5/10 game at the Bellagio. Very action-heavy game. Several players have been drinking. Straddles and re-straddles have been super common, and players have been going to the flop with all kinds of trash, even in 3bet pots.

I probably had a very active image earlier in the day, but have recently tightened up in response to some of the wild play, although I had been mixing it up from LP.

Villain here is relatively new to the action and had been playing just a couple orbits. Late 20’s guy from Spain. One round earlier he opened 3x UTG and got flatted by UTG+1. I 3bet to 10 BBs from MP and folded to his 80 BB (relative to the straddle) 4bet shove. By the time this hand rolls around he has something like 170 BBs or so and I cover.

On the hand in question, I pick up AA UTG and make it 30. Probably could’ve gone larger but I was expecting to get repopped by somebody given how the game was going.

I get 3 callers from LP, including one super aggro but relatively strong player who had been getting in a ton of points and playing very aggressively post-flop, but in a relatively balanced way. The other two callers were nits playing fairly straightforward.

Villain 3bets from SB to 210. I call and the super aggro player calls as well.

Flop comes KQx rainbow. About 750 in the pot here. Villain checks to me and I make it 250. Aggro LP player folds and Villain calls.

Turn is a Q. Villain checks and I check back

River is a blank. Some med-low card with no straight possibilities. Villain jams for about a Pot-sized bet.

What do we do? 6 combos of AK. 3 combos of KK. 4 combos of AQ. 1 combo of QQ. 1 combo of AA for the chop.

4b pre

^^wanted to encourage callers to come in behind. More interested in thoughts on river.

There were actually 4 players behind me not 3. And the way the game was going there was a reasonable chance that one of them would’ve repopped it for me.

I do agree with the 4bet pre but I see your reply above and was not sitting in your particular game so I won't comment further but this is a spot I am absolutely 4betting pre.
On the flop I would be sizing larger thank 1/3 pot... reasons why would be because for one your hand is super under repped so we want to extract max value and if we look at hands within SB 3bet range in what you said was a wild game playing super agro hands such as AQ, KJ suited, AK,KQ, 10J suited (lower end of 3 bet range), JQ Suited, A10 are all hands Villian can 3 bet from the blinds especially considering the open was so light to 3x from UTG in a game that is playing big and aggressive. A solid portion of villians 3bet range connects quite well with this texture (I do realize some of the hands within his range you have Ace blockers to but although lowering probability they can and still
Often do exist given this action throughout This hand history). I realize we don't want to fold out a Portion or villians range her because we dominate some of it but considering your $30 open and then 1/3 pot continuation bet I feel like Villian is inclined to continue with majority of his range here including Broadway queens. I would be more of an advocate of sizing larger more like 50-60% pot... if we bet 50-60% pot and get re-popped on the flop we can always flat and re-asses turn. Villians Line looks a lot like KQ or AQ to me in this particular hand history as played I think we send aces to the muck ... I do not see Villian playing AK this way at all, tough spot but a fold if you have no player history to go off.

You need to be good 1/3 of the time to call. If it is indeed 6 combos you beat and 8 that beat you then you have the odds to call.

If you think about the hand from your opponent's perspective he saw you flat and not 4-bet. He probably won't be too afraid of getting it in with AK here. If you are suspected of having KQs then it isn't a stretch to put you on KJs or KTs as well. JJ is possible too. The only hand that he really needs to be worried about with AK is QQ which is fairly unlikely.

It is pretty close though, because QQ and KK are more likely to play this way than AK. The fact that he 4-bet you all-in from the previous orbit is the factor that makes me lean toward calling since that is an indicator that he is more willing to gamble.

What did your gut tell you? Everyone immediately gravitates toward the math- what did you feel?

I felt really tired after playing for 7 hours and being stuck for most of it and annoyed that I was being put in this position.

Anyways I said **** it and clicked call. Villain flipped over KJs so go figure.

I feel ya. I guess the whole lesson of this is to take all the emotions out of it. Great call it looks like but maybe the part where you were annoyed that you got to put there with aces is where you could have gone wrong?

Could you have done differently post flop? Probably not. You want to trap any AK AQ combos there...

I guess my only advice is if you are 7 hours deep in a grind and making a decision for all your 7 hours of hard-earned chips based off being annoyed, maybe work on that. I know I do. It's me against me on the felt, not my opponent. I have the word STOIC tattooed in my brain.

