Playing $0.05/0.10 6 max NLH.

Villain opens Hijack to $0.25 fold to Hero in BB with As7h, calls $0.15

Flop ($0.55) kh 2s 7s Villain c bets $0.13, Hero calls.

Turn($0.81) ks Villain bets $0.40 Hero calls.

River ($1.61) Ad Villain bets $1.20, Hero folds.

Villain played like a maniac, bluffed a lot. I had a read on him where his flop c bets were usually large around 3/4 pot when bluffing. I was confused playing this hand, wondering how other people would play this and what they would be thinking about while playing. I think the flop is a standard call, but not sure about calling the turn, maybe raise or fold the turn. River is also tricky but I don't think the ace changes much as my hand is still a bluff catcher. Im also not too sure about calling preflop. How would you guys play this?

If you believe you have a read that tells you when V is bluffing and when he is betting for value you fold on the flop as given your read you think he is betting value. If you don't trust the read enough to fold you call him down as you have described him as a maniac that bluffs a lot. The absolutely worst way to play vs a maniac is call him for the first two streets and fold river when you have a reasonable bluff catcher.

Fold preflop is pretty clear and is a basic mistake.

If suits are accurate, we can never fold flop or turn here. We could consider raising at some point with As in our hand, but call call also seems completely fine. River is a tough spot. If we think villain is bluffy I would usually not be looking to fold but we're not doing great here. The advice above to fold flop is unfortunately not great in this spot. It's true and insightful that we like folding early vs maniacs, but there is no way folding mptk with bdnfd is correct vs quarter, even if we think villain will barrel aggressively. The only super clear mistake in this hand is not folding preflop.

I do not understand how you call turn but fold river

I've been playing the non-straight Ax hands less and less. I can understand your willingness to play 'any' Ace against a maniac as well. My issue with this hand is how are you going to get value/paid when you connect?

If you are going to play this hand against this player ..
1) Calling the Flop is almost mandatory .. you connected against a maniac
2) The Turn is a double edge .. King means V is less likely to have one, but the flush hits.
3) River could be value for Kx, flush or an 'Ace' chop

You will have to address your definition of 'maniac' against a true 'LAG' and also whether or not they even consider who their opponent is when involved in a hand.

1) 2.5x from HJ hardly seems out of line
2) 1/2 pot bet sizing on Flop and Turn hardly seems OOL either .. based on your read of value sizing (by a maniac) why wouldn't V hold 88-JJ here as much as Kx/flush/Ax?
3) What does going 75% pot on river mean within this betting line so far? What does your x/c of three streets mean to V?

In order to fold this River as played you really need a read on V firing four streets with this bet sizing line against your style. Why can't you have Kx? Why can't you have a flush? You don't mention anything about V after the Flop bet sizing 'tell' ..

High VPiP Players thrive on folds .. I should know .. This might need to be an 'informational' call if you live in a Reg world or perhaps just started your session. When you don't raise Turn or bet out on the River most V will know you are weak or just trying to get to Showdown, so the bluff rate should be a bit higher when they are in position.

Another point on your session, if you 'allow' this Player to push you off a hand like this you will see this line a lot more often going forward.

I feel you pain here, a 4-barrel by any Player suggests cutting your losses here, but I'm still caught up on whether or not this is truly a maniac or just a lucky LAG. GL

Because we still lose to every good hand (every vbet) and we basically have a bluffcatcher. It seems very straightforward to at least consider folding river here.
That said, calling river with Ax hands is super reasonable vs an aggressive player.

Sorry but I have to agree with sixfour. As played calling the turn and folding the river isn't making a lot of sense.
If you think he migt be holding Kx you shouldnt be calling the turn AND you should realize there zero on the
river that helps you.
THEN you get a "favorable' card on the river and fold ??? Sorry but Not My style

Probably the worse 6 max player in this thread but FWIW not sure how you can call the turn get a favorable river card and fold if villian is maniac and bluffing a lot.


I would be wondering if you shouldn't be re-raising the turn? In hopes of winning the hand right then or getting it checked down on the river. I think I like the turn re-raise for myself personally as a TAG player. If he plays back at me or bets the river I can be pretty sure he has the goods at that point and not have to call a big river bet. Like I said not exactly a good 6 max player. What do the better players think of a turn re-raise?



Cheers!!!

Call turn fold river is not great vs aggressive barrelers, but that doesn't mean we should never do it. If we have a hand that's a clear turn continue and quite close otr, it's pretty weak logic to ignore that line just because villain is aggressive or because the river is "favorable" (we can't fold on favorable cards??? huh???)

