My first two actions are very standard, so I'm not going to stop on those.

If you saw my other thread about 1st hand of the night, don't confuse it with this thread. This hand is the next night, different location, all different Vs.

4th hand of the night so I have few reads, don't know any of these players. 1/2, $300 max buy, 9 handed. It's about 8PM midweek

H - has yet to play a hand, UTG with AsJd, $300, makes it $10.

V1 - UTG+1, $250, MAWG, calls
V2 - UTG+2, $200, MAWG, calls. This is his first hand. He's a replacement for the player felted by V4.
CO folds
V3 - LJ, $50, OWG, calls. He's prob an OMC by the looks of him so far.
HJ folds
V4 - BU - $200, MAWG, calls. He's played every hand (a total of 3 hands), stacked someone 3 hands ago for a double up to $600, lost the next 2 hands and is down to $200. Crazy reckless, apparently chasing everything, hasn't shown down his losers but his winning hand wasn't nutty. The guy he felted exited. I was still setting up my chips and not paying a lot of attention that hand, so all I remember was that the pot was really big for a middling hand to take it down.
V5 - SB, $125, OWG calls.
BB folds.

Flop, now 6 handed, $60, AhKh3c.

V5 - x
H - I've flopped TPGK. I check. Any disagreement with my action here?

V1 - checks, V2 checks, V3 shoves $38 proudly and enthusiastically, V4 thinks and calls, V5 calls.

Action to me...

I know you aren't asking for advice but I am going to lean towards folding AJo UTG for a few reasons but here mostly because I'm not comfortable with my reads. I think its marginal at best and we often should be folding and I think we have a pretty good example of why here. We are OOP with no real clue what to do with TPGK.


as played there is so much money in the pot and there aren't many two pairs, or sets out there so I just stuff and hope to fade AQ, AK or hearts.

i think leading here has merit as well cause we are betting lots of our strong hands in our range.

Considering the action and general 1/2 shenanigans, we have the best hand here a lot including vs the short stack AI, so what are you questioning here, whether to call or raise/how much?

I am asking for advice so feel free to crit all you want. I only post hands where I think I might have done something wrong. So, I might have won or lost, but I believe I did something less than optimum at least once during the hand. And sometimes I post hands where I did something horrifically stupid just for the public humiliation so that I will better learn a lesson not to do it again.

fold preflop. as played i guess call you are priced in and you can easily have the best hand.

Why did you check flop?

We have a nut/range advantage on this board as the EP raiser and are likely have the best hand in a relatively shallow stacked scenario. SPR is 3.

If it checks through, we hate most turn cards. If not, we are sort of in no man’s land.

I think this hand plays easier if you just bet flop. That doesn’t necessarily mean you are stacking off with any action or any turn card.

Bet 30. Thin the field and define ranges a little more clearly.

As played, this is an easy shove after a shorty all in and 2 loose players putting money in the pot without declaring any strength.

That was my super stupid action on this hand. When I looked at my notes of the HH, I was shocked to see I hadn't bet 50% PSB right there. I really don't remember what I was thinking to check.

I play LAG, so there's no way I'm folding AJo to an unopened pot. I don't think I would fold that even in my TAGiest of days. And I learned from a lot of poker pain and this forum, (almost) never open limp.

Definitely at least call AP, though I guess you could raise as well. V2 only has about $150 back which is less than a PSB. I guess just put it in.

I would almost always bet flop, small, like $20. You’ll get called by any Ax, Kx, any heart draw, and some players will call with Broadway gutters for that price. You’re leaving too much value on the table by checking flop, IMO.

99% agree. I would bet $30...usually. I don't know why I didn't.

Flop is a clear bet. It smashes your opening range but your hand is vulnerable. It's only a question of sizing.

As played, xr is probably better than call but call isn't awful.

OK, pot is $168. I figured if anyone other than V3 had a strong hand, like AK or a set, they would have iso-ed by now. Hopefully the checks from V1 and V2 aren't sandbagging. It really looks like V4 and V5 are on draws. I bet about half my stack, raise to $125. Now that I look back on it, I probably should have AI. what do you think? And if not AI, what do you raise to here? It seemed to me at the time that half my stack or AI were the only two viable choices.

V1 instashoves to $203. My read is that he made the right move if he's on a FD, defending AK, or if I'm drawing nearly dead to a set.

V4 pauses to consider. He's obviously on a draw and appears to be counting outs with finger taps on the table. He calls AI to $200. That makes me worry a bit bc if V4 is on the FD, then V1 is less likely to be hold a FD.

V5 angrily folds and berates himself for wasting $38.

Action is back to me and it costs me $78 to call. I pause to reevaluate and count the pot, $696. I stack chips to call and I have everyone covered. I tell the table that if I call they won't be able to break me. V4 nervously laughs. No reaction from V1.

Can anyone let this go?

You should have just jammed yourself.

Of course you can’t fold getting 9:1.

You bet an amount that awkwardly functions to essentially (but not explicitly) commit the opponents stack should he decide to continue. If he has QJhh or QJhh or JThh and he knows he’s never folding turns, he may just say f it and jam flop with his monster draw.

V1 should bet flop with his own AK. After he checks the first time I guess he could have a AQ or a worse AX that he is playing cautiously. After you force him to commit he could be going with any top pair hand that he has decided he’s never folding.

It is conceivable that V1 can have some worse value,

I’d also be a bit worried about V4 having us beat with AQ or something. But, if you think he has a draw based on reads that’s all the better for you. One less player to worry about who may have AQ. Now you just have to dodge V1 having AQ or randomly sandbagging.

Btw V5 very likely had either a Kx or 3x if he called $38 and then folded angrily for his last $80ish bucks in a huge pot…, so that further reduces the chance V1 has 33/AK (which he probably doesn’t have anyway because of the flop check).

9 handed utg I believe AJo is a gto fold. I know it’s real close so open is whatever. As played I’d bet flop; we have the best hand quite often and can easily bet fold multiway. As played this is a slam dunk shove spot with so much dead money in there.

As usual, Chaos is correct. My raise was a stupid amount. If I wanted any FE, I should have shoved and my hand was no where close to strong enough to be enticing 4 Vs to stay in the pot.

I called and the poker gods smiled upon me.

V1 and V4 were both on a FD. V1's showed QJ for a gutter Broadway and the nut FD. I think he played his hand right. V5 didn't show but made a comment that, "even if the heart had come, it wouldn't have helped me." My TPGK held and the rest of the board was irrelevant with AK337 no flush.

V3 had boated Ks full but his trips alone were good for the main. Even with his 5Xstack win, he still went home broke an hour later. That's why I don't play short stacked. He missed out on a really good win.

Even losing the main, I still did well with close to a double up. Looking back, I made two bad actions. On the flop I should have bet $20 - 30. But my error worked out well bc had I bet, I wouldn't have been able to x/r. My other error was I should have x/r AI when given the chance.

Thanks for all the input. Much appreciated.