This may be a standard spot, and there may be a standard answer. But I'm curious if I made a mis-step anywhere in this hand.

1-2 NLHE 6max on Bovada (I have no reads on anyone)
I have 221 (after posting BB)
Folds to button who raises to $6
SB Calls
I raise to 24 (pot) with AA
I want to build a pot with a strong hand, and being out of position, I feel like I have to play a little stronger. So, that's why I pot it instead of a smaller raise.

Button calls
SB Folds
54 in the pot, heads up to the flop

Jh Qd 8s

This is where I'm not sure on my thought process. There are a lot of hands that can Raise/Call pre that hit a piece of this. AK has draws, AQ hit, KT, KQ, etc I'm really only scared of QQ or TT as I'm not so sure QT is in his range. I want to charge for draws and gain value on his value hands that I beat. And, being out of position, again, I feel the need to play hard. I bet 54 and the button jams and covers me. So 307 in the pot and I have 145 giving me almost exactly 2:1.

Is this a fold?

I'd like to say that I did some deep analysis and made a great decision. Honestly, I think I was a little stubborn and didn't think about it too much. I did believe I was ahead, but I should have thought longer. I ended up calling. I was right, but probably not by any skill level on my part. Villain had TJ for bottom pair and a gut shot. He hit his T on the river to win the pot.

Anyway. Would you have gotten away from it? (this isn't a bad beat complaint. I don't care about the results. I'm honestly trying to learn if this was a bad call on my part, or if there was a leak anywhere in my play in the hand.)

I think the flop bet is probably too big.

145/452= ~.32 × 100 = 32% equity needed ott.

Need to know if villain shows up with T9 or QJ with this line or if AQ plays it this way. Probably plenty of possible bluffing candidates and worse value hands in villain's range but we need more reads to know if he actually turns them into bluffs.

I think the flop bet is probably too big.

145/452= ~.32 × 100 = 32% equity needed ott.

Need to know if villain shows up with T9 or QJ with this line or if AQ plays it this way. Probably plenty of possible bluffing candidates and worse value hands in villain's range but we need more reads to know if he actually turns the bluffing candidates into bluffs.


Oh wait yea it's Bovada easy call.

Thank you for the response (and I chuckled at "it's Bovada easy call").

This may be stupid, but where are you pulling your numbers for 145/452? Thanks, again.

Equity required to call is B/(P+2B) where B is the bet you face and P is the size of the pot before the bet.

So in your example 145/(162 + 2*145) = 145/352.

Whoops. If the pot ott is 307 and you have to call 145 that should be 452. But if I subtract 145 from 307 I get 162 and then the final pot size will be 352 so somewhere the numbers are off in the strory.

We didn't see the turn before stacks were in. So, below is a text version of the hand so you can see numbers. Bovadas HHs suck and I don't have a converter yet. I'm sorry.

Bovada Hand #3135594092 TBL#10036231 HOLDEM No Limit - 2015-09-17 10:14:52
Seat 1: UTG ($250.25 in chips)
Seat 2: UTG+1 ($159.70 in chips)
Seat 3: UTG+2 ($197 in chips)
Seat 4: Dealer ($243.52 in chips)
Seat 5: Small Blind ($201 in chips)
Seat 6: Big Blind [ME] ($222.98 in chips)
Dealer : Set dealer/Bring in spot [4]
Small Blind : Ante/Small Blind $1
Big Blind [ME] : Big blind/Bring in $2

Big Blind [ME] : Card dealt to a spot [Ah As]
UTG : Folds (timeout)
UTG : Seat sit out
UTG+1 : Folds
UTG+2 : Folds
Dealer : Raises $6 to $6
Small Blind : Calls $5
UTG : Seat re-join
Big Blind [ME] : Raises $22 to $24
Dealer : Calls $18
Small Blind : Folds
*** FLOP *** [Jh 8d Qs]
Big Blind [ME] : Bets $54
Dealer : All-in(raise) $219.52 to $219.52
Big Blind [ME] : All-in $144.98
Dealer : Return uncalled portion of bet $20.54
*** TURN *** [Jh 8d Qs] [4s]
*** RIVER *** [Jh 8d Qs 4s] [Ts]
Dealer : Showdown [Js Jh Ts Td Qs] (Two pair)
Big Blind [ME] : Showdown [As Ah Qs Jh Ts] (One pair)
Dealer : Hand result $448.96
Big Blind [ME] : Seat sit out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total Pot($451.96)
Board [Jh 8d Qs 4s Ts]
Seat+1: UTG Folded before the FLOP
Seat+2: UTG+1 Folded before the FLOP
Seat+3: UTG+2 Folded before the FLOP
Seat+4: Dealer $448.96 with Two pair [Td Js-Js Jh Ts Td Qs]
Seat+5: Small Blind Folded before the FLOP
Seat+6: Big Blind lost with One pair [Ah As-As Ah Qs Jh Ts]

I hope that helps a little. Sorry again for the ****ty HH

And thank you for the help.
-Nate

I quite like your ideas on betting bigger and playing stronger OOP.

3-betting bigger PF also may tighten up Villain's range.

Look...I know exactly where your coming from. I used to lose a lot of value always fearing villain has JJ or QQ here.

It's really opponent/history/current table dynamic dependant but more often than not I get it in here on the flop if faced with a raise. Sure sometimes I will be paying off QQ-JJ but I think folding here is too weak and calling is just awkward.

Because we are coming at villain so strongly, as illustrated by our flop bet I would think he may be more likely to just smooth with QQ or JJ as the pot is building quick enough for villain.

I think your play is fine. And our big PF 3-bet and big bomb on the flop has set us up well to get it in.

Well it seems like the pot on the flop is 24+24+6 = 54 and your stack is 222.98 - 24 = 198.98.

You bet 54 so there is 108 in the pot and 144.98 left in your stack.

Villain jams so he puts 198.98 into 108 so there's 306.98 in the pot and you have to put in 144.98 to call.

So the equity you need is 144.98/(306.98+144.98) = ~32% equity.

So your account of the action was right. I lost the 54 dollars that villain would have included in the shove.

Ok. I'm glad I got the transcription right, as I typed it up from the replayer (the HH wasn't ready for download.)

I feel better knowing that, if it was a mistake it was only a small one, and I was likely ok. I'm really trying to think through these things instead of "feeling" what to do. So, thanks guys. for the thoughts and the reassurance.