$1/2 KK 4 ways on QQ3 T turn
$1/2 late afternoon / early evening game. 9 handed. Been at table about 30 minutes.
V1 ~$300 UTG +2 30’s WG. I don’t know him but he’s playing LAG and seems competent. Rest of table is ABC.
H ~$400. UTG +1. 40’s WG. Been playing tight as no cards first 30 min. V1 surely noticed. Probably views me as TP or ABC but don’t know.
OTTH
BTN straddles $7. BB calls. H sees black K’s. Makes it $25. V1 calls. BTN calls. BB calls.
Flop $~100 4 ways
QcQd3d
X,X,X,X
Turn $~100
QcQd3d Tc
X, H $25, V1 $125, f, f, H? I suppose all three options are on the board here. I think V1 raises his made hands and draws here and as wet as the board is that’s a lot of draws. I think folding or shoving have merit. Calling seems problematic. H?
14 Replies
Again, the small bet causes problems. Is he raising because the bet size induced or is he raising because he has a Q, 33, TT, KJcc(dd)?
I agree it's shove or fold, but a flat and then check/shove the turn might be fun. Would be awful if he checked behind, though.
Oh, V starts the hand w/ less than 50bb -- just shove.
FWIW, I go at at least $30 pre, probably $35.
PRE - we can probably go bigger with the raise here.
FLOP - good check multi-way with more opponents behind than in front.
TURN - think I might just pot it.
As played, when V raises, he's pretty polar. Since our bet was so small, and he's apparently LAG, we might have induced this. He has less than half pot left. I'd think he'd jam if he was bluffing, but maybe not. And our hand blocks some of his bluffs.
Calling is interesting in that if he is bluffing, he might not fire the third barrel. We could conceivably have AQ/QQ/KQ or maybe conceivably QT or KcJc. He might give up and check back on a lot of rivers. If he doesn't, we can still call, and not lose any more than we would if we jam into a better hand on the turn.
Tough decision. I don't love any of our options. Seems like an under-bluffed spot, and we block some bluffs, so I might find a fold. Definitely don't think we need to jam, because he's never folding. Our flop check and small turn bet might be all the rope he needs to start a bluff, though, so I think maybe we can call, and probably call a jam on most rivers.
Wow $7 button straddle is BIG ... I think limp/raise might be best pre. with the read that V1 will raise a bunch but if we open then I'd go bigger.
I like the flop check and turn size is fine, although we could go a little bigger (like 30 or even 35) but any bigger than that is too big IMO.
Calling turn to call a lot of rivers is a viable option IMO, if you think V if bluffing and will continue to bluff (and Mlark agrees 😉, the main thing is trying to work out if V is bad enough to raise worse for value or crazy enough to try to get us to fold AA/KK.
I doubt V is raising just because of the size.
It being 4 ways would lean it to a fold vs. most, because they'll so often just spew raise Q9 but just call everything that's worse or draws.
If we shove it's because we think V has a lot of semi bluffs that call, but will check back on most missed rivers.
Thought about this some more after I posted...
I think I'd be discounting the likelihood that V has some Qx combo that didn't bet the flop, or TT that didn't 3B pre, and is going to raise 5x, IP, leaving less than 1/2 pot behind. I'd think he might 3B pre and / or bet a hand like KJdd on the flop, and our hand blocks KJcc. So I'm somewhat discounting KJs combos from his range.
If we take out super thick value, thin value, and high equity bluffs, I think his range could be somewhat air-heavy here.
If we jam, he snap folds all his air. His good draws aren't folding, but he can't have all that many good draws here. We double-block KJ, and a K won't help him if he's got J9, if he even takes this line with J9.
We're mostly just hoping to fade a club, diamond, ace, or 8 on the river, and even if one of those cards falls, we're only worried about a handful of KJ and J9 combos. It's 24 cards, but if he has KJ or J9, he's not folding to a jam anyway.
I think it's okay to flat call, and plan to check-call any river card. If he makes a flush or a straight, so be it. But let's give him a chance to bluff once more.
