Ahhhh.... No. Fold to the 3bet.

Almost certain that it is, but is this too weak? Villain is 32/21 with AF 0.6:

PartyGaming - $0.02 NL - Holdem - 8 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

Hero (MP): $2.46
MP+1: $1.50
CO: $1.12
BTN: $2.00
SB: $2.31
BB: $1.29
UTG: $1.82
UTG+1: $1.81

SB posts SB $0.01, BB posts BB $0.02

Pre Flop: ($0.03) Hero has K K

UTG calls $0.02, fold, Hero raises to $0.08, MP+1 calls $0.08, fold, fold, fold, fold, UTG calls $0.06

Flop: ($0.27, 3 players) J 5 3
UTG checks, Hero bets $0.19, MP+1 raises to $0.38, fold, Hero calls $0.19

Turn: ($1.03, 2 players) J
Hero checks, MP+1 bets $0.42, fold

I would even fold the flop, if i can be sure that hes not the guy overplaying his TP or similar. He just has to have a set here most of the time.
If he is capable of playing TP this way, your line is fine.

^ Agreed. I see a raise and an AF of 0.6 and I immediately feel like ditching anything but a set is probably not losing any money.

I'd just fold this pre and pound on the loose/passive IP, I don't see the value in playing this hand OOP even if he folds a lot to cbets. I think it's wp post, a nit will never raise anything worse on the turn

I never fold TPGK against a short stack

His range that beats us is pretty much 44/88/JJ/AA, we block 2 of those and quads are hard to make. He only raises 7% pre, so I don't see many 4x hands in his range, but I could def see him playing AK/AQ like this. I call because he doesn't seem to be a good player and it's really hard for him to have a hand that beats us here

I previously had only 3 hands on villain, i felt my pfr is stndrd and need confirmation that this is a standard fold in uNL

Preflop is standard. An unknown limp-caller at 2NL probably has some Qx and 3x hands here, but I call the river because (1) he probably also has 4x hands here (as well as 65 or a flush draw), and (2) his tiny bets probably mean he either has a weak hand or a monster. He probably opens the pot for a raise preflop with 99+ (it's possible that he always limps, but unlikely).

However, you need to have the best hand 17% here to call profitably. Against a total unknown at 2NL, I think there is a decent (i.e., >20%) chance that he shows up with A4, 65, a busted flush draw or even AJ that decided he was good after you cbet and then checked the turn.

Why did you call the turn and then fold the river? You were getting about the same odds on the river and the 5 is a relative blank. What were you hoping would happen on the river when you called the turn?

I thought to myself that he could fire on turn with a wide range of hands that i might beat but calling there should scare off river bets from weaker hands than a Qx. But your logic sounds good too

My thinking on the flop is to raise so i know where i'm standing, Turn i bet only half pot as a blocker bet with the intention of folding to a raise or checking down the river if called.

Please don't do this. See http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/87...rmation-26995/ (for example), also applicable to cash games.

As played, the bet/fold on the turn seems OK to me against most 2NL villains. Many will call with hands like KQ, QJ or T9 and raise the hands that beat TPTK. Of course, this is highly villain-dependent, so any advice you get will be suspect (including the foregoing), since you haven't posted any hands or reads.

Line check here. BTN was 30/30 over 11 hands (1 for 3 steal), bought in for 30bb. BB was 24/24, 9% 3bet over about 150 hands (no fold to 4bet or even fold to 3bet information). My thinking for flatting the BTN's open was that the short stack was small enough that I wasn't worried about building a pot preflop - I could easily get it all in post-flop and I wasn't worried about the BB flatting - I had yet to see him flat and so he seemed like he would either raise or fold. Also, he seemed fairly willing to 3bet, with a 9% 3bet - though the sample wasn't huge.

Once the BB 3bet and the BTN 4bet shoved, the pot was 40bb, so my thought was to just get QQ in here, since I'm OOP and doing pretty well against the BB's 3betting range and the BTN is a short stacker who could be doing this with AQ+, TT+. My guess was that the BB would probably fold about 2/3 of his range, leaving me head's against the shorty where I was likely a favorite, and call with the remaining 1/3 consisting of {AK, JJ+} (in which case I had about 47% equity).

Merge - $0.10 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $2.61
Hero (SB): $10.07
BB: $10.00
UTG: $10.00
CO: $11.40

Hero posts SB $0.05, BB posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) Hero has Q Q

fold, fold, BTN raises to $0.26, Hero calls $0.21, BB raises to $1.22, BTN raises to $2.61 and is all-in, Hero raises to $10.07 and is all-in, BB ...

Like SCF said, this logic is not correct. Generally speaking, you should raise to get called by hands you beat or to fold hands that beat you. Since he most likely has something other than just 88,99, or JT, your line is fine.

SCF, are you flatting in the sb to induce a 3b squeeze from the bb? At 10NL I would just 3b myself and play from there.

This is really good, BB will isolate a wide range against the aggro shorty, and might get stubborn with a hand like JJ/TT here

Basically yes, though I wasn't clear in my post. I thought this was a good spot to induce a squeeze from a player on my left who seemed 3-bet happy because if he folds rather than 3bets, I still have a low SPR going to the flop against the shortie, so it's not really a problem. I wouldn't have flatted against the BTN if he had had a normal sized stack.

