So I'm trying to balance my range and I feel I did it perfectly here, but am un sure.

this table was full but only involved me and villian.

Hero has ~40K (mid 30s white guy peetty aggro.)
Villian ~28K (late to early 40s white woman tight passive calling station)

So 3 rounds ago I had J8 in lp. I rasie pre to 1400 she calls from the blind. Were HU. Flop is A T 6 she bets 1000 I raise to 3000 she flats turn is the 8 she checks I lead again for 3000 she calls, river is the 6 she checks I lead 5K she goes into the tank for 3 min and calls and shows me A9o and takes the pot.

On to the hand.

Hero is MP with AJ
I raise to 1400 PF all fold to her in BB Villian calls

Flop: A T 8
SHE checks I lead 14000. She flats.

Turn: 8
She checks I fire 3500
SHE FLATS

River is the 6

She Checks I fire 5000....
I feel this was the perfect spot to rep the same hand as the board ran out the exact same.

now did I do this right in terms of balancing? Im trying to play this the exact same way I played my pair +FD and I feel like she'll pay me off here if I do it the exact same way.

Did I do this right?

14000 or 1400?

If it's 1400, I bet more on this flop. If it's 14K, I bet less... Turn and river seems fine. Against some villains, river is prolly a pretty easy check back, but with your dynamic, I guess it's fine to go for thin value here. She doesn't seem like the player to c/raise the river a lot (and prolly never as a bluff anyway).

Fwiw, I think you butchered hand #1. I have no idea what you're trying to accomplish with your turn sizing if you plan on betting 5K otr? Someone like her is never folding a hand >J8 for 5K otr if she calls turn, so by betting we're only folding out worse and getting called by better. Flop is a pretty standard raise, but turn is where we have to make a decision. The way I see it, we have 3 options. 1) We can check back turn and hope to improve otr, and if we don't improve, we have to be prepared to make a tough decision if she leads. 2) We can bet smallish ott (kinda like you did) as a blocker bet to keep in her entire range (draws and made hands) and prevent her from betting river. This play allows us to bet our equity and build a pot for when we hit. But if we play it this way, it has to be with the intention of mostly checking back river unimproved (we have showdown value, since our sizing prolly kept in a lot of her draws, and if she has a made hand >J8, she is very unlikely to fold it after we bet small ott on such a coordinated board. 3) We can keep representing a big hand ott and bet big as a semibluff with the intention of possibly betting big again otr if we miss. The only way that turning our hand into a bluff otr will work is if you bet bigger ott, because no strong valuehand is ever not betting bigger ott on such a coordinated board. Going for something inbetween just doesn't seem very credible imo.

Thanks. It is 1400. The table was making it like 2500-3000 @300/600 and I was trying to condition 3 people to play smaller.

I felt like her style in hand one was that she had a ton of millding pairs or like QJ or something, so if I check turn after raising flop it could appear extremely weak and would end up getting looked up by K10 77 99 jj etc if I miss River, and have to make a smaller bet than had I bet the turn.

but for sure looking back shes never folding an A on flop 1. So in hand 2 I try to lead her to the same path and crush her with AJ

Betting the same amount ott as you raised to otf looks pretty weak in and of itself. And otr you're giving her 4-to-1 on a call (she has to call 5K to win around 20K), so you only have to be bluffing like 20% of the time for her to call (and given your turn line this is just too good odds to be folding anything with showdown value that calls turn).

The bet ott is supposed to look like value to her because she just got check raised on an ace high board from a pf raiser.

I dont want to stick 5k ott and make it look like im trying to blow her of a hand. I want her to put TT and AK AQ AJ and AT in my range so that when I fire a 3rd street she has to have the inclination that she's beat.

Fwiw after her 2 min tank her coment was "I was afraid of AJ"

so with the table ohhing her "Great call" I planted a seed to hopefully have a similar result where I get hero called.

Hand 1 is not the dissecting hand, it was a hand played to get max value from a river card. It failed so knowing I cant win at SD I have to turn my hand into a bluff. I have a 80% Chance ill be called but its the only way to win thus making it the optimal play..... right?


its hand 2. Hand 2 has all the same components but now I have a great SD hand and a villian is gearin and ready to know call with a 10 or 55 or JJ to impress the table.

In the J8 hand just call tht flop and turn and fold river.