Good call, good luck!

Phil? Is that you?

Ladies and gents, we have a TROLL!

Definitely 4bet preflop always. Theres tons of dead money in the pot and you already have a guy willing to give you action. You're not really that deep either. You have 170bbs effective and there is 33 bbs in the pot already. Letting in people behind you gives them incredible implied odds against you. Someone reopening the pot if you call in that spot seems really unlikely to me

As played, the turn is a pretty good card for you. After you flat preflop your range has a ton of hands that should be semibluffing the turn, making him very likely to call with any K. He doesn't have many queens. I would have value bet the turn.

You have to call the river, your hand is way under-repped and theres not much that beats you

4bet pre. Theres a LOT of money in the pot already, and from how you've described the table, I doubt you'll have any issues getting value. The turn I think is safe for you most times, so I'd be willing to jam/vbet there. River I check call I guess? Only hands in my opinion that's relevant and beats you are KQ/AQ (plus you block AQ) and from the way you've described the table it seems impossible they'd check that to you on the turn. AK is obviously a possibility too but that's a good thing.

You got lucky to win here. Given game description, not rring pf is super bad. I'd also bet more on flop. Turn check is fine. Given the way you played it, easy river call.

I don't think this runout is particularly ugly. Am I alone?

This is backwards logic to me. If SPR was higher, I would absolutely 4bet so that people don't have good implied odds against me. It's precisely because there's so much money in the pot that I feel more comfortable flatting and allowing bad players to come in with worse hands like AQo behind me.

There are worse runouts, but I figured SB's range here is likely TT+/AQ+. KQx flop kills our action against TT/JJ. QQ and KK both get there on the flop, and AQ gets there on the turn. By the time we get to the river, the only non-bluff hand we beat is AK.

I guess SB's 3bet range is wider than I thought, but I think he just played bad here with a weak holding.

Your hand has way too much absolute value preflop. What I am saying is that the amount of value you get from winning the pot immediately is greater than the amount of money you could potentially win by seeing the flop, keeping the best hand, and then getting someone to call with worse. This is especially true when you factor in the fact that you'll probably get a lot of action preflop when you reraise

Check flop.

Betting flop n checking turn in what causes u problems

Whats your 4! range in this spot?

I dont think I would want to flat the 3! pre in this spot knowing its going to be 3+ players most of which we would be oop if i read the hh correctly. As played nh, but i think when you underrep and not 4! like this mw you are going to put yourself in a lot of these types of spots. So if we are not 4! pre we need to be prepared to be calling off in these types of spots in this type of game.

That was your only choice when you've underplayed your hand.

We're IP on the 3bettor. Would be OOP against anyone else who comes along.

I think you could argue for not having a 4bet range in this spot and flatting your entire continuing range. I think I'd still 4bet KK, but at these stack sizes, the 3bet from SB should be really strong (lol in hindsight), and I'm not really thrilled to 4bet QQ/AK. Which is another reason IMO to flat AA to protect our flatting range.

What were the stack sizes of the other callers? Especially if the other stacks are deeper, going mw oop vs a majority and allowing them to realize equity seems like it would be bad. I just think with the dynamic and the strong sb range makes this a very good spot to put in a 4!.

Mostly between 100-200 BBs, with most being around 150.

Let me ask you this. If you were in LP and SB 3bet to 20 BB and UTG flatted, do you think you could flat with a wide range of hands profitably here?

i think LP flats could be marginally losing plays at worst with hands like mid PPs, scs but you noted in beginning of HH that “table was action-heavy...people had been going to flops with all sorts of garbage.”

we have to view LP calls and SB iso from this perspective. i actually would think our 150bb+ deep UTG range at such a table has lots of suited AXs and way fewer hands like 65s as a result. This means we can profitably create a pretty strong 4b range where even our Ax bluffs will realize a lot of their equity, especially with over-flush potential, post. and since we put AXs in our four betting range, i’m also going to have QQ+ AK here at almost 100%.

I actually like how most of the HHs you post and this one is no exception but I really think the decision not to 4b aces here is what makes post so complicated.

Hard to say for sure but if I had to guess I would go with no, not with a WIDE range here.

Thinking about it more If I didnt think that the lp callers would call behind often then I guess just calling the 3b becomes more realistic for me. As well as if the 3! was bigger. But ap I still dont think I like calling the 3! here.