2/5 9s9d in BB versus Needler
V1 is young skinny build white guy in hat has a somewhat aggro appearance and made unnecessarily rude comment to me without us even having played a hand.
V2 is weak tight middle aged white guy hero has played with him several times before.
Going to include 2 hands here versus V1 as the 2nd hand is dependent on the first one.
Hand 1
Didn't have time to write down the specifics but hero has KQ,
board is QJ65 twotone and river bricks.
Heads up versus V1 OOP (hes to my direct left). Bet 50 into 60 on flop. he calls. bet 200 turn he calls. check river. he bets 375 into 560. hero tanks and asks table to give him more time and eventually calls
Reason for line: V1 is shuffling chips really well clear he is an experienced player. I mix large and small flop sizings, since this guy had needled me already figure his ego is more invested in playing this pot and want to get value from my good Q. Turn doesn't change much unless he has 65, he could have also picked up another flush draw. Unless we are against QJ or 66 we should still have the best hand. Bet big again to get value. River bricks (offsuit 2 or 3). He can't call a bet with any of his missed draws and a hand like QT or AJ would have to really not believe us to call again, figure we check to induce a bluff from his draws that don't have showdown value that he knows he would have to bluff to win.
Hand 2
V2 opens LJ 30, Hero calls with 9s9d in BB, V1 calls in straddle.
Flop is J32cc. ($83) Hero bets 30, V1 calls, V2 folds.
Turn is (J32)cc 6c. ($143) Hero bets 60 V1 calls.
River is (J32)cc 6c Kd. ($263) Hero bets 110 V1 calls.
Reason for line: V2 is going to fold his air and will only call/raise with an overpair or Jx. Can cheaply find out with a donk 1/3 pot bet. Probably safer to check fold to his bet or lead the turn once he checks back. V1 is clearly respecting me more after hand 1 and appears to be playing cautiously here. Turn he could have made a flush, but I think he raises flop at some freq with fd. I'm out of position and think I can get him to call with worse pairs/draws with another down bet and see river cheaper so I bet 1/3 again. River I didn't want to check fold and think I have the best hand a lot of the time as played think he can have a lot of 44-TT. Didn't want to induce a raise with too small of a river sizing so go about 40% instead of 33%. He has almost no kings besides KcJx which again hes likely raising at some point before this. Because hero bet small on flop and turn as well he doesn't have to have a J.
2 Replies
Hand 1 you need more details. You opened KQ from what position? You were the preflop raiser? Villain called from what position? What is the effective stack? Unless this is BB vs straddle (or SB vs BB in an unstraddled pot), flop and turn are too thin. If v was closing the action, vs a LP open, he could have all kinds of worse hands that call turn like Q2s. But if he is cold calling vs an earlier position raise, his range is going to be more condensed. Pocket pairs like 66, maybe AQ, maybe KQs, QJs, QTs, JTs. If he is a competent player, a lot of the hands you want him to have, KTs, nut flush draws, etc are going to be 3bet at high frequency. He shouldn't be doing much cold calling with hands like Q9s from the button or earlier.
If this is from earlier positions, you can bet small or check on flop. Turn is starting to get really thin even BB vs straddle. You may consider splitting your range here. Your overbets should be more hands like KK, AA, QJ, 66. KQ can fit nicely in a 75% pot bet range.
In any case, not thrilled about river after we overplayed turn as possibly flop, but probably calling for that price.
Hand 2 is really botched. This is a classic example of old school donk betting - the bad kind. Every pro is going to see this and be pretty sure your hand is not that strong, most likely folding to a raise. You're actually putting in way too much money for the strength of your hand. You are betting to see where you are at and because you don't want to call bigger bets. But Jx can easily call you down for 3 streets. It is probably a large portion of the range you get called by. The reality is that players aren't going to start making huge bets multiway as bluffs that often. People under bluff and they don't bet thin for value often enough. So if you check and villains start betting large multiway, it isn't a big deal to just fold your underpair.
Hand 1 who knows. Most likely you wanted to check turn vs this V.
Hand 2, dont donk. Donk betting is a very advanced play, and 99% of rhe player baae is best off never doing it.
