NL 50 Playing top pair in 3 bet pots
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 30
Not really a specific hand, but this situation comes often and I've been getting crushed. Curious what factors to consider on various board textures, where I'm getting lost, general thoughts etc....
NL 50 / 6max / 100bbs
Say I raise a hand like AJs thru JTs from the cutoff and get 3 bet by one of the blinds. Flop gives me top pair with no strong draws. V bets 2/3 pot.
Obviously I can't fold to a standard c-bet here. Raising seems spewy though, and ensures that I win the min and lose the max. So I call.
Turn is a blank, but by this point there's usually at least one draw on the board. V bets 2/3 again, setting up an easy all in on the river.
So at this point, I feel like if I call i'm pretty much playing for my stack. Or am I?
-Can I call turn and fold to a shove on the river?
-If I can't fold on the river, should I just shove on the turn to charge V to draw with AK/AQ?
-How should my kicker factor into my decision? Should I be happier stack off with QJs on a board of 67J2r board than AJ or KJ, since V has more combos of A high (of course V will have more AA and KK too...).
-What hands should I fold pre? Raise flop? Fold turn? Should I just play tight until I have some reads on V? Interested to hear other approaches, thought processes.
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 8,666
If you are always calling river after calling turn, you will be very exploitable.
Vs some opponents its fine doing that, but most of the time you should fold some % of your bluffcatchers OTR.
Also if you never fold OTR, your opponents will have 0 incentive to bluff and always valuebet super thin, so they can play perfectly vs your strat
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 30
Thanks. Is there some rule of thumb % of my range I should be calling with? Or rather, whats the worst hand you call a third barrel shove in a 3 bet pot on a board of 67J22? What hands would you shove the turn with?
Also, suppose V bets 2/3 pot on the flop and 1/2 pot on the turn....would you weight his range more toward bluffs and fold/shove less and call more?