20/40/80 NL @ Bellagio


Villain on Button ($11,000)

Hero on BB ($25,000)

Villain is young, Asian boy. Maybe mid-twenties. Has played a few pots, but not much of a table image. Haven’t seen playing the 20/40/80 @ Bellagio before.

$80 straddle. Folds around to Villain who makes it $300. Hero wakes up with pocket Queens, one heart, one spade. Hero 3bets to $1050. Villain calls. Straddle folds.

Flop J,10,7 all spades. Hero check. Villain bets $1000. Hero calls.

Turn King of spades. Hero check, villain check.

River Ace of diamonds. Hero bets $2300. Villain tanks for about 1 minute then reraises to $5800. What do we do?

Any thoughts on how we could have played this hand differently?

Think you played it fine. I may lead turn with some frequency (with both your hand and As) vs some villains but not vs a very strong player.

It’s exploitable but I fold bc I don’t see people bluffing enough in this spot even at these stakes. It’s hard to even think of hands he would be turning into a bluff here

I play mid stakes but for what it's worth I do think it's a fold... Gross spot but what hands could Villain be turning into a bluff here? Especially considering board texture with the 10s Js Ks all on the community board and you holding the Qs in your hand... any inferior spade is bluff catching and would just flatting given board texture... unless opponent has a super specific read on you and tons of history (which he doesn't given OP description) it's a value raise. Very few bluffs in his range given texture it's a fold...

Everyone's fine with 3 bet pf, c/c flop, c turn, eh? I am not. I'm leading flop for ~2k and going from there.

Put yourself in his shoes. You c/c flop, then c turn. Your hand looks very weak. Villain has to have AsX? I think not, but maybe I suck. What was your read on him? In general, as played I'm calling river. I think he could be vbing worse or trying to take it from you.

Man...There are only 3 combos of AsKx, 2 AsQx. I am guessing he's not calling any other off suit combos. I would not bet river. I prefer to check and see what his sizing is and have a bluff catcher. I don't think he is ever calling worse here since it makes complete sense for you to have a flush here and you have the Qs.

What could he possibly be value raising that is worse? Am I reading this correctly? We have 3rd nut flush (behind straight flush though unlikely since he would just ship river) on a 4 liner.

It's the second nut flush. I agree though, villian value raising worse seems very unlikely because it would have to be either a 9 high flush (which isn't all that possible considering 98s is a straight flush and the J, 10, and 7 of spades are on the board) or a straight. I doubt he's raising a straight for value, although he could be raising with a straight blocker to get you off a chop (or a weak spade).

I don't think you ever show up otr with the A of spades with this line (or not often at all). If you had AsXs you would almost always bet flop for value, and if you had AsXx you would almost always fire a cbet bluff otf (or at least this is how villian will likely perceive your line). Your only reasonable AsXx hands that might check flop are AsAx, AsJx and As10x, but I doubt you're 3betting AJo/A10o out of the BB all that often (could be wrong though)

I think given all of this, you have to call the river. You're getting a great price, you're at the top of your range, and I don't buy everybody's bs "oh people underbluff even at HS". Villian is unknown, our line is extremely weak, range is capped, we have to call with the top of it. Qs is definitely the top.

I also think the river lead isn't great

All of this.

This hand plays much differently if you make a decent bet otf imo.

This is so tough, I've been bluffed out in the exact spot before and it sucks. But like others have said, I think as as played, at the price you're getting you have to call. I think he either put you on a weakish flush or worse and thinks he can fold you out. He could be bluffing with pocket jacks or tens as well, trying to get a stronger hand to fold.

I think flop line is fine.
OTF, with that specific hand QhQs, I would mix between checking the flop and betting something like 30% of the pot ~700$, that will let him chase weaker pairs with a spade, because he have eq, but he's not realizing he have reverse odds or calling with TP, MP. Betting 2k will fold more hands that we beat / we get value from a smaller part of his range. He's not going to fold a better hand, so i don't think accomplishes a lot.
OTT i think checking is fine. i would even go for a check with Axs i think, because there aren't so many bluffs that we can have, maybe he'll bet a flush by himself or trying to rep one, so playing as a bluffcatcher seems more valuable imho.
OTR especially as played i would go for a c/c for the same reasons above. Probably calling down both t+r if he doesn't massively overbets one of the street, which i think he doesn't, because he's thinking he will fold most flushes if he overbets. Unless he's that good to do that bet with A and some bluffs.

Like 10 combos beat you but you have a bluff catcher. Seems pretty ****ty spot but if I play the hand this passive on flop/turn I pay off cause spazz % goes up

Bet flop and turn. As played, call river at a decent frequency. As played to river, I’d check call.

Wait what?

Am I playing like a completely different game. We 3bet pre OOP and are facing a mid high mono board, and you think we should cannibalise our check range by cbetting all our decent draws?

wait wait wait a second

What??? We're bb vs button in a 3 blind game. You love flatting OOP?

Like I'm not saying flatting is atrocious, it's live you can do a bunch of stuff, but 3betting is by far the standard, and it's kind of weird to say we don't have much of it in our range.

Bet flop for value vs Jx and flushdraws.

I have no idea why the villain is checking the turn. If the board pairs and he has a NTFD he's going to be concerned. Evidently under-repping hoping for a blank river.

Line 1 - Bet flop. C/C turn to pot control. C/C river. Keep bluffs in his range, and keep him betting with worse hands where he thinks he's getting thin value.

Line 2 - if you think he calls light and marginal, Bet flop, bet turn, bet river. But he sounds tight so I like Line 1.

If the turn blanks, bet turn. River blank, bet small for value from Jx etc.

As played fold river. Yeah sometimes this is air, but he seems nitty and the stakes are high.

interesting post. I agree with other posters that have suggested: bet less than 3/4 pot on the flop, x/c turn and river seems strongest.

we get to avoid bloating pot OOP too much with all of our middling hands and we can barrel off with hands that have As for value (and I agree with PixieDust that we should have tons of As given we’re not closing the action; I also like to 3b often here in BB vs BTN open when straddle still has to act.) For natural turn or river bluffs we also have weird broadways or hands with 9s/8s that block the AK/AQ combos with As and straight flushes.

Tbh from V perspective it wouldn’t even surprise me if he shows up with 88-99 with a spade here, raising straights seems super thin but there are other natural two pairs or hands like 54ss and such that make for reasonable bluffs because they remove some of your Ax combos.

As played, I have only very limited experience at 20/40. When I have no idea what to do against an unknown & I’m unsure I just click call, close my eyes, and lol / roll my hand over

X/c river. Calling range is the same as his raising range here. I think I check my whole range on this river, flop is fine though betting is fine too. Turn is good. Weird spot with this run out but you’re just never getting value on this river so our most profitable play is to induce bluffs and lose less to the nuts

Your bet seems kinda exploitable given how many straights you have here w/Qx which don't need to bluff. You basically don't have any bluffs here unless you are turning a set or 2pr into a bluff which I think 95% of people would never do.

Checking seems like the best play here given that since most of your range doesn't need to bluff, when you bet you are really only repping As which is the other reason why this 1/2-ish pot bet doesn't end up working very well. It looks like a thin value bet in a place that your range needed to appear more polarized.