Pre I was just trying to steal the blinds, but with that hand I wasn't disappointed when the BB defended.

On the flop, I have a draw to the nut low, a backdoor nut straight draw and a backdoor nut flush draw. That's more than enough equity for a semibluff c-bet.

The turn gave me the nut low but I couldn't justify raising with such a high probability I was competing for half the pot.

The river unfortunately counterfeits my 3 but A2367 is not a horrible low and his betting pattern is consistent with a hand like 89xx. I'm not going to fold there with such a good chance half of that pot is mine.

Feedback welcome.

Merge - $0.50/$1 Hi/Lo (6 max) - Omaha Hi/Lo - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BB: 17.7 BB (VPIP: 43.87, PFR: 5.97, 3Bet Preflop: 1.27, Hands: 269)
UTG: 24.06 BB (VPIP: 52.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 50)
CO: 51.36 BB (VPIP: 43.51, PFR: 6.32, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 287)
Hero (BTN): 24 BB
SB: 20.35 BB (VPIP: 40.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 5)

SB posts SB 0.25 BB, BB posts BB 0.5 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 0.75 BB) Hero has 3 8 A Q

fold, fold, Hero raises to 1 BB, fold, BB calls 0.5 BB

Flop: (2.25 BB, 2 players) T 7 2
BB checks, Hero bets 0.5 BB, BB calls 0.5 BB

Turn: (3.25 BB, 2 players) 6
BB bets 1 BB, Hero calls 1 BB

River: (5.25 BB, 2 players) 3
BB bets 1 BB, Hero???

pre flop vs 80% hands 54% to 45%
flop only 1% off 80% hands played

Call, yawn.

You think his betting pattern is consistent with a hand like 89xx? That's funny cause on his end he would think your range/betting pattern is probably lock low.

You can call this river but be prepared to get scooped a good %, too.

If he had me on a lock low why would he bet the turn? I guess if the turn gave him the nut high *and* the nut low like A389 he knows he's at worst going to quarter me, but surely his betting range isn't *that* narrow.

well, if his betting range isn't that narrow, then you are in a world of hurt on the end.

when someone has the nut high, they tend not to check(thinking that you've probably got the nut low) so be careful with that type of thinking.

bottom line, your call on the end is not as black and white as you may think, and its not an easy spot, but you make the call and go to the next hand. and after some experience with particular players, maybe you won't make the autocall without giving it at least a second thought.

Did you mean to say they tend not to *bet*?

No. I meant exactly what I said. More importantly, why did you think I meant check vs bet? Is that because you would tend to check in this spot if you were the one with the nut high?

Preflop and flop are obvious.
Turn I think it is appropriate not to raise, as you don't even have any sort of draw to a high hand.
River you will get scooped a fair portion of the time, but nowhere near enough to fold.

*I* am an aggressive player, especially at weak-tight tables like this one where the villains will tell me I'm beat by raising me, so I would bet there with either a nut or near-nut high *or* a nut or near-nut low.

At this table my read on the villains is if they think they're only going to win half the pot they don't bother bloating it and generating more rake.

I've been going back and reviewing old threads trying to actually learn this game.

Today, I'm not sure I'd try to blindsteal with that hand. The 8 devalues it badly. Along with A and 3 you like to have another wheel card with another broadway card, two more wheel cards or two more broadways. The three hearts devalue it pretty badly too. I went through a phase for awhile where I tried to steal far too often because "that's what the good players did".

Even today, though, I'm just not sure what to put the BB on. His preflop range is wide open with that blind defend. I didn't understand Rush17's point about why he thinks people tend to CHECK the nut high when they're afraid I have the nut low, but now I do - they see no point in putting more money in the pot heads up if it's just going to get split at the end.

Look at this player's stats though - he's an LP. If he's betting he could easily have made a big high hand. The turn call is a no-brainer, his range is way too wide to be sure enough I'm getting quartered to warrant a fold.

That river card sucks. I think I just got screwed. But the pot's too big to fold with any shot at either half of the pot.

Those are my thoughts today.

What? Certainly a mediocre A3 is a BTN open.

Lol, folding this preflop would be torching money. The 8 really shouldnt affect your reasoning. From a playability standpoint it can be better than 6,7,9 or even another 3, its, but nothing to downgrade the hand for in a hu pot.

This hand is such an easy open that I would never think to call it a "steal".
The whole hand is just not that interesting, not sure why it is being bumped.

call river
you will get scooped but live-ace can win half/quarter enough imo
pretty much what everyone else already says
hand is yawner overall

89xx is very possible
A3xx is also possible given turn action

afaik you should be opening with hands like 23JT from the button