PokerStars - 4000/8000 Ante 1000 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

SB: 58.98 BB (VPIP: 28.00, PFR: 20.83, 3Bet Preflop: 20.00, Hands: 50)
BB: 66.35 BB (VPIP: 66.67, PFR: 33.33, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 3)
CO: 84.84 BB (VPIP: 71.43, PFR: 57.14, 3Bet Preflop: 33.33, Hands: 7)
Hero (BTN): 39.6 BB

4 players post ante of 0.13 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2 BB) Hero has T A

CO raises to 2.1 BB, Hero raises to 6.07 BB, fold, fold, CO calls 3.97 BB

Flop: (14.15 BB, 2 players) 8 2 4
CO checks, Hero???

xb or cbet?

c-bet with 2 overs and BDFD and re-evaluate any further action.

Sizing is the big question. Around 10 BBs allows a shove on the turn, especially when a club hits. I would like a c-bet/shove in that case. And I'm perfectly ok with being pot committed when an A or T falls off as well.

But any non-club, non A or non T and I'd be wishing I bet smaller, say around 5 BBs.

While I do not like the reraise preflop, I'd be inclined to simply check down here. I feel like you're behind a good portion of the time.

This is such a stone cold flop check. Getting raised here is a disaster when so many turns are good for your hand and you have SDV anyway.

I like the 3b pre, this is a hand that doesn't play well multiway if BB calls and you're likely ahead of his opening range.

Flop is CB for me. It isn't particularly good for his range and we need to continue repping strength after we 3b pre. We have 2 overs and the backdoor NFD for equity if called, and if we get x/r we have a pretty easy fold.

Pre ist standard, Flop is a very mandatory bet with overs and the bd-NutFD.

The only question is how we should size our bet. If we go for 1/3rd, we're left w 28BB in a 25bb-pot OTT, so I'd go with jjpregler's advice to size it bigger on the Flop and shove on basically all Turncards that improve our hand

Seriously, what is our checking range if we are betting this?



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Obviously we are being hyper aggressive at this stage of the tournament, but blindly betting any equity is not optimal.

We can agree that we must check sometimes, if only simply to maintain some credibility to our betting range.

In this spot, he will either check/fold, check/call or check raise.

1. Check/fold range, we were probably ahead. we deny him some equity, but lose any value from his potential bluffs on later streets. No real advantage gained here although bluffing with the best hand I guess gets you the pot.

2. Check/call range. The problem with this is when we don't improve on the turn, goes check / check, he bets blank river and we have to fold. So we pretty much have to improve to win the pot when he check/calls.

3. Check/raise range, includes hands such as 8x, clubs, and other hands that we have good equity against, but we have to fold.

If we check back flop, we can continue with good equity on 1/3 of the deck, delayed cbet or just get to cheap showdown.

Flop betting should generally be reserved for hands that welcome action or just want the hand to end now.

I don't think we necessarily need one on that texture tbh.

If we 3b pre we should have basically no checking range on this flop.

Our hand has very little equity: 6 outs with a backdoor NFD. If we check behind, fail to improve on most turns, and villain bets, we put ourselves in the position of calling a turn bet with basically a bluff-catcher, with river still to come, or we x/f way too often.

I would much rather keep the initiative and put pressure on villain to call bets out of position. This hand doesn't have enough equity that folding to a x/r is a bad thing.

Villain is 71/57/33. As he should be, it is 4 handed. We are 3betting pre for value not as a bluff. We have the best hand 75% of the time otf.



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That's a bold assumption, but more importantly it's an important reason to bet in this spot, as we'd be very happy to protect our equity and take down the pot w a-hi

A bet to protect your equity would be with Ah8h, 99-JJ where we will usually still have ok equity when called, but have little chance of improving your hand on later streets. Our hand here is not like that. Here we would be bluffing with the best hand.

When we bet, and his continuation range is 1 pair plus and flushdraws, we go into a bloated turn with around 27%.

The benefit is he folds out his qhjh type hands that we are around 77% against. I don't say this has no value at all but i think it is outweighed by the negatives of betting.

Also, this opponwnt has suggested in his 7 observed hands that he is active an willing to fight for pots. He will bluffraise or float us pccasionally. Far better for him to stab his J9 on a T turn for example.

Finally, we must have a check range on every board unless we are up against an extremely weak tight opponent, especially on boards where your opponent has 18 combos of nutted hands and you have maybe three.

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