The reason I like potting it on the turn is that it's hard for any of our opponents to have a hand strong enough to raise for value when the flop checks through, but they'll have a $hlt-ton of draws that won't want to fold, and won't have any fold equity if they jam $275 into $200.
If we bet $100, and V calls, the pot will be $300, and he'll have $175 back, making for an easy shove on the river. If we bet $100 and he jams for $275, it's a fairly automatic call.
But if we bet 1/2 pot or less it makes things awkward - we'll have more than a PSB left behind. V can call and fold the river if he misses, or raise less than all-in, and put us in the blender when we're not nutted.
Our small bet size creates this situation where V can risk less than his whole stack with his bluffs.
Yes, at 1/2 -- Mississippi. I love it because the guys who do it are gamblers and easy pickin's. I do it occasionally, too, but only from BTN and depending on lots of other factors.
AP, the LAG V is probably counting on our inability to fold a premium at this depth, FWIW.
That's possible, and maybe true for some players ... but then why with only one person behind and after the PFR already checked did he check flop?
If going for the bluff, go for the cheap bluff.
I think it's much more likely that V assumes the flop check and turn bet means we have AK/AJ (maybe even Tx) and wants us to fold, or he has 33/TT and doesn't want us to fold.
The description given was "playing LAG and seems competent" ... but if that only means open raising wide preflop, that doesn't tell us much. Even if he's actively bluffing a lot post HU, it doesn't mean he's doing it now.
Qx doesn't make a lot of sense, although some people might "trap" KQ here, and neither does dd. cc with a gutter/overcard does. Tx:dd makes some sense. V not realizing we have an overpair is v. possible.
We do have KQ/AQ/TT and block KJ, but it's super likely we are way ahead or way behind V's range. Just pick correctly 😉.
I'd just cbet this flop.
It forces your opponents to play more honestly against you.
If you get called you can always consider folding on later streets.
I'd just cbet this flop.
It forces your opponents to play more honestly against you.
If you get called you can always consider folding on later streets.
How does c-betting force opponents to play more honestly against us? What does that even mean?
What sequence of actions should lead us to folding on later streets? Are we betting once, then check-folding, or betting twice, then check-folding, or betting three-times, and then folding?
If we're already thinking we might fold on a later street, wouldn't the better play be to just check?
If we have the best hand, do we really want our opponents to "play honestly", by folding to our bet? Wouldn't we want them to play dishonestly, by betting when we check?
Okay, so you are turning KK into a one street bluff?
What size ... make it so big so that everyone just calls better and folds worse? Or small enough so that there's a lot of flush draws and lower pairs and we are in the blender when they bet turn?
Or do you have a more sophisticated plan than x/f on turn if we get called on flop and V bets a brick turn?
I assume you just bet/fold flop to a raise?
We have no Kd, so it's not like we can even bet again on 2d or even really x/c. Also we unblock KdXd.
If you aren't betting range on flop wtf does your x/c range look like? Is 44 always the nuts vs. it?
I don't mind mixing betting flop small if there was only one person behind, but we are in a very similar situation if raised.
Again, OP's description isn't very precise but in general "everyone is honest if you bet for information" is the exact opposite thing you should do vs. a "LAG". Because bet flop and x/f turn is a default/simple strategy that a lot of people will do with a lot of worse hands than KK and a LAG can just call flop super wide and see what you do.
Thanks everyone.
Straddles are allowed anywhere except the blinds 2-5x the BB.
V seems to be a LAG pre and post but it’s just my read based on 30 min.
Preflop sizing - yeah was my first hand played and I wasn’t 100% sure where to go. Other than V table wasn’t showing aggression so avg. raise sizes were smaller than normal.
Results:
H blocks a lot of V’s value hands and straight draws. Either NFD could play this way. QQ and TT 3b pre. So do several of his suited broadway Q’s but not all.
H shoves. V says “I didn’t expect that. I’m drawing. I guess I have to call” and calls.
River bricks a 4h. H tables KK and scoops.
Nice hand, Twitch. Well played.
Take it he didn't show? Would be nice to know what draw he had, if it was just a straight draw, a flush draw, a combo-draw, KJ or J9, etc.