I was put in a rough spot in the 2/5 game last night.

Villain is a late 20s pro who crushes cash and tourneys. Pretty beastly and capable of anything. Capable of huge bluffs. This is my 3rd or 4th time 3betting him in the last 30 mins since i got to the table. I won all those pots without much resistance. Another thing is that right before this hand, I was talking with the villain about how this villain bluffed a guy in a huge pot and showed it (a different day).

We are $735 effective.

Folds to villain who raises to 20 in the HJ
Hero in co raises to 60 with Kk
Folds around and he calls

Flop ($120)
T93
Check, hero bets 80, call

Turn ($280)
T93T
Villain now leads $150, hero calls

River ($580)
T93T9
Villain jams $445 all in. River is a decent card cause it limits the T9 he can have but I still tank folded and he didn't show so no idea if I was good here. I'm calling with TT, 99, Tx (although honestly I probably have very few Tx cause it's my 3rd or 4th time 3 betting), AA, KK without a diamond, and I honestly Could have flipped a coin with like this hand, and QQ/JJ without a diamond.

Maybe this guy is super GTO and doesn't factor in game flow at all but I didn't have a good feeling about calling this off right after we were talking about him bluffing another guy. I honestly think if we didn't have that convo then I call. Thoughts?

Good fold.

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I call. He ~never has 9x, so his value range is limited to suited Tx hands, quads, and maybe 33, but surely with that hand he gii otf. His value range has ~12 combos, so you need to find like five bluffs in his range to make this a profitable call. That's pretty easy to do: take JsQs, JcQc, JhQh, KsJs, Ad5d. Distribution-wise, you are right on the border with this hand, but ime, solid aggro players will overbluff this spot because 95% of your range is unhappy about this turn.

I think this is a good fold. You will need to call some overpairs here, but I would rather have hands with better bluff blockers. I think QQ with no diamond is maybe a better call, as QJ may be his bluffs.

Wat. QQ is a better call because it blocks his bluffs?

QQ is a worse call BECAUSE it blocks his bluffs.

I’m calling here.

wait... yeah... thats what i meant. this is orobably why i play 1/2 and always just fold. this is probanly an ok call.

What was your reason(s) for calling the turn bet? I'm hoping that you thought he'd slow down if his hand was weak on the river.

Calling all day

The more I think about the types of hands he’d play like that, the more I find a fold. If he’s as good as you say he is then to know he is considering what he thinks you hold when he makes his decisions. What would he put you on that bets flop then calls turn? Based on preflop action, a strong overpair or nothing. So on river you’re either calling and he gets value from his pocket 3s or J-10, or you fold. I guess it starts with his open/call a 3B range.

The moment H calls ott, V knows H no longer has AK, Ax type hands in his range.

Very doubtful that a good player is going to try to bluff the PF 3bettor off of QQ+ otr.

IMO, V's shove otr is fat value.

The real question is what to do ott. I think calling is correct.

It’s a tough spot. Against most players it’s a pretty clear fold. Even against a capable opponent it’s still pretty close, against someone truly balanced I’m pretty sure we have to call.

Here, normally people in your spot would have very little Tx after 3 betting pre and with two tens out there. This would be a good reason for him to lead turn, including with bluffs, and jam river. However, given that you already 3 bet him multiple times, he might expect you to have more Tx in your range than usual. He also has to be concerned that the 9 isn’t the greatest river to bluff.

As for our actual hand, we have an ok bluff catcher. We don’t block much Tx and we do have a diamond but we don’t block most straight draws and KK is going to be fairly high up in our distribution.



I probably fold even against most of the tougher players I play against, it’s not the best river to jam on as a bluff, but calling is very reasonable against the described villain.

You literally have the the one hand that would probably be tempted to call here. Unfortunately it appears that 10/9,9/8,j/9 etc are all possible hands that this player could have.

I would reluctantly fold here. but no worries, based on the type of action you usually received at this table, Im sure you will get your money back from this same guy the way he plays. its not worth going to war with KKs on this board with your position.

Save your money for the next opportunity with this player.

Call a balanced pro.

Is a 2/5 pro really going to shove a balanced range here or is he just going to shove for value because its 2/5?

I agree that with KK we can call to balance our call range, but usually exploitable folds are best here. Im pretty neutral on this decision. flip a coin.

Capable of anything usually means he bluffs a ton. If i has QJ or diamonds id have played it exactly the same as V and expected you to fold exactly what you had.

I wouldve snap called a crusher in this spot and not been too sad if i were shown Tx.

I do think that V giving up to your other 3 bets leads me to think he is somewhat more likely to have ot here, because maybe he isnt as bluff happy as id expect a 2/5 crusher to be.

Do you guys think that a really good pro will actually bluff less in spots where there are more possible draws / bluffs? Because thats also kind of what I was thinking.

As far as hands Ill have on the river, Im folding my flush draws (4) and QJs (4). For my other hands, I think id like to call down in this order:

TT (1) // 99 (1) // AA (no diamond) (3) // AA (with diamond) (3)// KK (no diamond) (3) // KK (with diamond) (3) // JJ (no diamond) (3) // JJ (with diamond) (3) // QQ (no diamond) (3) // QQ (with diamond) (3).

34 combos and I have to call 56% of these I think which is 19. Which is most of my overpairs. KK with a diamond is in the (12-14 range). So strictly GTO would mean its a call. Whether or not we should be GTO or not, im not sure.

How do you come up with that calculation please?

I would fold everyday, its always value here. WHich hands can he confidently bluff with?

445(bet size)+(580(pot size) : 445 (bet size) = the odds you are laid

So basically a bit better than 2:1 is the neutral EV point. He estimated 12 value combos which would mean you would need to find 5ish bluffing combos for it to be neutral EV or better.

All this.

I'd check otf with Kd.

Turn is fine.

OTR i'd fold. I'd call 109s, 1010, AA/KK no diamond. QQ/JJ are definitely folds OTR diamond or no diamond; we block QJs.

Our perceived range OTT for calling is basically AK/AQ FD/mostly overpairs. I really don't think a huge amount of pros are going to try to bluff us off an overpair when all draws brick.

Why wouldn’t you raise on the turn?

I don't want him to correctly fold his bluffing and way behind range. I don't think V will make a mistake against a raise.

I call down because this runout keeps pairing the board, making it that much harder for V to have made a hand in the first place. And he can easily have worse since every draw has missed. Stacks were awkward on the flop to c/r with some of those draws imo.

Hard to see V having a 9 or T in his range when he opens for 20. AT and JT are the only two that are likely.

and why lead on the turn?

as played, snap calling.