In addition to getting to re-raise QQ against what will probably be a wide 3-betting range held by the BB, my thinking was that this may have the pleasant side effect of slowing down a player on my direct left who might make life tough for me with 3-bets. I had just sat down at the table (10 hands or so), so we didn't have any history (the hands I had on him were from a different session) and this wasn't the primary goal, just a little extra potential benefit.

Gotcha, I do agree that your line probably builds the biggest pot while still being ahead. Just curious, would you do the same flat/re-shove with JJ against that BB?

My initial reaction was probably not, because I'm less comfortable trying to induce a 3bet with JJ (basically trapping) and my equity against {JJ+,AK} drops from 47% to 36%.

Calculating the EV for the QQ hand based on my assumptions in the post above (i.e., BB folds 2/3 of the time leaving me HU with BTN who has shoved with a range of {AQ+,TT+} and BB calls 1/3 of the time with a range of {AK,JJ+}), I get an EV of approx. +6bb. Calculating the EV for JJ based on the assumptions, I get an EV of approx. -5bb.

In general, the value from QQ comes from the times when the BB folds, leaving me head's up with the shortie with a relatively wide range and some dead money in the pot, which more than offsets those times when the BB calls and I get it in as a slight dog with QQ. With JJ, I am a slight dog when I get head's up with the BTN (even with the dead money this outcome contributes only a little bit of positive equity) and I am a much bigger dog when BB calls.

To clarify, this is my EV after the BB 3bets and the shortie BTN 4bet shoves (which is what I am hoping for when I flat). It's possible that when I flat and get 3bet from the BB, the shortie BTN might fold, in which case I can make a normal-sized 4bet head's up with the BB (which I think is clearly profitable with QQ against this player, even though in this scenario there is only a negligible amount of dead money in the pot). It's also possible that the BB will just fold, in which case I take QQ to the flop against an aggro shortie with only 24bb behind.

I haven't done the math, but I suspect the latter two scenarios are not profitable enough to make up for the -EV situation I am in when I 5bet with JJ, whereas I don't have to worry about this 5bet shoving with QQ (since it is +EV on its own). So I think a normal 3bet to isolate the BTN is the better move with JJ.

SB's stats:
21/6 (33 hands)
3bet% = 7.7 (13 hands)
Agg = 1.3 Afq = 20 (20 samples)

BTN's stats:
46/14 (38 hands)
3bet% = 0 (14 hands)

Poker Stars, $0.02/$0.05 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 5 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite. View Hand #12277052

BB: $5 (100 bb)
Hero (MP): $5.12 (102.4 bb)
CO: $5.68 (113.6 bb)
BTN: $22.24 (444.8 bb)
SB: $7.02 (140.4 bb)

Preflop: Hero is MP with Q Q
Hero raises to $0.15, CO folds, BTN calls $0.15, SB raises to $0.50, BB folds, Hero calls $0.35, BTN calls $0.35

Normally I'd 4bet or fold (fold against this villain). However, the squeeze is small, I'll have position on the SB post flop and the fishy BTN will probably come along and pad the pot. As such I think setmining should be profitable and there's a reasonable chance that I can win unimproved.

Flop: ($1.55) 8 4 3 (3 players)
SB bets $6.52 and is all-in, Hero?

I don't think a set is in his range so he's representing an overpair that is scared of a flush or straight draw. In my experience overshoves tend to be weaker than normal sized value bets. Should I let this go or call?

Thanks for any responses.

If he doesn't he have 99, TT or JJ here what else do you beat?

When I say he's "representing" a particular hand I don't mean that I'm sure he has it I've seen unimproved overs and other random crap shoved in this spot before. Not usually by this type of player though. That makes me lean towards folding.

I think it is a pretty clear fold. If you were heads up with the villain, it would be a closer question, because the overbet shove does imply that he would be just as happy if you folded. However, from the SB's perspective, he is betting into two players, one of which looks pretty fishy. The SB really can't count the BTN folding an overpair (especially when the BTN has a big stack and might be inclined to gamble against a shove). He probably also assumes that BTN will call with a flush draw and so wants to get the money in now. This might be giving the SB too much credit, but that's my $0.02.

Against someone who might be weak-tight (though the sample size is tiny, he has only raised twice preflop in 33 hands), this looks like a premium pair {QQ+} which doesn't have a diamond, or maybe AK. At the end of the day, I don't see a 22/6 type player turning AK into a bluff against 2 players here nearly often enough to justify a call. Plus, you have the BTN to act after you do. While it's unlikely he hit a set and is mostly folding, the BTN probably does have 88, 44 and 33 in his range here.

That makes sense. Thank you.

What would you do if I had KK? I know the standard answer is to 4bet it pre

Call. QdQh has 16% equity vs {QQ+,AdKd} but KdKh has 51% equity vs. {QQ+,AdKd}. If you exclude pairs with a diamond, the equity is 22% and 52% respectively.

Hi all, I've just started playing poker at the giddy heights of 2NL and I wondered if anyone can help me with this hand.

No reads. Villain is 30/6 over 30 hands. Stacks are roughly 250bb each. I've been quite active in stealing BB's blinds.

It folds around to me with JJ in the SB. I raise to 0.06 and villain in the BB raises to 0.20. I call.

Flop comes 7Q10. I check, villain bets 1/2 pot I call.

Turn is 7 I check, villain Checks.

River is 8 I 3/4 pot bet, Villain shoves All-In, I fold.

I think I was far too passive in this hand - am I right in thinking I should bet the flop/turn and then leave the hand for dead if I get any resistance?

Cheers!