Is this a xf?
Is this a xf?

Is this a xf?

Game: $1/$3 NLH — 8-handed
Stacks: $200 effective

Hero is UTG+1 with A K. Been card dead all night and finally picks up a premium. Hero’s image is tight and he hasn’t opened many pots and has been consciously playing a conservative short-stack strategy. The button and BB have been playing pretty much any two cards.

Hero raises to $15. Folds to the Button, who calls, as does the Big Blind. Button flatted with the blinds behind him left to act too. Three to the flop. Pot: $45

Flop: K 6 7

BB checks. Hero continues for $35, setting up a turn shove. Button calls. BB calls.

Turn: 5 (third heart hits)

BB checks again. Hero has about $150 left with ~$150 in the pot. What is hero doing here?

Question:
When the 5 hits and the BB checks, what’s Hero’s best play on the turn? Should Hero still shove for protection/value, check to control the pot, or size smaller to induce? Maybe button checks and makes the board messier. If somehow this 5 missed them and I check it through there’s no way I’m good after the river.

We’re so pot committed here I don’t know how I ever find a check fold here given how loose their ranges have been. Obviously this smashes their range but I don’t see how we ever check here with such a strong hand.

There’s so many worse kings. People who missed their straight but still has a naked heart they want to convert to a flush. Maybe they picked up a gutshot with like, K9 off defending the blind w the 9 of hearts. So many hands that would still call and I need to deny equity to.

18 October 2025 at 12:29 AM
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15 Replies



i think looking for the answer on the turn is the wrong approach.
Ask yourself on how many turns your AK does not look good anymore. Here the texture is very dynamic so many turns will shift the eq to buttons or bb favor so any flush turn any 5 8 7 thats alot.
Thats why if you look how a solver would play the flop you see that it would check alot and when it bets it uses very small sizings like 25% or even smaller to keep villains ranges wider that keeps you to retain more eq on very shitty turns.
So lets say you bet 15 instead of 45 villains would have way more hands like 7x 6x etc that you could induce against if they are spewy. Also you are not so comitted and you can just check to the button if he bet big you can fold ( if he is not spewy). When you bet 3/4 pot on flop you filter there ranges very hard to flushdraws , straightdraws and Kx so after you bet big flop getting it in on turn is a punt.
More wet the texture more this concept applies
Does this make sense to you ?


I don't agree with a small cbet. This is 3-way against donks in a 1/3 game, not against bots.


A small bet on the flop is great if Vs are going to raise you with a reasonable frequency, but at $1/$3 the vast majority of the pool doesn't raise or x/r nearly enough. We are ahead almost always OTF and our goal should be to get the most in the pot as possible. We should either go for a big x/r if we are very confident button will bet, or bet big ourselves. The latter is probably better most of the time because its a disaster if it either checks through or if we bet small and are flatted. I might even size up larger OTF because I don't think most $1/$3 players are folding, say KJ to a $40 or even $50 bet here.

The turn is ugly but I think either V still has ample hands in their ranges that will pay us off, and we're ahead of like 87, K9, Kx one heart, any Ahx. Loose $1/$3 players will have way more offsuit broadway hands in their range than they should and a lot of those single heart broadways might call. I'd lean towards shoving even though its really gross and you feel like an idiot when snapped off by a flush. I'd check if I thought button would find a semi-bluff with some kind of single heart or SD holding. But there are a lot of terrible rivers, and I don't think we want to let it check through. I'd shove, expecting to lose frequently, but overall, I think it's EV neutral to slightly winning.


by deuceblocker m

I don't agree with a small cbet. This is 3-way against donks in a 1/3 game, not against bots.

i dont advocate trying to copy the solver i want to use the solver to gain a better understanding of fundamental game theory and i can use the solver to create scenarios like for example this one with the spr etc and see how the perfect play would look like and how the play changes when the other players play suboptimal for example call to often etc.
I missed a bit that they play super wide so then yes you are right vs donks it does not make sense to bet small flop here also the solver can be a great tool to look at wich point the solver want to bet small and try to estimate by our own thinking the solver output before we look.
Like this we train our exploitive abilitys and it is a very fun way of study.
So after 3/4 flop i would like a all in on turn because they would need to find folds with kx very often and also calling pair+ straightdraw or flushdraw is a punt wich they will make most likely so yea so big flop and jam turn totaly fine vs donks and if you are behind gg nothing you can do
My concept that i explained is more true when ranges of villains are not super wide i missed that


by Yamihere m

A small bet on the flop is great if Vs are going to raise you with a reasonable frequency, but at $1/$3 the vast majority of the pool doesn't raise or x/r nearly enough. We are ahead almost always OTF and our goal should be to get the most in the pot as possible. We should either go for a big x/r if we are very confident button will bet, or bet big ourselves. The latter is prob

agree makes sense


Betting large on the flop three way is a tell that you made your hand. If you cbet to 35 with draws three-way, you will go broke.


