Hi all,

Spending some time playing 2-7 NL HU and enjoying it. Come up against this situation a fair bit and can't figure it out. This is a little general and I know it's more player specific but still.

Against a fairly tight aggro player, who raises up to a 10 draw on the button, but is quite weak-tight on the flop, getting dealt something like J8654 OOP, and facing a button raise.

Now I know we should call (3-bet?) as we're a favourite against draws. Let's say we call, how do we play the second round after he draws 1?

Bet and fold to a raise? - this feels wrong as surely this is an obvious bluffing spot for him
Bet and call a raise? - this feels like a good idea due to the reason stated above
Check call? - this seems wrong as we've basically polarised our hand, so bluffing will never be that effective.

Again I know it's quite general but just wanted to hear some thoughts.

Thanks

You've probably played more hands of 2-7sd than I have but I'll give my thoughts nonetheless.

2. I would think this hand is a mandatory 3bet preflop OOP. If we call and pat, you're turning your hand face up as a J-lo. You remove all the bluffs from your range. You can be easily attacked postdraw. Furthermore, the button's opening range certainly includes some quite rough draws and even 2 card draws, plus snows. Your hand is a vulnerable one, so taking it down pre is a good outcome. Not to mention if you get 4bet (or at least 4bet small), maybe you can call and toss the jack (see point 5).

3. I would never call and pat, so it's hard to say what I would do postdraw if I did. You've turned your hand face up as a jack, so while betting out may get some value from J9 or JT, you'll get most of the hands you're beating to fold, you'll get raised by his good hands, and you'll also get raised as a bluff. I'd say check/calling is the only option. Let him bluff if he bricked. Although if your opponent doesn't bluff enough, might as well just check/fold. That's why I wouldn't just call pre.

4. If we were to raise pre and got called, I'd still say check/call because we'd be in the middle of our range. This would be one of our worst value hands we want to bet on the river, and I don't see how we can ever have enough snows to offset such a large betting range.

5. Is there any merit in playing this hand as a draw 1? What if it were a smooth draw, say J8532? If we do call pre, my intuition says this hand plays better as a draw 1. Even if we do decide to draw 1, I would still 3bet pre. It gives us a chance to take it down pre and even get some value from worse hands. Not to mention if we're not 3betting a 1 card draw to an 8, I would guess your 3betting range is way too tight.