Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players
2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked

UTG+2: $7.05
MP1: $23.50
MP2: $35.80
CO: $12.05
BTN: $18.60
SB: $11.30
Hero (BB): $15.75
UTG: $29.20
UTG+1: $16.90

Pre Flop: Hero is BB with A 8
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $1.50, 6 folds, Hero calls $1.25

Villain was [ 100 / 70 / 4.5 ] after 30 hands. He was a total nut-job preflop. I saw him make many bluff bets and bluff raises post-flop but he never seemed to make any donkey calls. He was playing almost exclusively raise or fold post-flop. Also, he c-bet 100% of the time.

Well A8o is clearly ahead of his opening range (about 57%), and I was getting just under 1.5 to 1 on a call. Before calling I checked what the SPR would be. With $3.10 in the pot and $14.25 the effective stack size, the SPR after calling would be 4.6, which would easily allow me to commit with top pair or better against this particular player.

I considered re-raising before the flop, but any raise is awkward with the effective stack size. If I were to reraise to $4 total I've now put almost a third of my stack in, basically committing myself to the pot. If he calls or reraises I'm not happy with the situation. Also, since he c-bets 100% of the time, I know I can extract extra value by check-raising if I flop anything.

Flop: ($3.10) J A Q (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 bets $2.25, Hero raises to $8, UTG+1 raises to $15.40 all in, Hero calls $6.25 all in

So I flopped top pair w/ an SPR of 4.6, although that isn't my favorite flop. I continued with the plan and check-raised. I was very surprised to see the reraise all-in, especially because it was such a small reraise. I had already decided pre-flop that I was going to commit with top pair or better against this player with an SPR of 4.6, so I quickly called the reraise.


Did I plan this hand effectively? Anything I can do better in this situation in the future? Thanks for your help.

Looks good to me. Pre-flop you get the guy heads-up and all you had to do was call, which is great. You know he'll c-bet with anything, so you flop top pair and check knowing he'll be putting money in. At that point you're way, way ahead of his range, so it's a good play to check-raise here.

Once he raises you pretty much have to call given the size of the pot. If villain were deeper stacked it could be dependent on reads (does he stack off with anything or only reraise with the goods?), but in this situation you have no choice. I can see him making this play with a smaller pair or a straight draw or a combination of both.

I'd just push it in preflop with those half-stacks.

A-high has showdown value and its already HU. You don't want to let him push you off the best hand post flop if you miss and calling down will be uncomfortable.

Just shove and reload if he drags it, you'll get it back a lot of the time anyway.

As played you're happy to get it all in on the flop.

Sorry, but I can't find SPR in the poker glossary and lingo (in the master sticky). Can s.o. explain?

Stack to pot ratio, as made famous in PNL.

This is extremely read-dependent. Some of these guys are maniacs only preflop, and take exactly one stab at any flop. When this type goes to the river, he can beat top pair weak kicker. Others are just monkeys that felt bottom pair routinely.

This sounds like a pretty accurate read after only 30 hands. In that span, this maniac must have shown down a few. What did he show up with? Did he stack someone (who thought his AK was good) with bottom pair? Did he get it in on the flop with a bare flush draw and hit?

If not, i'd be reluctant to get it in with top pair bad kicker. There's an Ace on the flop, he sees that, and if you raise him, he's gotta think you might have one, too. So what's he stacking off with? If his flop strategy is "bet any flop, stack off with top pair or better," then your flop raise puts you in a position to win a small pot or lose a big one. That's ok if you have AK and he gets it in with A9, but A8 is just too weak here.

On the other hand, some maniacs show up with T8 here and go all-in with a gutshot. That happens. So, as i said: this totally depends on your read on him.

nh, looks good to me.. I probably lead into "his" flop to induce him shoving over with q2, but check/raise works good too. :>

lol misread hand, nevermind.

Hero was BB and closed action pre-flop.

Generally, an SPR of 4.6 would be fine for AK or AQ, i.e. A TPTK, or TPGK. You're quite a bit weaker than that. You're betting 4.6 times the pot that he will stack off with less than Top pair 8kicker.

Against a real maniac, you're usually good. As it stands, i dunno, what's he shown down? Don't forget (and this get's me too, even real muppets pick up good hands sometimes.)

I'd still call (but then again - i usually do!). You'll get it back.