1/3
50-200

9 handed

Table fluctuates between loose passive and chopping.

SB: 200 MAWG tight passive preflop, weak tight post flop

BB: 85 younger asian dude, has commented on hero's image, loose passive + weak tight

Button: 250 OMC

Hero (CO) 250 hero's image is rock tight (as commented on by others at the table including the blinds, none of them realizing I have simply been card dead)


Preflop
Hero is CO with A 7

Folds to Hero, Hero raises to 15, Button folds, SB folds, BB calls

Hero is just trying to steal the blinds here

Flop T 6 2 (2 players)
Pot 30

SB donks for 25, Hero tanks and calls

SB is acting a bit goofy and I think he was just trying to play back at me

Turn A
Pot 80

SB bets 20, Hero pushes all-in...

In writing this hand out to post, I think my better play would have been to shove the flop. If I am not shoving the flop, I should be folding. Flatting was probably the worst choice.

Or should I have not bothered to steal at all?

I think pre-flop is OK. I'd prefer suited AX or gappers that can be disguised if you are called, but this is OK every once in a while. The problem is if you are called, you often have to slow down on an A or hope to hit two-pair or trips.

On this great flop, just shove against the short-stacker.

A7o is a standard open for me from the CO and I like it even better with a tight player on the button. I think $15 is too much if your idea is to steal, though. $15 to win $4 is not very appealing odds. I would just make it $10 and I'm okay with getting called and playing poker IP with a mediocre hand againsnt a wide, trashy range.

The flop seems like a clear shove.

Shove $235 into $55?

We should say "take BB all in." He started the hand with $85. So just 3bet that much

I don't like pre for three reasons. 1) BB has $85 and you risk getting shoved on. 2) A7o has very poor playability post flop. 3) BN might call and we hate life

I'd love it if we were suited or I'd be fine with our hand OTB. But in the CO I'd rather have hands like T8s or KTo.

Flop should be a raise or shove (sometimes the raise looks scarier than the shove). You have great equity, the right image for it and a weak tight post flop opponent.

Wait, is it SB or BB? I'm confused now. I thought BB called pre, so was assuming he was the Villain.

It's actually vs SB who started with $200. After we match his $25, pot is $80 and he has $160 left. Nothing wrong with shoving for twice pot if it maximizes our FE. It's NL after all lol

Unless I'm wrong about who called pre...

It says BB called pre, but then it says SB donked.

I saw the "BB calls" and went from there -- not sure I even saw "SB donks" until johnny posted.

I cool with trying to capitalize on our rock image and stealing the blinds / stealing against a fit/fold with a flop cbet at this tight table. The one thing I struggle with here is sizing: 5x might just be risking too much for too little. I used to always raise my "standard" raise here regardless of cards, but lately I've been going for smaller raises with weaker hands so my risk vs reward is better, but the drawback of this is that a smaller raise can be called that much more easier, and even with a rock image from the CO we could still lol go 4ways. Plus it might not disguise my hand as well, and the bigger raise is good for metagame. But the BB is also shortstacked, and we might get ourselves in stupid situations with a raise. Overall, I'm still really struggling with what the best sizing is here. And I also don't think simply dumping the hand is a crime either (and if we're screwing up postflop then that's probably the best plan).

On the flop the pot is $30 and this guy only has $70 left. He's now bet $25, and only has $45 left. I don't think we can call because we're only getting 2:1 to chase our 4:1 draw and that's just barely what he has behind, plus if another heart comes he might just give up and fold. I'd probably shove. We have the nut flush draw and an overcard (so flipping with TP type hands with a bunch of dead money) and with our rock image we *might* have some FE (even adding as little as 10% FE helps a lot). We could also be ahead (he might be donking with a smaller flush draw).

Turn is obvious with lol stacks behind.

ETA: I'm assuming the BB $85 stack is who we are up against.

GcluelessNLnoobG

The first thing you should always consider when making any play is that it doesn't matter how you, or tel he table, perceive yourself. The only thing that actually matters is what your opponent thinks of you.

In this case, vs a MAWG especially fitting the description that you give, of being weak/tight post flop; however now leading in to the raiser twice, on first, a 3 flush board, and then second an ace turn, you being perceived as tight, either hasn't occurred to him, or is playing into his own plan of getting paid w a big hand.

Without results posted yet, his line looks like either a flopped flush, or a set, neither of which a level 1 player, as described by you, is going to be willing to fold against anyone.

As for the play in the hand, the Ax steal in the Co seems relatively standard, regardless of image. I would say that we should always put this raise in unless the blinds it BTN are very 3 bet happy.

For the reasons listed above, about my read on his hand, I don't raise turn; however prior to getting this information I would be very likely to raise the donk bet otf. The first reason being that we block the nuts, so even though we might not get a fold, we probably don't get 3 bet, even vs some of the top of his range. So we raise and fold out a lot of the bottom of his range, and vs the top we get called, and then take the turn for free and get value when he can't fold later.

BB called, not SB

Good. 3bet flop to $85

We have no FE when a "loose passive weak tight" player donks into the PFR for near-pot on a 3-flush board. So you are advocating for getting our money in bad?

Did you read the post? BB (fixed) is acting a bit goofy and I think he was just trying to play back at me

You can't seriously want to fold this?

Of course there is fold equity! Haven't you seen this type of play from hands like KT not wanting a heart to draw out on them? There is also some chance it could be a bluff. Almost any player will decide to bluff once in awhile.

A four word description is not enough to assume this player doesn't have a b/f range in this situation. Players will do funny things on monotone boards.

We don't need a ton of fold equity to make a shove profitable.

Easy flop shove - and we do have fold equity imo

Against pairs we don't even need FE for a shove to be profitable; it's just icing on the cake.

Gactuallynotafanofcakeicing,justrealizedthatphrase doesn'tmakemuchsenseG

Personally I just fold trash offsuit aces here unless against epic calling stations or super bluffy villians. It´s hard to get paid off when you flop an ace and your hand has very poor playability. Give me a hand like 75s or T9o any day of the week.

I'm generally raising any suited Ace and A8o+ from the CO in an unopened pot, so raising A7o is fine with a tight image and a tight player on the button.

Flop, as you noted, is a good spot to raise with a tight image + the NFD. Assuming it's BB that called, then shove here. If SB called, then calling flop planning to bet turn if checked to is a decent plan (though if it was SB that called, then shoving turn would be bad here).

^^^^^^ this
even if people are really paying attention and have noticed that you are playing tight they will still call Pre so am not really a big fan of the A7o and this is a classic example you flopped pretty well and am not really sure what to do.
as played I am raising the flop, you might as well continue the story that you have a decent hand, as you and others have mentioned calling seems weak but folding isn't that great either so you might as well raise.

What am I missing here? Villain donked flop for near pot and has put half of his stack in. We have a naked flush draw. Why do we think we have fold equity or that we are better than a 40/60 at best?

not naked- our overcard outs might be good, and a backdoor straight draw that could conceivably catch top pair.

use pokerstove. type in a realistic range. tell me how we could possibly fold.