Villain 1: 30s-40s white guy. Wearing an Abercrombie Tshirt and sunglasses on top of his head. (800)

Hero: 21, semi new to table (370)

This hand happened at MGM in Vegas. They are currently running a promotion where if you have a flush or better you win a voucher for a drawing every 4 hours for anywhere from $100-1000.

$1/2 NL (9 handed)


Hero is dealt A6

UTG makes it $6, Hero calls $6 in CO, SB calls $6, V1 in BB makes it $15, UTG calls, I call, SB Folds.


Flop ($50) A K 6
V1 leads 50, UTG Folds, Hero calls 50


Turn ($150) 10

V1 checks, Hero bets 75 (Horrible bet!?) V1 Insta Jams

Hero has 230 behind and goes into the tank.

Call and pot is 750+ or Fold?

In b4 fold pre.

I'll put villain on AA (1 combo), KK (3 combos), AK (6 combos), and sometimes AQ (8 combos, reduced to 4 b/c people don't always 3 bet with it). Eliminating QQ and JJ because I don't think villain bets pot on the flop with 3rd pair.

We're ahead of 4 combos, behind 10. We're ahead 28%.

Pot isn't 750, it's 300+230, and 230 to call. 2.3:1 odds, need to be good 30%.

Pretty close, but behind. Fold.

Ugh.

Checking behind on the turn give him a free shot to straight up with a Q/J if he's on a big AQ/AJ.

But I'm not looking to call off against a raise from an unknown here. There are a lot of 2-pair hands in his range that beat us, always a few sets and straights.

I honestly check behind on the turn, look to call a reasonable bet OTR, *maybe* bet myself OTR if I think V can take that line and then call with a worse A or middle two pair (unlikely).

I really like the bet on the turn. We are making it for value which I think is good, but it could also save us some money. If Villain flats then we will often have the option to check back the river for a cheap showdown. If Villain raises then his hand is turned face up as a hand that crushes us.

Pre is just a crappy situation. If Villain had made a real 3-bet this would be an easy fold but for $9 more in a pot likely to go 4 ways, I'm probably not folding. I think a call on the flop vs a random is fine here. Vs some villains this flop spot could actually be a fold but if you think he could be 3-betting and subsequently cbetting AQ, AJ, or underpairs which some players will do then this is fine.

I play it the same pre. You're multi-way and plenty deep for these small raise sizes.

I'm surprised no one has advocated a raise on the flop. I think that's probably what I'd do here. I'm not sure a random 21 year old can get away from AQ, and if he has AK or a set he'll let us know pretty quickly. I think it's a value-raise for all the same reasons GrindPokerAllDay is espousing a turn bet.

As played, I just don't see one-pair hands or pair+draw hands doing this enough to make a call profitable. Yeah, we've got 2 pair, but we basically have worst 2 pair against a range who would do this (maaaaybe KT but that feels unlikely).

I sigh-fold the turn.

The flop hits his range pretty hard. I think you are way ahead/way behind, so I would just check turn and probably call a reasonable river bet.

I think preflop is fine. You got priced in to make the call.

As played, definitely fold to shove.

preflop 3-bet ranges from OOP (like the BB) is going to be almost exclusively AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AK and "maybe" AQs. You didn't give us much of a description, but usually I'd expect AA, KK to 3-bet much bigger so this makes me think V has AK, AQ and even TT hoping to juice the flop and hit.

Given that V blasts this flop, I think we can discount AA, KK, AK so this makes me think V has QQ, JJ, TT, that is trying to turn his hand into a bluff and steal it. This is of course assume V is somewhat competent. If V is a level 1 "I haz big hand must bet big" caveman then his flop blast can be some ******ed AA, KK, AK that doesn't care about extracting value and only cares about "winning the pot and taking it down" regardless of how safe the board is for his hand.

But assuming V is semi-competent, then he is trying to buy this flop because he whiffed.

Again, if he is semi-competent and aggro and if he is one of those players who thinks he is super awesome and can "out play you" then you can actually make the call here because his line isn't trying to extract value, it is trying to fold you out.

However, if V is a typical ABC rec-fish level 1 caveman type, then his big bet is because he has a big hand and he doesn't care about extracting value.

So which is which? Well, you said,

So, based on the skant amount of villain description you gave us, I'm more inclined to think V is the type to think he is super awesome. So I think he can be making a move here. I think he is semi-competent which means that it would make no sense for him to blast the flop with a pot sized bet with AK+ on that super safe board which means he is trying to buy it and push us out. And if he is trying to push us out, then Aces up is good.

So it's a call.

Snap fold as played. I know the preflop raises were tiny, but I would just muck the first time around or sometimes 3bet that weakass open myself.

I fold this in a heartbeat. Typical V thinking, slow play my top two or top set. Uh-oh, turn just made straight/flush draws, lets jam.