Second hand I like betting and folding to a raise as she's gonna call with a lot of worse aces and even mid pair hands thinking you are getting out of line with your young grasshopper image.

No offense but playing J8 by stationing up and calling the flop then checking through does not fit my image or my playing style.

Shr caught me and thats OK. Cause I still have ~ 30bb and plan on playing all my 2 pair hands and sets etc the same way.

I geel like thw point of this thread has been missed

I thought about this hand a little more and thought that I might bet the turn and quite possibly check back the river. It really comes down if she will call off wth enough worse hands to make a triple barrel profitable. If she's folding worse and calling better then we should check back otr. I kinda think shell will call enough worse to make a thin value third barrel ok.

At the tine you had the J8 i thought you were over hundred bb deep - so assuming you were ... What's she folding and what are you doing if she plays back at you?

I had a plan ott that if I missed I would be comfortable losing a fixed amount and that was around ~12k. Which would leave me with 50bb not 30bb (night owl/bad math)

I feel like she should fold middle pairs like 99 JJ and lots of weak aces specifically A5-A9. Maybe even JJ I saw her get into a 3 bet war on a A hi flop whe. She held Ak and her neighbor AQ. So I discounted AK and AQ

If she leads river when I miss I fold, If she check raises me otr I am gonna lay down my hand In both spots cause "playing back" at people was not in her vocab. Either way my loss would be 7400.00 or 12,400.00

Think of the J8 hand as paying 12k in advertising fees to gain multiple calls to be looked up later. Also if I spike a 8 or spade I'm good but the J is a doubt card because my J completes a lot of her range in terms of her drawing hands like KQ AJ and JJ

My flop raise appeared strong. (You had to be there) so thats why I went for the appearance of value which should fold out worse (5577) and Some better(JT, KT,QT, A5-A9) by the river.

ya I should fired 10K but I remember betting yellow the whole way because she had 20 in yellow and 1 5K Chip.

Let's start from the end and work backwards.
The 5k bet is a misplay in that situation. Given the ace is out there with two 8s, your opponent would have to call with an ace with the board's kicker or worse to lose. The reason the river is a misplay is the turn bet. On the turn you escalated to 3500 from 1400 on a paired board with an ace when you raised preflop. The strength of a hand to call at this point is top pair at a minimum or a flush draw. Given the large bet and the fact that any ace lower than 10 kicker chops, I find it hard to believe anything worse than AJ called unless they have the flush draw. Given a 6 isn't in the flush draw hand, by the river you are facing either high card, a big ace, or trips. In all three cases a bet serves no purpose, especially since your image will make people river check monster hands to you.

The turn: Appropriate protection bet of 3500 against the flush, and buys you a nice river checkdown if facing a bigger hand. I would have bet less as to not scare out worse hands like a no kicker ace or a lone T while not excessively paying better hands. Any T has only 2 obvious outs and any ace with a 7 or worse is drawing to chop. 2000 or 3500 are approriate bets at this point depending on which hand you place the villain on.

The flop: A soft amount but acceptable. Standard C bet.

Preflop: Raising in the early deepstack moments of a tournament should be avoided with hands like AJ. It rarely wins a big pot but can easily lose one especially when AK and AQ tend to smooth call raises, but would raise if you just limped, allowing you to be on guard. Likewise by not raising, hands like A7 come in and think they are good when they aren't. The blinds aren't worth the danger that comes from attempting to steal them in the early stages. The name of the game in tournaments is survival. If you have a good stack, gaining chips isn't worth as much as not losing them. The value of tournament chips decrease for each chip you possess. This can be likened to Donald Trump finding 1000 dollars on the floor compared to us doing so. This differs from cash games where chips have set value and may be cashed anytime.

I def. See what your saying. But the tourney had been going for over 3 hours at this point (5 55min levels) blinds were 300/600 with a 50 or a 75 ante so there was about 1100 in dead money to be had.

But you were right... she showed me AQ in hand 2. But my point was to play a much stronger showdown hand the same way I played a busted flush draw so I could get action from less.

Even though I lost hand to I felt like I had accomplished something huge by not trying to stack the sheriff with a much bigger hand than before but to play all my hands the same.

If antes are in play then the preflop raise was good. As for the betting, a softer turn bet of 2000 to allow a weak mid pair to call would have been a good idea, followed by a check due to the fact she will check the entire range of hands that beat you. An additional thin value bet would be ok as well on the river assuming you fold to any check raise.