Raising turn is alright but we're probably gonna bomb rivers to try to fold out Kx with our hand if we raise turn and I'm a bit skeptical how well that could work vs a maniac. If we think villain is overbluffing, I'd probably rather just call down. Turning this hand into a bluff doesn't really seem necessary to me.

Yep, this is my logic. If you think that there is enough of his range that is some sort of king where we are drawing dead compared to the part of his range (which should be large given reads) which is random crap, then you fold the turn. That's the decision point - if you think he's full of crap then you don't fold turn after we improve to beat random QQ-88 hands which he thinks is good

We can't fold the turn because we have the nut flush draw. It is completely inconceivable to fold this hand vs this size ott.

Then we miss and otr we just have a bluffcatcher.

Did everyone else not read the suits of the cards or something? I feel like I'm in the twilight zone here.

I did and that's why I considered a re-raise on the turn might not be too out of line in this spot on the turn. On the turn you could already be good against a manaic bluffer plus you could hit the flush, another ace or another 7. With a TAG image like mine you get a lot of folds with re-raise to board like when the V has marginal hands....specially if you have a high win % at showdown. If he calls or plays back then you know has actually has the goods and need to hit the river. Either way you pretty much know for sure where you stand in the hand.

But like said not the best 6 max player in this thread and why I stick mainly to MTT when playing GG Poker which doesn't have full ring games which I prefer when playing cash.


Cheers!!!

Yeah, raising is worth considering for sure. I'm not a huge fan for a few reasons, but we have cool blockers and nut flush equity even if we run into trips. I think considering the raise here is smart and shows some insight, actually!

But there are a bunch of sad situations too. For example, we could hit an A or 7 and still be dead to any Kx, and we could even hit our flush and be dead to a boat. If we get reraised (which agg maniac villain may do sometimes), we're put in a super disgusting spot. On the other hand, I think calling is pretty attractive with our cards, and calling guarantees that we see a river while avoiding some potential hell spots.

Thanks been studying/reading and trying to improve on my 6 max play as I would like to be good or get good at it as while I prefer and like MTT's better I do at times enjoy just sitting at a cash table once in awhile and don't always have the time to play a full MTT. And GG doesn't offer Sit n Go's either.

Yeah you're not wrong about potentially being put in a lot of bad and disgusting spots if you re-raise. Personally I don't often get guys calling my re-raises in spot like this unless they have it 80-90% of the time. Guess like most decisions in poker it comes down to how well you think know the player and what have his range at.

Looking back at the stakes OP's playing you're probably right best path is to just call and see a river. At micro stakes you get a lot more callers even when they shouldn't in these spots.

EDIT: FWIW all my winning cash experience comes from full ring games years ago at UB and Pokerstars playing .25/.50. so that may explain my line of thinking here more. Got some work to do on my 6 max game no doubt. Thanks for he reply and your thoughts on this spot.

Cheers!!!

its a pretty sticky spot. pocket 88 tru kk
could render many of you flushes NG.
I would have to have a decent read on villan to call the turn bet.

If you're folding pair + nfd vs quarter pot half pot here, you're making a very big mistake because of a few monsters under the bed. If villain had done some turn overbetting or something, we could have a different discussion about it maybe (though I'd argue this is still a very good combo to continue even vs big size blocking AK 77 K7 and Axss). Finding some herofold vs two small bets is a substantial mistake. I think it shows a very shallow understanding of the game to advocate for turn fold against these sizes.

Fwiw I am a full-time pro and my main game recently is 200nl 6max online.

Every decision we make should be based on what we think will result in the highest EV (expected value). Playing OOP means that we will under realize our equity. Against a LAG/Maniac this is even more true.

Preflop, a raise of 4x ($1.00) requires Villain to fold about 70% of the time for us to show an immediate profit of 4bb (- rake). Seemingly a high bar. However V's range is quite wide given your description.

Raise>fold>call

ps I assure you you are NOT the only profitable player who comes on this board,

Urrr that is NOT what me and sixfour said. We DID NOT say to fold to the turn Bet !
We DID say IF YOU CALLED the turn bet you just about CAN NOT fold the river with the board appearing the way it does.

Also When You talk ABOUT half pot bet and Pot Size bet You NEED to consider the SIZE of those bets vs Your remaining stack. SPR
That in and of itself is NOT one size fits all.

No Way I fold to That turn bet BUT when I call it NO WAY I fold to that board AS PLAYED. THAT is what me and sixfour said.

Do you need me to quote the spot where sixfour directly talked about folding the turn or...?

And yes spr is a thing but so is actually needing a defense range against small bets. If you think spr is a relevant factor here on the turn you have a very poor understanding of the spot.

There are plenty of solid winning players that post on this forum. I am still perfectly comfortable calling out poor advice.