything but shove.

With your read that small raises are suited connectors, small pairs, those types of hands, I would definitely 3bet.

As played, I'd flatcall flop and likely check turn behind. Betting 50 and leaving 60 behind also makes no sense to me. If you bet turn, just put him all-in.

River, sure, obviously put the rest in now.

I would consider this whole hand a trainwreck tbh. Edit: which is fine btw and kudos for posting it. You should see some of the hands I play each session. Lots of trainwrecks there too, so I'm not trying to sound snooty (?) or whatever.

Without fold equity, I also just call preflop.

On the flop, I agree that you have the best hand more often than not, but he's hardly ever calling your raise with worse.

As played, ott one of the very few types of hands you were ahead of, got there. This seems like a check back to me.

As played, river is an obvious shove.

given line up desc I just call pre
flop I just call
I bet turn after his check
I shove river

If your image were better, I'd like the raise flop, shove turn line to rep a low hearts SC (or a bad Axhh, I guess). The raise flop + <pot turn bet seems like the worst of both worlds.

I like overcalling pf: keeps SPR high-ish, we have position. I liked your flop raise, but I misread initially that you had bottom 2, lol. We're just not very deep, unfortunately.

I see you said he was sticky, does that apply to his bet-call tendencies or just his call tendency, if you know? We're OK ending the hand now if we can with middle pair, so if he overfolds to raises, I like the move.

Probably calling pf, flop, c-back, and either calling a modest bet (pot should be about 40, so anything pot-sized), or b/f one. Ap shove.

Yup. Calling here.
With sticky players, drive the bus to valuetown!



I agree V is wide.
Raise for value (get that bus warmed up).
Never folding.
Sometimes calling if I think V is going to bet with worse on the turn.



I'm checking behind after my raise gets called.
Sticky V or behind, I'm not sure which.
I do know that draws I don't have just arrived.




Happy to see the T.
Glad to see the check.
With stack sizes, go ahead and ship it.

This is a fold pre.

I think the flop raise is pretty bad tbh, especially since if you have an agressive image you would 3! some (most?) of your Kx hand.

Preflop
Fine to call if blinds are passive. V has <100bb so I don't like 3betting as bluff unless he folds a lot to 3bets. If you get 4bet it's annoying and you fold, and if he calls, you have a small SPR with a hand that plays better with deeper stacks. You can also fold pre as he has a short stack but don't mind a call.

Flop
I probably just fold with no backdoor/frontdoor flush draw. If he's a guy who barrels we'll have to fold turn unimproved anyways if we call. If he doesn't barrel you can call now and bet safe turn cards. I don't think we have a strong enough hand to value raise, and if we're bluffing there are much better combos we could use.

Turn
T9 gets there, hearts get there. We block almost none of it. I'd check back. If you had the best hand on the flop, you almost certainly don't anymore. If you were behind on flop, you're still way behind and possibly drawing dead.

River
We somehow arrived with a value hand kinda. Time to ship it.

Just ship as played and if he has a flush, he has it. The way you have described the table, he will call with worse. It seems to me that sometimes on these 4 straight runouts, even with the 3 flush board, people will tank call. Sometimes this is with 2 pair. Since people play connected cards, a 4 straight board often gives someone 2 pair. They may have has a pair + gutshot on the turn, but they hit their 2 pair while you hit a straight.

Going back to preflop this is really just a fold. Facing a 3.5x bb open raise with rake and only 75bb deep, this hand loses money on average calling.

Postflop, if you think you have the best hand, but your hand itself is not that strong (losing to all of the value hands which is capable of having on the flop), the play is generally to call to keep his bluffs in, not to raise. You have a lot of cards that improve your hand. In this case, you do pick up the open ender on the turn, but you could also spike a 9 or 8.

On the turn, it seems clear that on the flop you thought you had the best hand, but it seems like now you know you don't have the best hand after he called the flop (usually this means you shouldn't have raised un the first place). You ask, does he check hearts? Of course he can check hearts. Most poker players will check to the aggressor from the previous street, even bad poker players. You see leading more on the river where they think they will miss value if it checks through. Occasionally you see them donk turn with value on wet boards where their hand is vulnerable. A flush isn't that vulnerable. Players also like to donk when the board pairs.

