Ans = big fish on my right, two very weak players further round.

Wiggs: I posted the hand because it is unusual for me to go so strongly with a purely read based play and then afterwards I ran it through pokerstove and find that I have massive equity on the flop:

Text results appended to pokerstove.txt

266,310 games 0.010 secs 26,631,000 games/sec

Board: Ac 8c 6s
Dead:

equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 75.057% 72.84% 02.22% 193972 5912.00 { Ah9c }
Hand 1: 24.943% 22.72% 02.22% 60514 5912.00 { 22+, A2s+, KTs+, QTs+, JTs, T9s, 98s, 87s, 76s, 65s, 54s, A2o+, KTo+, QTo+, JTo }

So I made a play where after his 3 bet I was convinced a flop shove would have so much fold equity that it was 90%+ sure to work: He definitely folds AK, KK, KQclubs, anything less than a set.

Then I reevaluated and given the real equity I had on the flop, I thought that maybe I should have turned the bluff into a real hand and flatted his c-bet.

I'm playing $25nl first session of the day to get my poker brain in gear, then I move to $50nl so I'm happy to play some regs: I'm still learning how to exploit a TAG so I'm happy to play lower level regs and experiment: As Gigabet once said, sometimes you have to put yourself into marginal situations to learn.

Otherwise, I think your advice is exactly what I follow under normal circumstances, thanks.

xPeru, I would pile on but the heavy hitters pretty much nailed my thoughts. A9 is just a really bad hand to do this with. If you're going to get squirrely PF, do it with a hand that can flop something where you'll have a lot of outs/equity if you get called when you make the move. Here when you get called you'll be destroyed, and he won't call with anything you're beating.

Gtr, curious what you meant by this...Is this just directed at 25nl only? 'Cuz I couldn't play 100 or 200nl and avoid TAG regs. I do avoid tables with 3 or more however, and sometimes a single TAG reg if the seat sucks.

xPeru....I make read based plays all the time.

But, doesn't change the fact that this is spew. And btw, he's not folding AK.

A good read based plays against this guy are: calling his 3-bets lighter in position with hands that do well post flop (SCs, S-1gappers, big cards, pps), tigtening up opening range, four betting light (I prefer 4-betting A9o here than calling), and then opening up your stacking off range on the flop. But, you shouldn't just shove any flop. That's just silly imo.

Dude no one is folding AK there.

Anyway, of course you have massive equity on the flop against the range you put into poker stove, you flopped top pair and looked at his preflop range which you're (perhaps correctly) assuming you be extremely wide.

Now look at your equity for the range he calls a shove with. You're dead. You're basically of ahead of every hand he folds and behind every hand he calls with. That's the exact opposite scenario you want to shove. It's neither a bluff nor a value bet.

MP 12 hands 30/15...BB drooler 54/16/2.9

Poker Stars $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked

CO: $200.00
BTN: $34.00
SB: $119.90
BB: $130.65
Hero (UTG): $386.95
MP: $209.00

Pre Flop: Hero is UTG with J J
Hero raises to $8, MP calls $8, 3 folds, BB calls $6

Flop: ($25.00) 5 6 4 (3 players)
BB bets $4, Hero raises to $35, MP calls $35, BB calls $31

Turn: ($130.00) 7 (3 players)
BB bets $6, Hero calls $6, MP calls $6

River: ($148.00) T (3 players)
BB bets $2, Hero calls $2, MP raises to $160 all in, BB folds, Hero folds

I was thinking raise/fold turn or should I just be done and I'm just at the mercy of a good river card. River is obv a ridiculously stupid card.


------------------

31/15/7.5 0% steal from SB
This is an incredibly mundane hand but want to make sure I'm not leaking in this very common spot. Does your line change if opponent was a good tag like a 20/18/3.0 who has a typical SB steal % ?

Poker Stars $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players
2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked

BTN: $208.15
SB: $122.55
Hero (BB): $372.90
UTG: $208.15
CO: $523.80

Pre Flop: Hero is BB with Q 2
3 folds, SB calls $1, Hero checks

Flop: ($4.00) 9 Q 4 (2 players)
SB bets $2, Hero calls $2

Turn: ($8.00) 7 (2 players)
SB bets $4, Hero calls $4

River: ($16.00) 5 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $8

Mike,

NHs.

BBs turn and river bets are sexy tho.