I probably fold to the 3-bet pre. I don't think we are deep enough to mine that nut flush and really other than a flop of 662 we not liking this hand without a flush. A 3-bet at these levels is so often AA-QQ, AK, our hand is beyond dominated. We flop two pair and are likely behind.

I wouldn't always by default give him QQ+/AK as his 3-betting hands in this spot. The initial raise is so tiny, sometimes guys just like playing in bigger pots so they "3-bet" but it's not with a hand in the top 3% of their range. I've seen plenty of guys raise 77/99 or AJs/AQs like this because they don't "respect" the first $6 raise. And they don't use some huge 3-bet amount, often times just a little bit higher than standard opens at $1/2 - so they make it $15-$20.

I think it's weird that he takes a 3-bet, bet, c/r line. A) There's absolutely no indication that we're going to take over the betting initiative, we haven't bet a single street in the hand. B) The board just got ridiculously wet and giving a free card is very dangerous. Therefore I don't see a check-raise as making much sense at all here.

I'm just having tons of difficulty putting hands that beat us into his betting lines. Sigh call it off, IMO.

as played I would fold the turn (depending on my exact read on v1). AJ & AQ would have probably 3bet higher if at all and those are the hand you hope he shows up with if you make the call.

the hand that makes the most sense with that line is 1010. I don't see him trying to buy the pot on the flop then crai on the turn to a player who has already invested almost 40% of his stack with anything less than two pair.

I also agree he could be 3betting light here but if he was, why pot it then crai on the turn. He looks very strong when he check raises and im giving up my top and bottom (unless, of course, we knew more about him).

Calling the UTG raise may look enticing since 3x raise, but still is setting you up for a shillacking quite often postflop. If calling HU so far with a very substandard hand, we better be able to play very well postflop or this will end bad.

Once we get here, we bet/fold the turn and i like the size. He could have overbet AQ on the flop Im guessing, but the turn raise has us smoked.

I know that you played the A6s because, "hell, I'm getting an overlay of up to $1000 if I hit my flush." The reality is that when you go through the actual math, you'll see that it adds to your EV about 1-2 BB. The problem is that many players lose a fortune with A6s. In a study on Pokerstars years ago, A6s was the hand that lost more money than almost every hand out there. It isn't the worst hand to have, but people fold 72o. More people will play A6s because:

1. They have an Ace.
2. It is suited.

Therefore, this is a super easy, don't even think about it fold pf. On the flop on the other hand, you have most likely the best hand. I'd raise. Anyone without an ace is putting no more money in the hand anyway. Nor is an ace folding. The flop is the time to extract value. By the turn, we're beat and we fold.

Good call pre-flop since you'll be in position.

V1's pot sized bet makes me think he wants to end the hand right there.

V1's check on the turn then raise all-in to your weak turn bet smells like AQ.

Although I could see him showing up with 1010 here as well, he tries to build a pot pre-flop with a small re-raise, bets the flop heavy to take it down, fails and then gets lucky on the turn.

Overall I would call in your position. Best play would be to re-raise the flop to $120 to get a clear picture of where your at.

This whole thing is pretty horrible. Starting with the read. Not sure what to make of the tshirt. Maybe he is wearing it ironically, eh? You never know.

Any info about how tight he is, whether and for what he open-raises would be quite helpful. Appearance-wise I give him credit for not actually wearing the sunglasses. Does he seem comfortable at the table? Is he handling his chips and cards like a pro?

Not sure what you're expecting to accomplish with Axs. You will flop a flush draw about 15% of the time. Then you either try to bluff the EP raisers off hands they obviously like a great deal, or hope they give you odds to draw. Maybe you were planning to flop a flush? (100:1 odds).

Not sure what to think about the tiny UTG raise. Maybe a tight timid player, or somebody who doesn't play 1/2 live very often. Looks/smells nitty to me.

Absent reads, I feel it is hazardous to assume he is raising any old trash UTG, and maybe even more hazardous to think someone is 3betting in the blinds with any old trash.

So I feel pre was just horrible. Calling the first bet could count as a brain fart. I could think of all kinds of excuses. The bet sizing! the jackpot! Tshirt put me on tilt! But calling the 3bet? C'mon man.

Without reads, I'm not sure what to say about the flop. Against a typical limpy/cally rec/gambler, I think the flop is a raise in case villain is on AQ or Kxs or something, and that would be my default position.

Against a nit (and that's pretty nitty bet-sizing eh) the entire hand is a disaster, although if you have the right kind of read, you might could call the flop to set up some tomfoolery later. Except for that business you need to be paying attention to something other than the tshirt for crissakes.

Against a LAG your line would be ok except that you would call the shove.

Please tell me you didn't.

I know you told me to ignore preflop play but I can't. It's like trying to ignore a train wreck.

Hey, OP: did you one out AAA with KKK all in on the turn 4 or 5 days ago?