Hi there,

finally my first post in this forum

Came across this spot in the late phase of a 11$ Progressive Knockout Tourney.


[converted_hand][hand_history]Poker Stars, $10 Buy-in (600/1,200 blinds, 150 ante) No Limit Hold'em Tournament, 6 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite. View Hand #37727024

UTG: 67,266 (56.1 bb)
MP: 25,867 (21.6 bb)
CO: 43,341 (36.1 bb)
BTN: 32,839 (27.4 bb)
SB: 58,367 (48.6 bb)
Hero (BB): 42,479 (35.4 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 9 9
UTG raises to 2,520, 4 folds, Hero raises to 5,895, UTG calls 3,375

Flop: (13,290) 7 Q 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG checks

Turn: (13,290) 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets 3,987, Hero calls 3,987

River: (21,264) Q (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets 11,472, Hero calls 11,472

Villain stats [51 Hands]:
VPIP: 29 / PFR: 18 / 3B: 5,6 / Call3B: 50 / PRF Early Pos: 25

I think the call on the turn was okay, but the half pot sized bet on the river is maybe not to be called? Not sure how to handle that.

Thanks in advance!

His PFR is higher in early position than overall? That could be a small sample anomaly.

IF you're going to 3b pre, make it bigger. Don't give him enticing odds to call. This can end up being such a difficult spot postflop that taking it down pre isn't a bad outcome here.

IF you 3b pre, then you have to CB on that flop. The Q does hit his range but otherwise the board is extremely dry. Choosing not to CB makes it look like you're not confident on the flop. You would CB with AA/KK/AQ there wouldn't you?

Because you played the flop passively you end up getting stuck. You can't really fold the turn on the trash card getting 3.5:1 but there are lots of cards you don't want to see on the river. His turn bet could be a weak stab so what about raising the turn?

Or throw out a blocking bet on the river?

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I would personnaly just call pre. AP, 3b bigger : you are oop.
Then in a 3b pot my default strategy is to cbet undepair oop and x behind ip (readless obv). Make hands easier to play imo.

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Thanks for your thoughts on the Hand!

the 3B pre was because i have seen him open raising UTG with trash like Q6o so I was actually aiming to a fold preflop. As Darth said it should have been bigger than 2x to give him bad odds to call with speculative hands.. i feel like raising the turn and folding to an all in would have been the better play.
The high bet on the river I considered like he wants to make me fold a middle pocket because he only plays his Ace high.

I feel like I always have a hard time playing middle pairs from 77 to TT, and need to improve at that point

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I don't think 3betting here is an option. Even you saw him open Q6o from EP. He's definitely a whale I would say. Given the fact he's most likely a total whale, we still have to give him some sort of credit for having range advantage against our BB-flatting range. Also, 35bb's doesn't give you much room to play if you don't hit the 9, when playing OOP in 3bet pot. I don't think I'm even 3betting JJ here.

And if he has Q6 again, why on earth we would like him to fold that when we're having 99's?