Its just a general comment as 25nl on stars there would be 100s of tables w/o regs who would give us their money. Peru's reason for being on that table is good enough for me.

also - I do a fairly good job of table selecting on 100nl and avoiding the majority of the regs but wouldn't consider leaving the table if there were 2 unless they were making my life miserable or I didn't have position on the bad players.

Mike,

JJ hand played perfectly, you can't fold the turn or river until the push because of the lol betsizing of bb.

Q2o from the bb I do that all day. I like your betsizing on the river.

Poker Stars $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players
2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked

CO: $206.60
Hero (BTN): $446.55
SB: $559.60
BB: $208.55
UTG: $95.80

Pre Flop: Hero is BTN with A K
UTG calls $2, 1 fold, Hero raises to $10, SB raises to $32, 1 fold, UTG calls $30, Hero calls $22

Flop: ($98.00) 9 2 7 (3 players)
SB checks, UTG checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($98.00) 6 (3 players)
SB bets $65, UTG folds, Hero calls $65


villain is running at 16/11 on the sess. i have him running looser though overall. preflop i think is standard because he had been 3betting me somewhat frequently and i can value town the **** out of AQ/AJ. im not too worried about being multiway cus the shorty is almost allin and he's a ****.

anywho, i don't like stabbing the flop as it's awful.
turn i feel like he could be stabbing with AQ/AJ a fair amount of the time. i would never expect him to check a big hand on the flop. i think given my pair outs + fd + he might be stabbing i can profitably call here.

THOUGHTS?!

Poker Stars $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked

SB: $258.75
Hero (BB): $200.00
UTG: $235.80
MP: $211.00
CO: $217.85
BTN: $369.00

Pre Flop: Hero is BB with T A
3 folds, BTN raises to $8, 1 fold, Hero calls $6

Flop: ($17.00) T 6 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: ($17.00) 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $12, BTN raises to $36, Hero calls $24

River: ($89.00) K (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $66, Hero folds



trying to see what happens when i start flatting ATs oop against wide btn ranges. obviously missed my flop cr. turn seems like a good spot for a bet, when he raises im not sure what to think because i expect every hand that is beating me on the flop to bet the flop. his raise on the turn doesn't really make any sense to me unless he think's i'm FOS and will fold. maybe 3betting the turn is the best play here i'm not sure.

on the river he just shows more strength so i fold.

Poker Stars $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players
2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked

BTN: $224.10
Hero (SB): $412.35
BB: $283.00
UTG: $291.35
CO: $210.15

Pre Flop: Hero is SB with T T
2 folds, BTN raises to $8, Hero raises to $28, 1 fold, BTN calls $20

Flop: ($58.00) J 8 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $32, BTN calls $32

Turn: ($122.00) 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $72, Hero folds


villain is running at 20/20. i've 3bet him maybe once or twice so far, neither hand got past the flop or PF. not really sure what to think after i check the turn, he's definitely capable of flatting flop w/ sets, AA/KK/QQ etc and i would like to think that he is definitely capable of floating me with air here, but i'm probably overestimating his ability to make moves at me.

This is how I'd play it. The only had I could see him slowing playing is AA with a spade. Maybe 99, but I don't think he 3bets u with 99 much here.

It's a tough spot, but he really trying to rep a huge hand. Like a boat. Although, he could check bad a 6 here a lot. He's not value betting worse imo, so it's like air or nutz type hands so BTN vs blinds were people get ******ed I'd probably call. I used a timing tell here a lot, the speed at which he checked back the flop.

It's a real ****ty spot. Checking the turn is right imo. Without a good read, and decent history of him calling a lot in 3-bet pots I let it go. If he's been peeling a lot, I'd c/shove turn.

bengiec,

In the AKs hand I don't understand why you don't just get it in preflop with the dead money there. Post-flop is alright but I really think once the shortstack coldcalls you should just get it in there.

in the ATs hand sometimes I'll donk out like 2/3 pot and sometimes I'll go for a check-raise. It depends on villain's c-bet frequency and any past history we may have. fwiw I really like the flat out of the blinds. How good is villain in this hand? Against most not horrible players this is air most of the time. I really don't see any hand he could have that is ahead of your at this point. Sets c-bet the flop and I think a six would as well to set up a double-barrel to fold out your medium and small pairs. I like a 3-bet allin on the turn.

