I've been thinking about this hand quite a bit for the last couple days. I think there are 2 things to discuss about this hand.

10/25 Home Game

Villain 1 (225) - terrible
Villain 2 (3,600) - tight, solid player
Villain 3 (4,000) - even worse than Villain 1

I'm up over 10,000 in the game. I've show down the best hand and had a minor bluff that I showed. Villain 2 respects my play. Villain 3 doesn't respect his money. He's into the game for over 25k.

I limp w/ AQo (I don't want to discuss raising this hand pre... preflop raises we're being called in 4 spots and I didn't want to even go there).

A player limped in front of me, another behind me and Villain 1 goes allin for 225 from the cut off. Villain 2 is a conservative, solid player, he deliberates for a few moments and calls. Villain 3 doesn't fold preflop (you can't get even folding right?) and obv calls - his range is everything.

The player to my right folds, I limp reraise to 900. Thoughts on the limp raise itself and the amount.

Villain 2 calls - this was odd to me - leaving himself 2,500ish behind and Villain 3 calls.

Main pot = 1,000ish
Side pot = 2,000ish

Flop Q95 rainbow. Both players checked to me.

Villain 2 has 2,500 and Villain 3 has 3kish.

I go ahead and bet it all. Should I bet less? Remember Villain 3 is stuck 25K.


I'm moreso thinking a lot about preflop limp raise size. Should I even just go allin and go headsup against Villain 1 and ATCs? Should I raise a larger amount? How much?

I feel this raise amount was effective in that I could shove a lot of flops when checked to if I missed and it seemed like a good flop and pick up the side pot and still be ahead of Villain 1's range for the main.


Sorry for the long post. Thanks for reading.

what's the alternative to shoving the flop? I don't get it.

And pre I just would never limp AQ.

Not to beat a dead horse, but this is the exact reason that raising it is so profitable. Playing this hand oop is easy against bad players when we hit the flop, especially with an active image (and you've always had one when we played) that can extract up top three streets or at least one half pot on the flop and a very large bluffish street on the river.

after limping I would have raised to 1100 / call villain 2 since the types that would get in AK here would have already isolated the 200 all in a very large majority of the time. Yes he can have aces sometimes, but most of the time it will be 99-JJ and we obviously have outs against QQ-KK. I definitely like the limp reraise after limping in the first place.

As played I would rather tank for about five seconds looking down and bet 1k on the flop seeing that villain 2 might one time it (if he's the standard awful live nit) with JJ/TT and it allows villain 3 to level himself into shoving 80% of the time with anything thinking you're fos. It basically gives them both a lot more room to get "creative" with whatever junk they have, and I don't think there are any hands in this spot that would call a shove because of it's fosness but not a bet of 1k given the live dynamic of a side pot and how live players seem to overestimate good players' ranges when a side pot is to be competed against as well (not to mention the fact that a 3k bluff here would be perceived as insanely strong in the first place).

edit: and **** you for not telling me about this game :'(

you need to reraise more before the flop since there is so much dead money relative to stacks there. Shoving the flop is horrible, as it doesnt allow either player to do something stupid, since you are never bluffing there. Just bet like 1k and let someone ship A9/T9/A5/88 or something else stupid. There are basically no scare cards here for the turn...

-J

this

******ed home game $10 buy-in tourney at level 10/25.

I really like this. I agree I should have given the idiot a chance to make a stupid mistake against me.

As for preflop, is there anything wrong with just moving allin. I have the image to push out plenty of the hands that have me slightly beat. Obv AA/KK/QQ and most likely AK isn't folding but is there any chance that the good player in the sb has those hands to begin w/ given his flat of the 225 knowing that's it's probably going to get called in 3 or more spots behind him and then play for a dry side?

How can you play 10/25 and type this?

Do not limp...

Open raise bigger, obv.

I meant that obv AA/KK/QQ are calling but I think it's unlikely that Villain 2 has those hands as he would not want to play them 5 ways out of position w/ no side pot built yet. Villain 3 has anything to begin w/ so I don't need to consider his range much.

There's over 1k in the pot and I don't give myself a chance to get outplayed/outflopped too.

There's no merit to limping pre? I didn't mention this in the op, but what if the player to my left has iso'd a lot of my raises in the past month when I've played w/ him when he's sitting to my direct left. When this happens, it obv weeds out some of the poorer players from playing that pot.

Villain 2 had 99 for a set. Villain 3 folded 44 face up. Stack sizes didn't allow for me to fold to Villain 2, but I think I should have bet something much smaller as played preflop to allow for Villain 3 to do something stupid.

I used to play in private games like this quite often before I switched to online. I actually don't really mind your play here.

I think limping in is fine. In games like this one, people are willing to dump in their entire stacks in limped pots, so you don't really have to inflate the pot preflop to get your stack in on later streets. Moreover, because people never fold, preflop raises do not thin the field much at all--they simply inflate pots in spots where cbets and aggression seldom take down the pot when you miss. I know a lot of people will disagree with me here.

With that said I'd definitely reraise more preflop when the action comes back to you.

I don't mind shoving the flop at all. The reason these games are so profitable to begin with is because people will snap you off with hands that you certainly beat here a lot of the time.

If this dude is on your left and is in the game for 25k, LIMP in, he will raise for you!

If these are the hands they called you with preflop then why would you reraise smaller?

I meant I still should have bet something smaller on the flop to allow Villain 3 to potentially make some bonehead move at the pot or at least be able to take a card off 800 or so. when I move in, I force him to pick up a hand that he can play for it all.

bet 1/3 pot and get it in vs villain 3 or find a good reason to fold vs villain 2
as played gg flop more sets