Hand #25
Game: Live 1/2
Hand: JJ
Position: SB
Stack: 300$
Vilain: Good TAG (covers me)

Preflop Action: He bets 12$, 1 call, I call, BB calls. (4-way, 50$ pot)
Flop: 636hhc
Action: V bets 16$, 1 call, I raise to 45$, fold, V calls, fold. (HU, Pot 156$)
Turn: 6d

Now what? It's on me!

I don't know much about him, but I suspect he is a good TAG. He called my reraise and betted preflop and flop, that means strength, I would say his range is pretty much AA, KK, QQ, TT, 99 or two high hearts.

Thanks for your advice!

What position is V in? A little hard to understand the action. I'm presuming you check-raised the flop?

I'm 3 betting JJ in this spot pf somewhere near 100% of the time. $40-45ish

On the flop - $16 into a $50 pot is a really small betsize. He is either in position and trying to pick up the pot after everyone checks, really bad, or trying to induce a raise.

Since you don't know anything about him, it is hard to know if he'd throw out a little bet like this to induce a raise. He is probably not expecting to induce a re-raise out of the blinds after a MW call on a $12 pf open.

Your $29 re-raise into a $66 pot is also really small. He would be hard pressed not to call this raise with anything he could legitimately bet the flop with.

On the turn, the good news is that you've just drawn out on 33 and any flush draws.

I can't see folding 6/J full house here, but also since you don't know where you are don't think that going for big value is the obvious solution either.

Since you c/r, I think not betting is going to look really fishy. Problem is, if you bet big enough to look serious (somewhere between $100 and AI) you are committed. check and eval is probably best, but you are exposing yourself to bluffs, and any A, K, or Q on the river could beat you if you're facing overcards responding to your small flop raise.

Overall bad spot. I think a pf 3-bet and a bigger flop c/r could have made your standing much more clear.

Check and plan to fold to a big bet. Your flop raise is more bluff then value to begin with as villain is betting a 4 way pot. When that gets called the pot is really too big for further action. Plus a villain with a good pair is likely to put you on a middle pair or a flush draw and isn't likely to fold any hands better then yours.

He could be bluffing or betting a worse hand but until you have some hard evidence don't think a unknown low stakes villain is getting aggressive on a board like this.

Need to know Villians stacks! I 3! to $65-$80 OTF. Bet again on the turn maybe 1/2PSB depending on stacks.

40 preflop. 50 otf.
Ap check.

I agree, the way I played it preflop and on the flop puts me in a really bad spot where I absolutely don't know where my opponent stands, as played it's hard to deduce what would be the right play, I need to put myself in better situations! Thanks.

If preflop opener is EP then a 3bet pre is turning your hand into a bluff and I would either fold or call depending on the skill of the opener and caller. Given strength of EP opening ranges I'm almost set mining JJ here, though I know I'll have an over pair around 40% of the time so I can possibly continue some flops but I know I'm not going to be able to get very aggressive very often.

If opener is cutoff this is almost a mandatory 3bet and I'd make it between 36 and 48. Having 3bet and been called by opener this flop is perfect to bet reasonably big since villain could peel 1 with TT-77, any FD or even a AK. You are basically only behind QQ, maybe a few slow played KK+

However, you called, which is fine if opener is EP and tight. Same problem happens on the flop though. X/r with JJ is turning it into a bluff. Being multiway your x/r reps trips. Also, because you haven't largely eliminated KK+ from openers range by 3betting (so only facing opener's flat 3bet range) you are facing QQ+ as often as you are TT-88. Furthermore most of opener's FDs will be A, K or Q high and therefore have 12 or 15 outs against you. You just aren't getting any value from the opener with this x/r. Even worse there are two other players in the pot who could actually have trips already.

I think it sucks because opener's cbet is so small but I would just call the cbet and evaluate the turn. It is suboptimal since we are giving excellent drawing odds to the opener and two other players but our poor position means we don't want a huge pot and our hand is good enough to win a showdown but can't get much value by raising. If I were to 3bet I'd try to take the pot down now and for that you need to go a lot bigger. Still, I unhappily call.

As played though I'd bet smallish (1/3 pot) on the turn to continue getting value from smaller pocket pairs and any stupid action from 3X. I'd fold to a raise as it is KK+ and you'll see quads a surprisingly large amount of the time too. A bet of 50 on the turn makes AK/AQ/AJ/AT/KQ/KJ/QJ/QThh pay to draw to a bigger boat and prevents you facing any crazy bluffs. Also the fact only opener continued and he just called your x/r indicates a lot of his range is weak or drawing - so bet an amount he can call with hands you beat.

I'd evaluate the way villain calls your turn bet and the river card and his reaction before deciding how much to bet on river but I would bet again.

Why can't he have 77 or 88?

What's his position pre? Pre-flop, I call an EP raise but 3-bet if he's in LP.

I'm not sure about flop. Raise/folding is really bad. He could certainly bet/3-bet with hearts as well as pairs better than yours (and maybe some worse?!)... that puts you in an equity nightmare. While his flop bet is small, we can't read too much into it. I just call. And when we raise and he calls, even that's not necessarily a cause to celebrate.

I mean, right or wrong, OP puts V's calling range squarely on 99-AA and two high hearts. That range has 56% equity against us, so our "value raise" on the flop is -EV ignoring any semi-bluff component. If we change 99+ to 77+, then we have 55% equity. Either way you look at it, the flop raise is incredibly marginal. There may be a semi-bluff element of getting whiffed over cards to fold... but all considered, I'm very happy to play a smaller pot in the best position with our one-pair hand, and I would go to the turn and see V's action while planning to bet almost always when V checks.

As played, Ragequit99 has it again... make a small turn bet to get value from worse pocket pairs and hearts. I think you can happily fold to a raise.

However, if he calls your turn bet, I'm probably checking back rivers. Generally, his range at that point mostly comprises whiffed draws (not giving you value), pocket pairs (value is very thin). I guess you could bet the river very small to eek out calls vs. a combination of worse pocket pairs and whiffed no-pair draws, but I'm not betting 1/2 pot+. Maybe like 1/4 pot. Run out matters, as does V's action, of course. Like it's probably a check back on a river A because V can have Ahxh and is also less likely to call with lower pocket pairs on the scare card, etc. Though I assume Kookie is bluffing a river A

dude, that tiny bet on the flop, he looks super strong. he could even have a 6.

I bet light and try to get to showdown cheap.

maybe bet 50 on the turn and 60 on the river, and hope you get called by worse. but we have too much showdown value to just check fold the turn or the river.