In the TT hand, as played I like it, but I think your bet sizing could be better. I'd make the c-bet larger and give up when called or get fancy and make it like 22 or something to set up a double barrell.

Did you see that they are 200bbs deep?

Do you really project that thinking onto your opponents? How many of your opponents bet flops based on if the texture is good for a double barrel or not?

Here are my thoughts on a different approach:
If SB is squeezing us a bunch like he says, we could 4-bet here to like $90 and then if SB decides to shove we can narrow him down and fold. UTG being short protects us and stacks with villain are deep enough to fold. He isn't 5-betting without the nuts and could fold JJ/QQ/AK.

There are a couple things against this, though. SB is 16/11 so he's pretty much a nit PF, so we're just going off of his frequency of 3 betting hero. He's also SB...how often has he been 3-betting hero OOP? And if he's thinking, squeezing really light with a drooler who is fairly short isn't the greatest thing..

It could be dangerous to hit TPTK with stacks this deep since we probably won't get his stack when we hit, but could get stacked if we do. We'll probably need to pot control if we hit and since we'll be IP we have that going for us.

As played, I like.

Do you normally fold or 3bet PF? I think I do vs a likely wide range. I'd like to know if I should be flatting this more often. Suited is much better obviously. How about A9 or A8?

Sucks you missed the c/r, now it gets weird and I tend to think they're FOS and would have called turn and re-evaluated, then tank on river and talk myself into a bad call. I mean christ, TPTK with NFD, I'm not supposed to lose!

My thoughts are against a wide range here I prefer 3-betting a lot more than calling OOP and I think it's ok with ATo or smaller suited A's as well against a very wide range.

A9 off and down I prefer just to pitch even against a very wide range. It's better to 3-bet imo with something that has potential to make a big hand or big draw and has less reverse implied odds.

bought in with $40, shortstacker on 3 other tables, 19/13/2, he doesn't seem to play like the good shortstackers. i.e. he doesn't leave when he gets 40bb and doesn't reload when he has 10bb, and he doesn't always shove with whatever hand he's playing.

Poker Stars $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked

MP: $50.00
CO: $72.40
BTN: $115.30
SB: $263.30
BB: $123.15
Hero (UTG): $222.05

Pre Flop: Hero is UTG with 9 9
Hero raises to $8, MP calls $8, 3 folds, BB calls $6

Flop: ($25.00) 2 5 4 (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $15, MP calls $15, BB folds

Turn: ($55.00) A (2 players)
Hero ...

Check? bet? then what and how much? Villain has $27 left.

haha i hate these spots a lot.

uh, check i guess. shoving can't be too bad tho.

**** him and his $27 though, I'm not folding. Whether or not I should be if I check may be debatable, but I'm not and that's that.

MP 18/13/2... CO 38/20/4... BTN 20/15/2.5

Poker Stars $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked

MP: $89.40
CO: $203.40
BTN: $246.45
SB: $189.00
BB: $137.95
Hero (UTG): $195.25

Pre Flop: Hero is UTG with 7 7
Hero raises to $8, MP calls $8, CO calls $8, BTN calls $8, 2 folds

Flop: ($35.00) 3 5 6 (4 players)
Hero...

Check/fold right? (maybe call a really small bet) Implied odds prolly aren't good if I hit a 4, but I'm also prolly dealing with some bad reverse implied odds if I happen to hit a 7 or a 4. If I bet, nobody's folding a worse hand especially not the LAG. Button might fold a mid-pair, but not likely. I couldn't come up with a bet size if I did bet. A big bet seems like a waste, a small bet gives good odds with no FE. Plus I would probably never bet small here anyway.

4 way I'd c/f based on your exact reasoning.

I like $22 if you do bet...

I'm actually not sure what I'd do here real time. You made a lot of good points though. I'd be surprised if a flop bet takes it down all that often with that much weak action pre and then that flop. Million bad turn cards if you get flatted on the flop... not really a great spot overall.

I think 1 less person in the pot I go ahead and bet and see what happens. check/reeval is prob best here. If nothing else, you get the added advantage of seeing what everyone does if you check. If it's 2 bets to you, it's a really easy fold. 1 is tougher and depends mostly on who makes it, what happens after it's made, and how much it is... still will be a fold a lot of the time IMO but I can dream up some scenarios where I'd call or even raise.