A common misconception in poker is to play many hands the same way to be harder to read. The focus should be on making the best play possible given your hand and the range of hands your opponent has with consideration to how they would play these hands given how you are playing. A value bet where your opponent says "I know you got me, I call" is always better than "I know you are bluffing, but I will wait." What your opponent thinks isn't worth nearly as much as what they will do, and how their range relates to your hand. Don't focus so much on what your opponents think of you but rather how they react to you. Rather than try to turn calling stations into hero callers, abuse calling stations by value betting premium and quality hands against quality and marginal hands respectively. The number one leak in poker is money lost on marginal hands, so minimize this as best as you can. Top pair J kicker with two 8s on the board is a prime example of a marginal hand on the river.

Don't you ThinkShe will beMore apt TO Look meup in hand 2 With tons of hands I beat because I'M playing it the exact Same way as the bluff in hand 1?

She is undeniably more likely to call. However the first hand changed the villain from being a predictable calling station who always bets when she has the goods into a player who check calls with nearly her entire range. Before you changed her, she would donk out with AQ if she hit, putting your guard up. Now she stealthily checks this hand because she knows you love to bet. In my opinion getting more calls from lesser hands isn't worth not knowing where my opponent is at. Also the way to exploit the new type of player requires overbetting the value of your hand which puts you in danger given she is playing the style that counters this which is to check hands out of position with good showdown value.

So to put it shortly, she is more likely call but is also more likely to slow play, making marginal value bets a dangerous proposition and personally I would check the river.

When you balance your range and you have been playing tight and aggressive, Check Flop, check turn, and check fold river.

The first hand

Second hand is kind of interesting.

If I play hand 1 like that dont I have to play hand two the same way to balance it?

I like the thought that the way I play molds my villians behavior, and in this case I guess im making her play better against me later instead of the opposite.

Don't try and bluff bad players. Taking a more passive line may not be your style, but imo it's better against this player than the more aggressive line you took. There's little point in putting lots of chips in the pot with a draw when you have not much FE.

So what's the buyin for this tourney? Assuming that it's a standard low buyin live donkament they I would be less concerned about your image and balancing and more concerned with just playing good poker and getting value from your big hands. Your opponents really aren't going to be paying that much attention to your play.

In your AJ hand I'm fine with you taking a bet bet bet line for value (not balance) because it's highly likely that villain will call you down with any A (and maybe worse made hands).

Fwiw she went into the tank hard, like 2ish min. I think her botfriend was in seat 1 and her neighbors seemed to be interested in the out come so it may have lead her to call because when I said 8 she tabled the A and seat 1-3,4 were practically patting her on the back. I really feel like she was gonna fold

The buy in was 40+ 50. And I see a valid point in not bluffing bad players, for most of my hands I played this same style and rarley ever check through and I limped about 4 outta 100+ hands

Its just that I have realized that I get crushed when I play drawing hands by check call,check call, 3rdSpade hits and I lead the river or check raise
Or even worse Bet Bet miss flush then Check fold.
People will start to price me out evry time I check.

And when I bet bet bet with AK on a A 4 7 9 T Board ifeel like I'm an open book.

So balancing means to play a hand(s) completely different than your image. (?)

Image is probably less relevant than you think here. Especially in this fast paced tourney. I have played 1 of these QRs. So I am somewhat familiar with structure (final tabled&chopped-brag) THinking about it I should probably play more of these.. Soft & The structure is unique.

Balancing means more just playing hands differently, not necessarily involving your image. Mixing up your play, not taking the same lines, betting amounts, predictability etc.
There is a lot to say of your play here. Others have already touched on good specific critiques. I will just throw out a few meta-thoughts for you here: What range are you putting your opponent on? Vice versa if you think they are thinking on a deep enough level. Also it is okay to give up in these spots/tournaments, go for more 'secure' higher value in general. Don't over-think yourself in these smaller buy-in fields. Straightforward play and patience is key.
Let the chips come to you-I like villain's lines. I fold & check more often myself. I've said too much. Good day.

That was good up until that last point??? Anyway I put hwr on the exact type of hand both times. Hand 1 I know her ace is weak. Hand 2 I feel like know she has a lot more hands in her range like All the weak aces KT QT JT 77 99 JJ to name a few because she was much faster to call in hand 2 than in hand one. Almost like she put me on the exact same hand and was gonna be a sheriff.