Poker Stars $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

Hero (BTN): $54.10
SB: $54.20
BB: $64.75
UTG: $45.20
CO: $60.85

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BTN with 5 5
1 fold, CO raises to $2, Hero...?

- CO seems to be a decent TAG 18/17/2 but not a huge sample
- SB is 25/21/inf but he's not good
- BB is 24/21/3 and seems to be very solid
- I'm playing roughly 20/18/3 and have folded twice when the SB 3-bet my BTN open


Normally I would flat call this and could comfortably fold to a 3-bet from the blinds. There usually isn't much squeezing or smart aggression at nl50. If I flatted here though I was almost certain one of the blinds would squeeze.

Is this actually almost a mandatory 3-bet in this circumstance? I can't see folding and calling sucks too.

I guess this hand is probably fairly basic for higher buy-ins but its not really a spot I see often at nl50 or nl100. I actually don't know if I've ever 3-bet a pair lower than 99 lolz...

What about a tiny 3 bet to like 5 or 5.5? Seems like it would discourage light squeezes and still leave a ton of room to use your position postflop, where you should be able to rape if he's not c/r tons of flops.

If I predict the squeeze, and it happens, I small 4 bet: eg call the $2, SB raises to $6, I raise to $16ish. If he then pushes, I can fold or call depending on reads, stacks etc, if he calls, I am happy to have position, but stacks are now normally to short to play much post flop poker, so it's push/fold on the flop. Not recommending this as a standard line, but I think I'm net +$EV when I've tried it. Obv been stacked a couple of times when SB had a real hand or hit the flop. If SB is good enough to squeeze, he may be good enough to think your flat call was trappy.

At 50nl, very few players seem to call a 4 bet without AA/KK/QQ/AK.

My standard line here is also the flat call, and fold to 3 bet from blinds, so if the blinds are regs, they will treat my 4-bet with respect ... lol

If you don't want to call because you think they squeeze too much, you can call and shove any pp imo.

Wow is NL50 on stars that aggro?

you can 3bet, call/fold or call/4 bet any squeeze. One random 4 bet to a habitual sqwozer will usually end that line from that villain when you're pretty sure they are squeezing light.

No, not usually.

And my seat really wasn't great, but I stayed on purpose because the reason my first shot at nl200 failed was I couldn't handle the aggression.

I'm not sure why, but all I considered in game was call or fold. I called and as expected the SB squeezed and then I folded - the worst line possible.

Right after the hand it dawned on me that I could have 3-bet the CO opener since he's probably opening light anyway, and that would have headed off any squeeze. And if CO just calls I have position, etc.

It was kind if an ah ha moment for me in regards to making sure I consider all my options for a given situation rather than getting in the habit of standard lines. (And this is likely a very standard situation at the higher levels just not a situation I see much at nl100 or less.)

yeah, table dynamics will vary. One thing I don't do well is leave tables like you describe in your op on this situation.

My time lately (last 30 days) has been 99% study and 1% play with the play only being recent. Thinking is the nutz.

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
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Hero (CO): $100.00
BTN: $144.45
SB: $116.50
BB: $78.70
UTG: $121.55
MP: $172.45

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is CO with 8 T
2 folds, Hero raises to $3, 1 fold, SB calls $2.50, 1 fold

Flop: ($7.00) 5 9 9 (2 players)
SB bets $5, Hero calls $5

Turn: ($17.00) T (2 players)
SB bets $6, Hero calls $6

River: ($29.00) 2 (2 players)
SB bets $19, Hero...?

This is my 4th hand at the table and I have no prior history with villain.

I normally auto raise any flop donker the first time they do it unless it's a situation like this one where I should have decent equity but can't stand a raise so I think calling the flop is standard.

His turn bet looks weak, but again I don't really want to get raised off my hand and I don't think he's calling with many worst hands except some draws so I just call again. I would really like feedback on this turn spot.

Obviously, I'm not folding the river but any raise and I'm committed to playing for stacks. Is it too weak to just call here or should I be shipping it in?

I like the flop...the turn is standard...and the river I can see just calling. Your draw is obvious, so if he shoves you puke. Then again, he probably doesn't fold a 9 to a smallish raise, so I could go either way.

Maybe a leak, but I never, ever raise here. I've telegraphed my hand, and I have a medium flush on a paired board. There's enough money in the pot and I can't see what calls a raise that doesn't beat me unless the guy is an uber donk. With no reads, I'm happy to just call. He's on a strange line with a 9, a flush draw an overpair, or 55, so he looks like an uberdonk ... but you never know!

This is one of those completely nonsensical poker cliches. Why would a pot ever be big enough if you think you can get more money in good?

I'd play it the same. I don't like raising the river because even though he will call with a 9, I don't see him donking the flop with a 9. I think his river range consists of flushes, presumably larger, small pocket pairs, and air (67hh, etc).