Betting small is bad at low stakes and check is even more horrendous. What a garbage GTO coach lol.

As played this is just a bad turn 3 ways so check.


by acescracked84 m

Betting small is bad at low stakes and check is even more horrendous. What a garbage GTO coach lol.

As played this is just a bad turn 3 ways so check.

Yeah, lol playing GTO in a 1/3 game.


by acescracked84 m

Betting small is bad at low stakes and check is even more horrendous. What a garbage GTO coach lol.

As played this is just a bad turn 3 ways so check.

who said something about check ?
I am saying that working with a solver can help you understand poker better and give you a actuall foundation from where you exploit from. Most players dont use it correctly and the think gto is something to just copy which again i dont advocate clearly you didnt read my message correctly. Using this tool can be very fun and interesting if you do it in the right way but yea it is easyer just to say gto is garbage to avoid some changes in perspecitve / avoid putting in work and save energy.
Gl on the tables


Fine to look at solvers, but GTO sizings are garbage at 1/3. Playing loose passive players who will call largish cbets light, so go large for value.


This is a standard play short stacked, top pair, top kicker get the money in. Can’t worry about the flush, villains might think you hit it.

Deep stacked, you would have to tiptoe, but this is a slam dunk. Aggression wins - don’t fool around and let them put you to a decision, get the money in.

I very much like checking out what the solver would do, but that’s defense. This situation is all offense - attack


I would limp in.

SPR is 4, board is super drawy, and we've got TPTK. We offered failry poorish 14:1 IO to two opponents. So I'd consider myself committed here and PSB the flop to setup a turn shove. I'd go a little larger than we did on the flop because it leaves an awkward overbet of $150 into $115 HU on the turn (and otherwise we're not looking to drag this out over 3 streets at this SPR on this board).

Nut low turn card as it completes all the major draws and there is a decent chance someone has one of them with it still being 3ways. I probably change my commitment plan and check / give up if anyone bets.

GcluelessNLnoobG


I think XF is fine against 2 villains. That turn card is a very bad card for you
Its also a bad card for any worse Kings, so worse kings are not going to bet it

If someone is betting, they have you beat


Just cuz you bet pot otf doesn't mean you have to keep betting big relative to the pot.

Against these Vs at these stakes you can b/f like $40 on the turn. They will very rarely raise all in with worse either for value or as a bluff, especially 3 ways.

You likely get called by worse kings still and get protection/value from all the 1 liners and hearts.

While they probably don't bluff a lot, a check does give both of them very good bluffing opportunities. The button might worry a little about the BB, but it would be a good spot to bluff if checked to on the turn. If it checks around, the BB has a very good bluff spot on the river.

In fact, if it checks around, I think the river is going to be pretty tricky to navigate in general.

I've found at low stakes, you can also trigger bad plays by Vs just by maintaining control of the hand because they are so passive. Like, you bet here, button folds, BB just calls. River goes x/x and it turn out he has a straight or something.


Grunch:

PRE - if the game has been splashy, I think we can open bigger from EP. Our open has to get through 6 opponents here. Someone is going to call if we make it $20, so make it $20.

Our goal should be to set up a shallow SPR post-flop, when we may be playing multi-way or OOP, or both.

FLOP - for the same reasons I wanted to make it larger pre, I think I'd c-bet larger here. If someone out-flopped us, nice hand, good game. But we have TPTK, and we'd like to get stacks in on the turn. Someone could have a K, or a draw, and those hands are going to be pretty inelastic, so I'd bet big, at least full pot, if not over-bet 1.25x-1.5x.

Alternatively, if we think BTN is stabby-stabby, I could get on board with checking to put in an obnoxiously large raise if BB just calls or folds.

TURN - Jesus. WTF dealer?

Alright, lemme see here...we lose to flushes, and 98, 65, and 43 if they're that terrible. Might as well throw in 84 since we're approaching ATC territory.

So...I think checking is defensible. We can see what the BTN does. He'll probably bet, but his bet size may telegraph his hand strength. If the BB check-raises, we can get away from it for minimal loss. If the BTN bets small and BB folds, I might seriously consider jamming at that point.

I also think betting small is defensible. We can get value from some 1P + draw combos.

I'm kind of on the fence about jamming. It seems like we'd only get called by better, and they'd just fold out worse. If they call with worse, it seems likely it would be some sort of draw, but there are so few off-suit combos with one heart. Maybe 8h8x or 9h9x.

There's a non-zero percent chance some better hands fold. Like 65 or 75. Those might fold to a jam, maybe.

I dunno. Trying to target 88/99 for value or 75/65 to fold just seems so meh, especially multi-way versus the two opponents with the widest ranges. It seems really likely someone is going to have us beat, and they wouldn't seem likely to fold.

I think I like checking, with a plan to bet thin for value on the river if the turn checks through, or check-jam if BTN bets small and the BB folds, or check-fold if the BTN bets big and the BB calls or raises.

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