QTs in the SB vs. Baby-Faced Degen
1/2.
V (750) is a 30-year-old observant LAG who 3bets and calls too wide. He barrels the flop and turn with backstreet draws and middling hands. He makes massive bluffs on the river. He loses at least $5,000 per year on poker, possibly much more, but he has huge swings upward as he attacks his opponents with fold buttons. He bought-in for 300. After he looked at the hero’s stack, the largest on the table, he maxed out to 500 and ran over some opponents.
Hero (550) is a TAG who, readers may remember, sometimes has a fold-button leak. When V remarked that hero shares his name, hero said, "I was Andrew first."
OTTH
Button straddle. Hero in SB with QcTc raises to 15. BB folds. V in UTG calls. Everyone folds.
Flop (33 after rake): Th8d3c
Hero bets 15 and later regrets not betting to 20. V raises to 35. Hero?
14 Replies
Maybe adonson is the Andrew from my local game....hummm. Was V that chinese guy from last night Andrew?
Easily a call and re-evaluate turns
I think 15 is fine OTF. I’d go bigger with overpairs as I’m unblocking top pair as a value target. Call small raise. You may have the best hand but it’s not strong enough to 3-bet. A lot of turn cards are favourable for you.
Flop as played I don't think $15 vs $20 makes a big difference. Would call the raise as played but yeah we're going to fold the best hand on many runouts
I would consider open limping or even folding preflop.
$15 is OK. Call and see a turn. His raise is almost a "see where I'm at" w/ a worse T or a draw, but no reason to go broke just yet.
This sounds like the type of player I would want to make sure I was checking some strong hands to so that I could easily call down for 3 streets. It seems to me that your hand is a good candidate for that. If this sort of play isn't a part of your strategy when playing against over-aggressive Villains, I think you become very easy for them to play against.
As played, I would echo the other posters ITT and say call the flop raise. Having the two backdoor draws here is a real plus. Many turn cards will give you additional equity which will make it easier to get to showdown. If you check/call turn and he blasts river, that might be the time to fold (see: Bart Hanson's "fifth street chicken" concept).
Results:
Hero raises to 75, ready to fold to V shove. V folds.
Villain never folds a better hand, and he never calls with a worse hand (maybe he calls JTs or T9s with a backdoor). He also never folds a real draw - he always continues with 97s and J9s and will likely have opportunities to win an even more bloated pot on future streets even if he doesn't hit. What's your plan on a blank turn?
Also - do you expect Villain to shove with hands that beat you? Say Villain has 88 here. He's just going to 4bet jam $550 on a rainbow flop and allow you to play perfectly? I would expect him to flat call his nutted hands here in position and leave you guessing on future streets.
When Villain folds to your 3bet, he is either folding absolute air (maybe a gutshot and an overcard at most) or a hand that you have totally crushed like JTo. I don't think that's a great result, even though there is of course something to be said for winning the pot.
Only results matter. NH
Villain never folds a better hand, and he never calls with a worse hand (maybe he calls JTs or T9s with a backdoor). He also never folds a real draw - he always continues with 97s and J9s and will likely have opportunities to win an even more bloated pot on future streets even if he doesn't hit. What's your plan on a blank turn?
Also - do you expect Villain to shove with hands that beat you? Say Villain has 88 here. He's just going to 4bet jam $550 on a rainbow flop and allow you to play perfect
I appreciate your evaluation. If only I thought this at the time...
Happy to contribute my two cents. I also want to say I always enjoy reading your threads and really respect that you are willing to put yourself out there and post hands like this. I often avoid posting hand histories where I feel I've made a significant mistake (unlike you, the mistakes I make are more likely to be calling mistakes rather than folding mistakes) which is not great. I am also a $1/$2 player and the room you play in is the room I've played the second highest number of hours in. Would enjoy to one day be a character in an adonson hand history.
The re-raise seems like a thing to do if you want the hand to be over, which I am sympathetic to, but I think it's putting in too much money for hands that beat you. He's not gonna bluff shove over you ever.
OOP against a lag, with TPGK and backdoor draws, I prefer a check-call line on the flop. Let him blast off.
AP, just call flop, and check/evaluate turn. Again, let V blast off.
Generally it's dicey to go aggro vs an aggro when OOP.
What was the straddle amount?
Bet call or check call on flop seem fine. Bet 3bet is a little thin but not terrible. Probably a little more money in giving him some more rope, but he is going to put you to the test sometimes for sure.
