Full ring (9) 80/160 game with the East Coast's finest slippery neon yellow chips. We recently had a new arrival who appears to be stuck and steaming, a man after my own heart. He's open raising and three betting all sorts of dubious hands in all positions. In this hand he opens in the cut off and we three bet in the small blind with A 5. BB folds and he calls.

Flop: K 9 9

We bet, he calls

Turn: J

We check, he bets and we call.

My thinking was that we have some amount of showdown value against his overly wide and bluffy range, however I'm wondering if this hand fits better into our range as a lead or a check raise semi-bluff on the turn. Interested in the communities thoughts on playing this turn and the reasons why. Appreciate the feedback as always and I'll buy a round if you're ever out at The Borgata.

J Lot

question of lead vs. check call is how wide the guy is peeling flops, because that turn figures to improve his range. i don't mind the check call here, but i'm probably check folding river unless it's a club/J/K/5 and not feeling great about it.

i don't like checkraising because the only hands you're getting to fold are probably hands that are worse than yours.

shouldnt we bluff with it than if we cant c/c down on safe card ?

nh

This is almost the exact bottom of my range (only A2/3/4s lower)... so I'd lead turn as a bluff .....then bet river if I hit flush or bricked

Basically I think ur too low down in ur range to check/call

i think yall have the right idea when going for a more GTO approach but im presuming this guy doesnt have a lot of fold equity and will be very sticky so i'm thinking more exploitatively

maybe this is too close to not matter but having an ace means we block ace high hands, right? like, i'd rather barrel down 8c7c on the chance that we decided to 3bet it versus the Ac5c

and if we think this is the kinda guy who floats Q8o for the lolz and tries to win the pot, maybe we're supposed to check call turn and then check call river?

I say nice hand given the description of the villain. I'd strongly consider showing down as well. Of course I do lose tons of bets trying to own people with hero calls.

He is low in his range but that turn hits villains range pretty good. I tend to be very selective with my bluffs against steaming opponents. This is a good spot to give him some rope and maintain your implied odds.

If the turn was a blank and we had a kicker that played, then I would prefer a bet for value. I don't mind inducing a turn bluff raise.

Depends what are you trying to represent a king x or a 9x? It basically shows your on a raggedy flush draw or perhaps the nut draw..


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Bluffing a guy like this w/ a hand like this is silly. He's never folding better.

I like turn check call. Probably checking any river. Probably calling everything that isn't an offsuit queen or ten.

Borg regular here (though only blue and red chips so take this with a grain of yellow salt)

nh

That's the trap card. I agree with Clayton that against steaming players it's better to play exploitatively than GTO (he's not going to be thinking of your ranges, trying to counter effectively, etc.) I don't c/r here for all the same reasons. Call. And then maybe call again (I try to give action players all the action I can muster)

I'll take that drink

yeah i agree but that was my point, if we only c/c river only if we improve, mind as well bluff with it.

If we c/c turn i think we have to c/c almost every thing except like you said Q or T.

That makes no sense. Either our hand has showdown value and is worth bluffcatching, or it doesn't and it's worth bluffing. In this case, what do you think a steamed dude playing nearly the whole deck is folding on K99-J that beats A5?

Bear in mind we chop w/ any A hi that isn't AQ as well.

So you are c/calling any card river ?
Because i just dont get what you are saying differently than me...

I think I know who this guy is and I don't think we should discount a turn xr (Was he 8 seat that moved to 9 seat/tall asian/took G$s seat?) Obviously other posters will not have this read since they have not played vs him, but I don't think he has much experience against aggressive, unique lines like a xR. I also believe he may showdown underpairs 88- on brick rivers if you continue to triple barrell bluff UI, but will definitely be capable of folding these underpairs and Jacks as well here if you choose to xr turn. You can also beat underpairs, jacks, and AQ-AT (if he pairs T or Q) type hands while rarely even risk getting 3! because I think he may play his straights and non-full house 9s passively. If you're going to check call turn and check call river, risking 1 more bet with potential of making nut flush or an A seems to be worth the risk as a semi-bluff in a 8+ bet pot. Overall my general read is that people on east coast fold too much on rivers/people on west coast call too much on rivers.

Tequila shots next week

If the guys a fish he still has a lot of Ah despite the blocker. I think I prefer to put this in barrel turn range, and vs fish check give up river when we miss.

I could go a few different ways here with more information from JLot. He's obviously playing a range that's too wide preflop and is therefore quite exploitable. If I thought he would fold too much of his huge range, I'd bet call the turn. If I thought he would call too much of his huge range, then I'd check call. If I thought he would stab the turn with low equity bluffs, then I'd check raise. If I thought he would spew with Q5o and the like, then I'd bet 3 bet the turn.

With just the information given in the op? I'd check call the turn 100% and reevaluate the river. He likely has tons of junky hands in his range, despite calling the flop, with which he might bluff if checked to. I'd also make sure to pretend to think about it for about 10-15 seconds on the turn in order to make it look like I had a close decision with a bluffcatcher, which should make him more likely to bet the river as a bluff.

Very low in range. I'd bet, bet, hoping to bluff out A-rag and small PPs.

I generally agree. I would donk most rivers if I improved, for whatever it's worth.

most of that equity comes from avoiding chops. hardly worth it if we're calling most rivers, they're likely doing the same (don't think our ranges differ that much when we're barreling vs them betting twice when we check/call). the fact that we have a good draw, makes it not even close imo.

Thank you for all the great thoughts and feedback guys - very helpful. He had A3o in this spot. River went check check and we chopped it up. On another note, sadly no handsome players showed up for tequila shots or a drink this weekend... Offer still on the table.

J Lot

I believe that the handsome players were pitching nickels, deep in the connecticut woods.