20-40 Playing 4 handed

BBs friend is playing a bigger mix game. He seems slightly loose passive preflop and basically straightforward postflop. He's not going to go out of his way to win a pot but will jump on obvious opportunities to do so.

I open 7d6h in the sb. He defends bb.

Flop: 7hThQh

I chk. He chk.

Turn: 3h I chk call

River: 2s I chk call

I'm trying to reason through your flop check. We expect BB to have plenty of broadway cards in a defending range that connect well with the QT and lots of them will have a single bigger heart, so our equity is merely so-so for flopping a pair. When we consider his having position and being able to play his range well with it, cbetting is close but maybe worse than check-calling. What did I miss?

This seems like a really exploitive check but maybe I just don't see it. What else do you check here?

Given the flop check through, I like checking again when the fourliner flush comes in. Given that he can find a bet and the pot being so small, calling seems to make most sense.

Given that our 6h will always play vs the board, I can't think of a river that I wouldn't kc.

Not standard, but it should be. Well played.

I think i understand this line but i think its better against a mindless spewer which the villain doesnt seem to be. Given the description of the villain isnt it better to just cbet your entire range on the flop? The turn and river are obv super standard.

I would not fold either until i know more.

I also bet flop.

I like it.

You probably lost but look at all the checks you made!

So basically you have a bluff catcher and you gave him the chance to bluff. You lose the minimum.

I cant see you pushing him off better. And there are few worse hands that would call any big street, and many better hands that would raise you.

On the other hand if he missed and bluffed you pick up extra....

Well played.

I like the turn and river as played, but I can't really think of a good reason to ever check this flop without a read that the guy is both foldy and bluffy.

i like the flop check. otr, are you c/folding this flop sometimes too?

I only like it if you cut out your chips to raise on the river and brought them back to 'just call'. That way saving face either way.

I feel that should be standard.

Yes.

I don't play much 4 handed, so maybe there are metagame / balancing issues, but I would think this would be a fold preflop (or maybe a limp if BB was unlikely to exploit). Sure you are far more expert than me though (no sarcasm) so would love explanation for playing / raising preflop.

1. Why and when?
2. @GM: what answer did you expect to hear ?

1. When we have no equity vs his range

2. The one he gave. I was just confirming that at least part of the reason for the play was balance.

we've got to have quite a rock solid read on the villain to establish something like that.... something along the line of "he will never bet this flop with a better flush draw or a better pair".

you don't need a read to assess when you have no equity. say otr had opened like 56ss

we've got to have quite a rock solid read on the villain to establish something like that.... something along the line of "he will never bet this flop with a better flush draw or a better pair".

I wonder if 25% of villain's range has no equity vs. our opening range on this flop. Meh, I guess not, way more than 25% of villain's range must contain a .

And to think I changed the hand so I wouldn't get fold preflop as a response... to answer your question I never thought of folding pre but that doesn't mean you should or shouldn't.

I probably cf when I don't think he'll fold a better hand and I think the combination of my positional and equity disadvantages make chk calling a mistake.

This sounds like someone who's not going to float the flop and who has a reasonable big blind call range. I would bet the flop.

If I thought someone was unreasonably tight in the big blind I would consider having a flop check range here.

It's interesting thinking about having check ranges in hu pots with the lead, but I don't think this is one of those spots.

since he's straightforward postflop would you ever consider folding this on the river? the flop check would usually be interpreted as no queen no ten no big heart so when you c/call the turn it's reasonable for the villain to put you on a weak heart, so when he bets the river again being a straightforward player...is this too many levels?