Live tournament, we're relatively early in the tournament so no ICM implications. The villain is a younger-looking man. He's made a loose flat call pre-flop, got lucky post-flop with a flush, and got paid. Otherwise seems to be straightforward forward specifically with his betting.

Hero is probably perceived as a good player. I have 3-b/folded once, asked to see other people's stacks before proceeding etc. So, I'm sure I am giving off indicator of at least a decent player.


On to the hand. 1k level, Hero (60k) opens to 2k from MP, villain (60-65k) flats from lj, bb (20k) flats.
(7.5k): JTT bb x, hero 2k, lj raises to 6k, bb folds, back to hero.

- I don't think the villain will have a hand as strong as JJ/TT. He 3 bets that a decent frequency pre, and if he called I think he's incentivized to flat call at least once on this board. JTs is in range, but, I think he's incentivized to flat that combo on the flop as well.
- I think a draw isn't something he raises often here either. I have Kc so blocking KQcc/AKcc.
- The raise seems a bit of a protection bet with a jack and of course the Tx like QT, T9, AT raises. Thoughts on how to continue vs this range?

Idk what hand you have? Idk I think I would open a tad more to like 2.2k or 2.5k on 60bb. Think I would cbet much more than 1/4 on a J-10-10 flop that is wet. Maybe 1/4th-1/3 is fine as villians will tend to play fairly straight up. Idk think we wanna x back here a lot when we don’t hit flop as a lot of x raises can happen.

It's in the subject line.

I'm fine letting this go. This wet paired board may make even a Q dirty here. I get that its only 4K into ~16K, but IDK what I want to see OTT other than a K - I mean an A could be very very bad for us. This spot seems to have more downside than upside.

Don't think an Ace is a bad card. Having Kc is blocking KQcc.

In a cash game, I don't think I ever fold flop to this action. With no ICM implications, I'm wondering if b/r and planning on jamming turns is a good plan for this hand.

Check flop. Getting blown off equity here is really bad. Also open more than a min open on 60bb. Min opening at 60bb seems slightly terrible to me. I’m ok at say 40-45 bb or less but not at 60.

If you cbet, cbet bigger as board is very wet and coordinated. Going 1/4th pot just seems really bad.

I think AT or AJ is part of his range - most live players typically just call with either. With 2 overs plus a gutter, I'm giving the c/r credit for being more value-oriented on this board.

This is NOT a hand I'm looking to get it all in with.

It's not a check-raise.

Thanks for all the replies so far.

I agree, AT/AJ are a part of his range. I expect a Jx to raise my c-bet some % of the time for protection/value. During the hand, I didn't think the villain was incentivized to raise his really strong hands (Tx, JT, JJ) having position on hero, and having a ss player in the bb so discounted those hands slightly when the raise came.

Hero has a major over pair advantage, with a b/r I think I can push that advantage and put pressure on villain's Jx, and draws.

Hero raises, villain tank folds. Not sure if this exploit is sound, worked this time.

I think this is a close spot heads-up vs. LJ, but in a multi-way pot I would probably just check this flop because the BB can absolutely have a ton of Tx here more than anything.

As played, I actually don't hate the idea of a 3-bet on the flop with the Kc in our hand. We block a lot of the premium draws that would continue when we have the Kc, and we block a lot of low-frequency AT-KT that may be in our opponent's range, especially if this player is loose and might have ATo/KTo a decent amount. While you are bluffing with the best hand a lot, you're also cleaning up equity when villain has stuff like, say, 88 that decided to raise to "see where they were at" or stuff like AQ that could cooler us on certain runouts. My sense is that villains with those holdings, and maybe even stuff as strong as K9 or KQo, might fold too much to the flop 3-bet not being sure if all of their outs are live.

In practice I would probably have just called and continued, but I think the 3-bet is probably a reasonable low-frequency play too.

Reread the OP. On the flop, BBx, hero bets 2K, BB raises to 6K. Looks like a check raise to me.

EDIT: I took my own advice- I read the OP too quickly, and you are correct; it is not a check raise. I skipped over the “lj” part of lj raises to 6K and assumed it was bb. That’s what happens when we assume, and my apologies- you were correct I was wrong

Yeah - I gotta stop responding during boring Teams calls . .

However, I'm still likely folding to the raise although I wouldn't have led flop either as mentioned by several already.