Late weekday night. Blinds $1-$2, but game is $2-$100 spread-limit.

Villain is a young, plays a lot, and has an understanding of GTO. He 3-bets light (I once 4-bet him with 6s5s and he folded…6d5d), plays draws aggressively, check-raises frequently, and talks about “blockers” and all the lingo. He is the BB, he has $600 and I cover.

THE HAND: 4 guys limp in. I over-limp with Jd7d. SB completes, Villain checks his option.

FLOP: Ks5d4d (pot: $14, 7-ways). Everyone checks to me. I bet $10. SB folds. Villain in BB check-raises to $40. Everyone folds to me. I call.

TURN: Ks5d4d 6d (pot: $90, heads-up). He bets $60.

1. Do we raise to $160 or just call?

2. If he calls it and the River is a brick (non-Diamond non-board pair) and he checks, do we bet $100 again?

id call and see what's up otr. i dont mind checking flop either

am much more inclined to raise turn vs fish

This is a call down. If checked to, kind of a marginal decision against a tight old guy. Maybe this guy limped in with AK, qq-AA and wasnt sure how to play it. Or smaller flush which is unlikely, maybe just a couple combos. $60-$100 and get called with worse over half the time? Its close. Muck your hand pre.

ifpbtjm

I would just check the flop, and as played call the turn. He's probably not folding a NF if we raised, which is what we'd be tryna do basically, fold out better since worse isn't likely calling.

Wouldn't overlimp this hand - rather have something that flops cleanly like pairs, NFD hands or maybe connected broadways like JTs. Call the turn and see the river - he's not value betting worse OTR or shouldn't be, so if he checks I think we have a clear bet.

nobody playing 1/2 spread limit has an understanding of GTO.

check flop. call turn.

Preflop I also overlimp the button.

Flop, with a 7way pot, I don't see the bet taking it down often. Checking adds some deception too. But ok, call the $30 and hope to bink.

Turn, the problem is that the 6d on the board and the 7d in your hand eliminate a lot of the lower flush combos we are hoping he would have. So call and preserve the option to squeeze more value on the river

RESULT:
I raised to $160, he called

RIVER: Ks5d4d 6d Th (pot: $410)

He checked. I bet $100. He called. I table my hand and he mucks.

THOUGHTS: I’ve thought about this one a lot and I’m still not sure there is any real “strategy” to it. Once he bets $60 on the Turn, I think it’s just a question of how much variance I want to tolerate: if it’s not much, I just call down…if it’s a lot, then I raise and bet the River.

But I don’t know. It was an odd spot. Winning a $600 pot with the 5th nuts in a limped pot is….pretty odd!

This is a "cute" response, but probably the opposite of helpful.

Sure, you probably aren't playing online 10kNL crushers at 1-2 or 2-5 with thousands of hours of GTO study ... but the understanding of theory is a big spectrum and it's worth knowing that a player is/isn't aware of concepts.


As for the hand, I think this is a hand that kind of plays itself on the turn at spreadlimit ... just max raise turn and see what he does. It's not like he can overbet shove as a response, if he has the nuts.

In a normal 1-2 game I probably call turn because we have $500 more to lose, but here we can bet+bet for $200 on brick runouts and will lose an extra $100 if he has it.
Also losing an extra $100 to KdTd or something if he just calls feels like a "whatever, I guess I should fold more preflop".

I fold pre. I check flop through. AP I raise now. 160.

I would fold preflop, but the limp behind on the button with J7s seems OK. Check the flop. The turn raise may be OK since it is spread limit, so less need to pot control.