PokerStars - 100/200 Ante 25 NL - Holdem - 8 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BTN): 34.19 BB
SB: 51.9 BB (VPIP: 33.33, PFR: 11.11, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 9)
BB: 52.46 BB (VPIP: 33.33, PFR: 33.33, 3Bet Preflop: 25.00, Hands: 9)
UTG: 21.32 BB (VPIP: 22.22, PFR: 11.11, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 9)
UTG+1: 65.55 BB (VPIP: 22.22, PFR: 11.11, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 9)
MP: 24.78 BB (VPIP: 11.11, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 9)
MP+1: 18.73 BB (VPIP: 33.33, PFR: 11.11, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 9)
CO: 38.79 BB (VPIP: 33.33, PFR: 33.33, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 9)

8 players post ante of 0.13 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.5 BB) Hero has J 9

fold, fold, fold, fold, CO raises to 2 BB, Hero calls 2 BB, fold, BB raises to 8 BB, fold, Hero calls 6 BB

Flop: (19.5 BB, 2 players) Q 3 Q
BB bets 6 BB, Hero raises to 26.06 BB and is all-in

I mostly interested in preflop feedback as I calculated that it was +Ev jam OTF : If he 3-bets preflop with JJ+, AJo+, AJs+ and calls OTF with only made hands : JJ+, AQ and fd AsKs but folds AKo, non-spade AKs, AJo, AJs, then our FE is more than 50% and we also have fd + backdoor straight draw that gives some win equity.

3 betting the original raise is an option but I’m just as happy with flat

Gritting my teeth and folding to BBs 3 bet. We have position sure but I just don’t like calling off 25% of our stack with a speculative holding vs a fairly nutted looking raise size

Flop shove is whatever kind of have to as played

^^^ calling 3-bet preflop : CO folded, so there are dead money on the table and in terms of pot odds the situation is roughly the same as it would be if I opened 2BB from BTN and BB 3-bets 6BB - in that case I don't fold, correct?

AP - there are 2 + 2 + 1.5 + 8 = 13.5BB in the pot and I need to put 6BB. pot odds are 2.25 : 1

if I open and BB 3-bets - there are 2 + 1.5 + 6 in the pot and I need to put 4BB. pot odds are 2.375 : 1

also, I am curious what "the decision is whatever" expression, that widely used here in 2p2, actually stands for? is it approval or disapproval? encouraging or discouraging? support or indifference?

I think you played it fine

^^ thanks, that means a lot to me!

It means they think you played the hand badly or at least they wouldn't have played it that way and now that we are here it's whatever.

Like in this instance I read it as "Well I think you played preflop bad but now that we called and have a flush draw it's whatever".

This is 2+2 in 2018, if you are coming here for serious strategy that might be a leak. That isn't to say that you can't learn some things here but there are far better options out there IMO.

Well, I learned a lot here...in fact this forum is the best poker resource I worked with so far..However, what other options are you referring to?

I would 3b or fold pre off 34bbs and stick to flatting QJs/JTs which are gonna be a little bit stronger against a CO open.
That said, preflop is ok.
Also think calling the sqz is ok and kind of standard actually for this price.
Flop jam is also standard.
All in all, agree w/Polo you played it just fine.

Whatever can mean a lot of things, usually means the decision can go either way and the poster is too lazy to think further into it or articulate what they think.

I'd fold the 1st or 2nd opportunity...if I got to the flop yah shove.

The squeeze isn't big (in proportion to the open) but it is very big in proportion to our stack.

I realize that calling loses < folding but there are more variables to consider in an MTT.

^^ Eric, do you fold J9s from BTN with 35BB after CO opened 2BB? C'mon, don't be like that.

Agree with erc. Folding at every point pre. Not standard at all to flat this hand in either spot with 34bb. It's just not a good hand.

^^ okay, if this hand is not good enough to call but it's kinda difficult to fold it, maybe 3-bet/fold to 4-bet is the best response?

Shouldn't be difficult to fold it

RYE says flatting is fine and I agree that it isn't terrible. If blinds are 3b happy/agro I think we should lean more towards folding but we don't really have any sample size on blinds.

I can also get behind 3b'ing if we think villain is weak/folding too much.

Other options are other forums, private groups, friends, coaching, etc.

id play it exactly the same. also i dont see how we can fold to the 3b if we flatted the first time. could make a case for folding the first time i guess, seems nitty though.

I d also fold J9ss pre most of the time otb sitting on 34bb (not always tho - depends on dynmanics, v tendencies etc...).
Though as played, the line seems fine to me

ic ur point if we look just at our hand and the pot odds etc but we def need to fold some of our flatting range to the squeeze and this combo seems like a good candidate imo.

No Idea what cizi flats here but just use a 10% range to illustrate my point:



so we have 133 combos...BB is risking 8bbs to win 14.5bbs...so min defense after CO folds (in order to not let him auto-profit by squeezing) is 8/14.5=.55. So we can fold 55% or 73 of our combos.

1. We start by folding the low PPs (22-66) since they play the worst post and are not getting close to the implied odds to setmine (6.75 to 1 implied.) They also aren't strong enuf/don't have any removal to backraise.

2. We then move onto the SC's with the worst s/d value, which flop the worst FDs and make the weakest Pairs. (54s-76s.)

3. Then the suited 2 and 3 gappers (Q9s and K9s.) Although u can argue these hands make better calls at a very low SPR than 87s-T9s.

4. Then ur weakest 1 gappers J9s and T8s.

5. The next hands to fold should then be A6s-A9s since they don't flop combo draws and are dominated by BB's value range.


We're now left with 79 combos to continue (needing 60 at min defense.) We can backraise/shove the AJ and 99-77 combos if we want as well.



So my point is we don't want to continue close to our entire range here and we will have plenty of better hands.

^^ Thanks Eric! Pretty soon I will start Pio-ing here as well, anticipate pretty good discussions!

In the meantime, do you have any suggestions on how to actually construct flatting ranges on different positions with let's say 35bb-40bb stack? I tried to estimate ranges of hands I would flat from UTG+1, UTG+2,..., BTN, but it seems that they are pretty much the same - small pairs, some suited connectors, suited aces, broadways..they don't even depend on the position of original raiser if he raised 2bb-2.5bb...I mean if I have a small pair and proper implied odds for set mining, or hold AXs and aim for the nuts fd, does the position of the original raise really matters?

Just because we can fold J9s without getting exploited doesn’t mean it isn’t more profitable to continue.