I was a reg playing 2/5 $1k buy in before I got a real job in NYC and rarely get to play live nowadays. Sat at 1/2 for the time being to wait for a 2/5 seat to open. Here are two cool hands from the SugarHouse yesterday (best casino imo) with tough river decisions:

HAND #1:
1/2 Bought in for max of $300, 7/8 Handed.

Pre Flop:
UTG I raise to $8 with K10 & get about 3-4 callers.

Flop:
Flop is 254 I bet out $15. Guy immediate to my left min raises to $30. Everyone else folds. My read on guy - I just sat down, seemed to be okay player. Younger kid about 25 yrs old. I contemplate my action.... and Call

Turn:
254 TURN A . Gin. I check planning on check raising, and he checks back

River:
254 A RIVER 4 . I lead out for $55, and he waits 5-15 seconds before raising to $155 . WHAT DO YOU DO / WHAT DOES HAVE HAVE?



HAND #2:
Got moved to 1/3 table, working my way to 2/5. I buy in for max of $500. Been playing for a while at this table, splashing around quite a bit. Doesn't seem like too tough or ez of a table. Def think I have an edge. 8 handed

Pre Flop:
I raise UTG to $15 with AJ get about 4-5 callers.

Flop:
K55 . SB checks, BB checks, I check, and gets checked around.

Turn:
K55 TURN 3 . Checks around again to the button who insta fires out $55. Folds to me, and I call. Rest of the field folds. My read on player - I beat him for a pretty big pot $400+ when I had AA he called me down with something on flop and turn. Then i found out he had bluffed one guy pretty recently unsuccessfully said 'ur good.' Chubby guy maybe 30-40 years old.

River:
K55 3 RIVER 9 . I check, and he snap shoves for $174 . I have about $400 total behind (not that important)..... WHAT DO YOU DO / WHAT DOES HAVE HAVE/ IS IT DONK-LIKE FOR ME TO CONTEMPLATE CALLING?



Will post results once we get a few guesses

Hand 1: fold pre
Hand 2: fold pre

Hand 1: Ignoring the obvious fold preflop, this is a really tough call. I think I could get away from it on the river though. The min raise on the flop says villain has a big hand, when he checks turn it doesn't look like a flush. It looks more like a set hoping the board pairs.

Some villains might do this with a flush draw, but the big flush draws are all impossible and the low ones would largely bet on the turn. Depending on how bad villain is I might call this off expecting him to show up with a lower flush (probably a low combo draw) enough but if that was the case I would check/evaluate on river.

Hand 2: It isn't entirely terrible. Villain can easily be bluffing here. The problem is that some of villains bluffs beat you, AdQd, various middle and low pocket pairs, weak KX, various random 3X and 9X all beat you anyways. This is a trivial fold on the turn, when you check flop way out of position and don't improve on turn just give up.

Pretty surprised about folds in these two spots pre.

For some context - I splash around a lot. Def known as an aggressive player. But idk about your guys 1/2 and 1/3 tables, these games were quite soft. I'm def not folding these two hands here for a lot of reasons. But mainly I def think playing these hands here are profitable.

First hand - Guy had 22 for rivered smallest boat. I def felt in my plums i should fold, but don't play much anymore so felt like I had to see it (I know terrible reasoning, but don't judge me.) And also like you said QuadJ he MAYBE could have had smaller flush but prob not. So i lost.

Second hand - Guy had 27 . I was so confident that he had hearts. The way the game was playing, I def think he could've bet the flop a lot with his good hands. And after he bet $55 on the turn, why would he shove the river? Isn't it clear my hand isn't that good, and why would I call a shove? Also - his range is so narrow. He would never insta shove a K like that, or maybe not even a ****ty 5. Such a huge overbet. Plus some lives tells, I was pretty confident, but def one of my better calls ever. So I won this one.

Thanks for feedback . Haven't been on this site in years, and forgot how nitty ya'll are.

Hand 1... hard to range a hand that checks back that turn with the FD, and then raises the river. I suppose as someone mentioned it could be a defensive way to play a set (raise the flop when we hit the set - then check when the obv flush comes on the turn, hoping to pair the board... or at worst only to have to call 1 street. Just sucks if another heart hits). So I expect you are usually beat here. But I guess there's a chance he has a hand like 64... and takes your river bet for Top pair. Still I find a Fold.

Hand 2. OTT - It's just not worth the drama to call the 55. I totally see that he might well be bluffing - the turn bet is really suspect... but why bother chasing this when he could have easily accidently beat you.

You fold AJo 8-handed UTG at a live 1/3 game? Why? I thought this was a standard open :l

ATo and KQo are pretty close to folds depending on whos @ table.

I'm on that nit time. But really, it's not a great hand with 7 people left to play.

Imo 1st hand is call river, 2nd easy fold turn.

Looking forward to playing with you at Sugarhouse.

First hand I am probably folding the river. Just smells like he flopped a set, got scared of the turn and suddenly boated up.

Second hand good call. But you will find they show up with something that beats AJ here a lot. Just because it doesn't make sense to you doesn't mean it doesn't make sense to them. You called the turn so they hope you will call the river, too.

I like raising KTs at live donk games utg. I probably just check flop. That doesn't really hit your utg range except AK. It's scary for TT, JJ, QQ.
As played, you can't fold river.

Hand 2. AJo much worse utg than KTs in live multi handed pots. Only check-call turn if you're planning to check-call river. Check-folding river after calling the turn is a spew.

OP, do you ever play in the NYC games?

Yeah, often worth the terrible rake to avoid the trip down to AC/Parx/Sands, especially if you're not playing a super long session.

H2:

Do we want to go 6ways to the flop OOP with a mediocre hand like AJo in a raised pot? I don't. Trivial fold for me preflop.

I almost never cbet the flop with air once I go 4ways+, but if I was to 6ways, this would be that flop. If no one has a K (or 5), people are simply going to have to give us credit for a K ourselves especially betting into the world (unless we have a pretty splashy image, which we might). With a tight image, I *might* consider betting a lol 1/3 PSB on this super dry board and just see if I can take it down. Otherwise, I'm simply check/folding.

I would fold to the turn bet. Yeah, a bet now from the Button is a little weird (you'd think he'd bet 77 on the flop when checked to), but he could just be delaying a street for whatever reason. Or he could just be checking back a K on the flop (or monster 5) as no real incredible reason to bet on this dry flop. Is he really bluffing eleventeen ways even with the table not showing any interest?

And if we are calling the turn, have we planned for what we are going to to on the river? His river play is quite polarized imo as medium hands like 77 would check back most of the time, although he could still be going for value with hands as "weak" as TP (and of course monsters). ETA: Also good point by Quads regarding that a lot of bluffs here are actually better than ours.

Bottom line for me: why are we involved in a huge bloated multiway pot OOP with the monster known as A high?

Gblech,imoG

So your plan is simply to win $548 pots with A high OOP 6ways a lot?

Gyourealizeallthestarsalignedonthishand,right?G

I was referring to the folding of AJ preflop in a live, ****ty player-filled table.

My guess is that it's a borderline case.

GI'manit,soItakethenittyrouteG

Shoot the hostage.

Why are we checking turn in hand 1?

Check raise brah!! Tbh lead wouldn't have been bad at all. But i figured awful 1/2 player, typically would keep betting if raised flop.

What are these mystical places you speak of / how can i find them