Hey all,

First time posting hands Hope this works out!!

Not too many hands with villain, but from what i can tell, he is fairly on the aggressive side, and i wouldn't be surprised it seems like there is always action at some point in the hand.

First 3 bet pot.

Winning Poker Network (Yatahay) - $0.05 NL (2 max) - Holdem - 2 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

SB: 100.4 BB (VPIP: 27.27, PFR: 18.18, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 13)
Hero (BB): 104 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has 7 4

SB raises to 2.4 BB, Hero raises to 7 BB, SB calls 4.6 BB

Flop: (14 BB, 2 players) 5 2 J
Hero bets 6.6 BB, SB raises to 28 BB, fold

SB wins 26 BB

I often get myself into these sorts of spots. 74ss i know isn't a great hand, but i tell myself that its part of a standard 3 betting strat, so long as they aren't default calling too much IP preflop, but i get into these situations where i want to bet and barrel for any reason, like over here, maybe a spade, or a 3 might roll off. Realistically, i don't hit this board too often, not many 2's, maybe AJ but that's about it. He will have more J's in his range than me, so maybe a c/f might be better since i don't play well on this flop. But if i c/f, i will get no reads, and how else will i get them unless i bet here.

2nd 3 bet hand.

Winning Poker Network (Yatahay) - $0.05 NL (2 max) - Holdem - 2 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

SB: 111.2 BB (VPIP: 40.00, PFR: 33.33, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 19)
Hero (BB): 92 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has T 9

SB raises to 2.4 BB, Hero raises to 7 BB, SB calls 4.6 BB

Flop: (14 BB, 2 players) 7 8 T
Hero bets 6.6 BB, SB calls 6.6 BB

Turn: (27.2 BB, 2 players) Q
Hero checks, SB bets 19.4 BB, Hero calls 19.4 BB

River: (66 BB, 2 players) K
Hero checks, SB bets 78.2 BB and is all-in, fold

SB wins 62.8 BB

Is there any way you're making this call?

If he flats 30% IP, then i estimated about a third of those hands, or 10%, will be a hand worth getting value from on the river AQ+. And that's thin, but if he thinks that that's what i think, then it seems fine. This is assuming he's barreling AJ and KJ, stuff like that.

So if he took ALL of his hands that he called the 3 bet with, and 3 barrel'd them, then i'd be good a whopping 2/3rd's of the time here.

9Tss IS at the bottom of my range. I probably should have c/c'd on the flop, anyway. As far as blockers go, the 9 isn't too relevant actually, i'd end up blocking A9 which i don't want.

I'm trying to learn to stick with it, and go all the way. I feel like me c/c, c/c, c/f is a serious leak in my game, and this might be one of those spots. Especially since it's one of those, "i'm going to 3 barrel since you check'd" moments, that seems like it happens waaay too often. I don't like these 3 barrels, but i think villain is probably aggressive enough to do this, at least more than he should.

If i'm just always waiting for a better hand, then i will never get there.

1st hand:
Truth is that he is probably bluffing you, but you can't do anything about it. You don't know his raising range in such spots. He could be easily bluffing, as this is a very dry board, but he could also be raising you with his top hands. If you know/suspect that he's bluffing often at such spots, you could shove on top, but that's not advisable without any reads.
74s could perfectly be in your bluffing 3bet range. If you find an opponent exploiting you by raising often such spots, you could either tighten up your 3bet range, or check the flop (if you have some equity or you think your range is better than your opponent's. However, since this is a good board to cbet, you should mainly cbet/fold at such spots with such hands.

2nd hand:
T9s is definitely in your 3bet range. His 3bet calling range is tight (although we don't know your 3bet percentage. On this flop I would almost always cbet, since you're usually ahead. On the river he probably has only one combo of AJ (AdJd). But he could legitimately have also 77,88,TT, J9s, QJ, KT, K9s, Q9s, KJ, QJ. He would probably raise with his sets, as this flop is quite wet. So, maybe you could say he has 2 combos of sets (2x2+1=5 combos of sets if we expect him to mainly 4bet with TT). Villains rarely shove QJ. He would mainly raise flop or turn with his straights, unless he's known for slowplaying, or he's balancing his floats. When you check the river, you open the door for him to bluff you. And the truth is you don't have much to call him, as his range is ahead of you, even with his bluffs, which are not so many. Another line you could have taken is check/call turn, if he's known to raise turns often enough since you still have enough equity and you'd like to see river. Another line would be bet turn, shove river, turning your hand into a bluff.

Thanks for the input. I think it's easy to have doubts in these cases, or i should say, in any case, but that's why its so important to just take it all with a grain of salt, and realize that there's no definite way to play a hand.

Anyway, what you said makes alot of sense. Good board to cbet, probably best by default. And also, the 3 barrel line looks pretty neat, will definitely look into that as well.

Can you put players name ?

1st hand
Is villain folding too much to a 3bet? Otherwise, I wouldn't suggest putting this hand in a 3bet range. Unless he is folding too much (too much is over 60%) or playing really poorly in 3bet pots, there is no reason to 3bet it.
As played, the board is extremely favorable for you. You should be cbetting a LOT here with a small sizing (just like you did). And x/f should come easy as this is the exactly worst hand in your range, no need to get fancy. Look out for him x/r-ing too much there. If he does, still cbet this hand, but look to check hands with more eq.


2nd hand
T9s - standard 3bet hand.
But again same error. Your 3bets are too small! It is absolutely terrible.
vs 2x 3bet 8x
2,5 - 9x
3x - 10x

SB hits these boards hard and we always want to keep the pot as small as possible. So, we actually check 100% of the 3bet range on that board.