I don't like raising the turn either because almost everything that calls is better (with the possible exception of flush draws although they should fold too).

Bones, I actually agree with you, and I thought about the phrase when I wrote it. For a while I've been thinking about optimal bet sizing, and although thoroughly unformed though my analysis is, my hypothesis is that there is an optimal pot size for each situation. I'm not talking about a fundamental theory of poker correct way of playing a hand, more about a determination that in any particular situation, the level of information that one has should relate to the optimal potsize. In Jbrochu's hand, I think he has made as much as he can given the situation so to raise the river would be to take an unsound risk - in a sense, it would be moving away from the optimal pot size for this hand.

My thinking is not yet clear, but I wanted you to know that I didn't use the phrase without there being some consideration that it was relevant!

This is only true if your opponent has an informational advantage over you. For instance, if you are out of position, you should tend to keep pots smaller because your opponent will have more information throughout the hand. But if your opponent is just as in the dark about what is going on as you are, then how much or how little information you both have isn't relevant to what size you want the pot to be.

Surely potsize must have some relationship to information.

eg If I am 80% confident that I am a 70% favourite to win v villains range, I want to get as much money in as possible. If I am only 50% confident that I am a 70% favourite, surely I should control the pot?

Peru, what you wrote above does not make sense. Either you have a 70% edge or you don't. Do you mean that sometimes you don't have a 70% edge? If that is the case, average over cases and determine your edge.
Like many SSNL players, you don't understand the concept of thin value or why it is important to seek thin value. Not puttin you down, just an observation.

Only played 11 hands vs villain yet, so no real reads yet.
He ain't a reg.
What would you do?

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
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Hero (MP): $51.70
CO: $33.00
BTN: $48.20
SB: $49.50
BB: $171.00
UTG: $108.70

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is MP with J K
1 fold, Hero raises to $1.75, 1 fold, BTN calls $1.75, 2 folds

Flop: ($4.25) 2 6 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $3.10, BTN calls $3.10

Turn: ($10.45) J (2 players)
Hero doesn't know yet and ask the STTF cash stars

I think a lot of villains flop range is medium and small pairs with some flush draws and random overcards that were floating thrown in.

I would lead the turn for about $8 and see what happens. You can still get called by worse, and you want to protect your hands from pairs and overs that have a diamond.

sence, I'd bet the turn both for value and protection from any random pair. If he raises it's a pretty easy fold. If he calls, he's almost certainly going to check back the river with anything you beat, so you can c/f confidently.

No offence taken, you know I'm very much at the bottom of the learning curve. I don't see it as so black and white. If I'm playing a regular multitabler and I have lots of history, I have a higher confidence level in my range estimate than if I'm playing an unknown. Eg, some regs "never" play small pairs from UTG, so a K53 board has KKK as his only possible set. If I have KQ, and call from the button, and get checkraised, I am 99% confident that 55/33 are not in his range, which is polarised into AA/AK/KK/QQ/JJ and a bluff.

Board: Ks 5d 3c
Dead:

equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 48.829% 48.66% 00.17% 161850 576.00 { JJ+, AKs, 98s, AKo }
Hand 1: 51.171% 51.00% 00.17% 169638 576.00 { KQs, KQo }

as opposed to an unknown's range which might be as wide as:

Board: Ks 5d 3c
Dead:

equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 42.234% 37.78% 04.46% 262548 30972.00 { TT+, 55, 33, AKs, KJs-K9s, AKo, KTo+ }
Hand 1: 57.766% 53.31% 04.46% 370488 30972.00 { KQs, KQo }

Clearly v the reg, I can use my position to control the pot size, and v the unknown I can bet to get more information on his strength before deciding how big I want to plan to make the pot.

I might describe this as having a 90% confidence level that the reg's range is above - and a 50% confidence level that the unknown's range is as above. It seems to me that the higher my confidence level, the more I can exploit edges, because I am more likely to be right that I have one.

On your general point about the concept of thin value, you're dead right, I don't feel I understand it yet. Have a go at writing something for me please!

Controlling potsize on the flop and riv aren't related. There isn't really a such thing as pot control on the river. There are no implied or reverse implied odds, no future bets in the sense that your equity in the hand from this point forward will never change.

Isnt that a good reason to bet the river?

I would check/call the turn though. Since i think alot of hands we beat fold to a bet.

Depends on the river, and how scary it be for a pp or A2 to call. It's a lot harder to get three streets of value out of worse hands here though. A lot of hands that call a turn bet don't call a river bet. Like 55 with a diamond, etc. I do think b/f > c/c the river though.

c/c the turn is a way to get value from floats, but I don't think you max ur value against his range. Also, are you c/c turn and c/f river?