Hi all,

There are a few limps in thid $1/$2 plo5 game and the sb makes it $15, almost a min-raise. We are bb with KJ965 and decide to 3! to $65 and knock out the limpers and go heads up in position against SB who is fairly deep with us around $800 eff. Limpers - except the btn - fold and sb calls as well. Three ways to:

($210): KJ4. We flop top two and flush blockers and backdoor straight draw. SB checks, we bet $170, btn calls, sb folds.

Turn ($550): T. Hero? We have psb behind and spr is around 1. Of course not the best turn we could see but we still have some unknown amount of equity and btn is not exactly the tightest of players based on our history together and is capable.

Thanks,
DT

I don't play 5 card, but... this hand is pretty bad and should just be a fold the first time around. It doesn't flop well and we're certainly not pushing equity.

Multiway it goes way down in value but heads up it's in much, much better shape, so if I play it, it's as a 3!. (Sorta like AJo or 54s in hold 'em?) Even if V has good AA and 4! we can call and see a flop. Being double suited and having gaps is a plus against a tight range (which V does not have to have after making it only $15). Based on V's sizing he probably wasn't strong anyway so seemed like a good time to 3! bluff.

Is there a straddle on or something? Otherwise 15 can´t really be almost a min-raise?

Doubt we are getting called by worse if we jam and not really a lot of hands we deny equity by betting that we are ahead of, if the player likes to bluff when checked to I might check-call based on live reads. Wouldn´t expect him to show up with KK all too often here as I assume he would jam the flop this short, unless he also has the diamond draw and/or wrap as a backup, which makes our spot even worse since those are the hands that absolutely crush us.

On the other hand, folding top two+FD for a PSB probably isn´t good either. Without doing the maths I assume we have the correct odds to call if he jams as we shouldn´t be up against AQx w/ diamonds all that often.

But I would probably check this specific hand OTF OOP. I think it makes a good candidate for check-raising at this stack depth. He´ll have a hard time calling off with KJ or 44 and we get to realise our equity - if we are behind, mostly we will have 13 outs x 2, and a lot of the times he will be the one who has some type of draw.

No straddle, but there is a $5 mandatory bring-in to play.

I could get behind it when you're on the BTN facing a loose CO open. But you're by no means guaranteed to get it HU and/or IP here. It's at best a marginally +EV spot that requires all the limpers and the SB opener to be towards the bottom of their ranges.

If you want to challenge yourself to improve your game by looking for tough spots, I guess a 3bet here is pretty good.

i think each individual street here is somewhat defensible in a vacuum, but also shapes the hand into a tougher spot on subsequent streets. preflop 3b means that players who call behind you will often be narrowed down to dominating high cards. this is a pretty good flop for your specific hand and yet you still have poor visibility on future streets and end up in a gross spot on the turn.

i agree with the post above that, once we get to the flop, this hand becomes a good candidate to c/r. even if it checks through on the flop we don't hate it as we can bet blank turns with better equity and avoid marginal stack off decisions.

as played i probably check / evaluate but depends on specific history with V i guess

I think a 3b can work in weak live games.

Flop if im betting ill go pot. Makes a small difference. Instead of spr 1 u get pot of 630 and stacks of 510. Easier to get money in (if u choose) and on this turn its less equity required

As played im checking because i think villain has less chance of making a mistake if we jam. If we check, he might check back sometimes. If he jams we can make a decision using live reads, gut feel etc

I'm fine with preflop if we have a very good chance of going hu against SB in position. On the turn I think we just have to check/decide - I mean we're either against diamonds or broadway cards or both - most diamonds that call us have broadways with them, so I would think he plays the turn fairly straight up here.

Don't feel like discussing postflop too much but 3! Preflop is spew.