With an open ender on the turn, if we have any equity at all in this hand, we want to realize it by checking turn, hoping to improve on the river. It is sick to get jammed on here.

When we look back at the hand, what are we doing? You know the table is stationy. You know they think you are spewey. So don't try to bluff them! Do bet for thick value when you have it, but don't force it when you don't.

Don't get me wrong. I absolutely love bluffing, even vs recs in certain spots. Especially where they show a ton of weakness. Particularly after they have checked or taken a bet sizing OOP the screams that they don't want to have to call a larger bet. In those sort of spots, it really doesn't matter what you have. You could have two napkins and sticking it in their face will print money.

When villain bets flop, then calls a raise on the flop, their hand doesn't scream weakness, so I don't love the yurn bet vs a station. As it turns out, we make a hand that is strong enough to value bet on the river though.

To Java : One thing I’ve noticed about your thought process is you assume people usually donk out when they hit. I would note what Mlark said here.

This is probably even more true vs someone who follows through very often after raising a previous street.

This guy almost always bets when he thinks he has the best hand (except for the c-bet, which is almost always). I probably shouldn't have written, "but who knows." I guess he might check non-nut hearts planning to call down or bet river if I check. These guys are not on 2+2

Most of the guys in this room bet when they hit. They might check/call if it's not the nuts, but I can't even remember seeing a check/raise except from one or two of the non-regulars.

Sounds like they’re making it pretty easy for you. You know your player pool, keep exploiting them! They are probably scared of you and would rather battle each other.

I know them well, but if you don't connect or hit, it can be brutal. I've seen four limps, raise to $20/$25, and blinds and all four call. LOL. Some of them have "favorite" hands, too. One guy who is usually tight always plays T8, and another guy loves J2, so you have to be extra careful sometimes And they limp/call pairs, including JJ, QQ, and almost any A, including AT/J/Q/K. It can be frustrating.

PRE - unless we're extremely confident in our read, I like the flat call rather than 3B.

FLOP - with a decent bluff catcher, backdoor draw potential, and a read-based range advantage, I'd prefer a flat call over a raise.

TURN - if we flat called flop and V checks to us, I'd bet. AP, I think barreling is correct, if we want to rep a made hand. Surely we have a lot of straights and flushes in our range here.

ETA - actually, depending on how confident we are in our reads, I might check back here. See next post.

RIVER - he has about a half pot size stack left? Yeah, jamming is pretty much your only move when he checks again.

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Results:

I gii and he calls. He has 7c9h. LOL. I told you he was sticky. I thought I loved the T, but not so much.

@Javanewt questions...

Your pre flop bet sizing read suggests V has a SC. You raised flop thinking you had the best hand. I'm assuming you also wanted to charge his draws, some of which come in on the turn.

Just curious what your thought process was on the turn. Did you think you still had the best hand at that point, or did you think you were bluffing? It seems unlikely a bluff would get him to fold much that beats us there.

On the river, you're losing to his flushes, and if he's insanely loose/sticky, J9, but beating his lower straights and worse. Wondering how often he c-bet-calls your flop raise, check-calls 2/3 pot on turn, and check-calls a river jam with a worse straight or 2P on this run-out. Is he THAT sticky?

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Definitely thought I was ahead on flop. On turn, I was 99% sure he didn't have hearts and that I could rep hearts or make him pay to chase another heart (which he would have done). When he checks again on river, I definitely think I have the best hand. He checked because he was scared of hearts, but he's never folding once he got there. I'm never checking vs his stack. He might call me w/ two pair,. I can't put him on J9 -- he's not that sticky.

I like the call pf. The flop is very much villain dependent. It would be rare that a villain at that age is going to call a raise with anything worse than what you have. At the same time, most villains were not going to keep going if you called. Therefore, I think a call would be better to keep his range wider.

As played, I'm ok with the turn bet. The flush is in your range and some sort of TP is likely to give up.

River, I check behind after betting the turn. A better hand is mostly never folding and a worse hand is mostly never calling.