Not Quite Threadworthy--Low Stress Strat Questions

Against a villain that limp calls every hand, isn’t ever folding a flopped gut shot, up n down or pair/2 pair. We should be max exploit betting as much as we can. We want stacks here with the nuts

Not really low stress but just a single decision point--

V $250ish. I cover table.
V is VPIP 90%+/PFR 70%. He raises to $17 (1-2 blinds) most of the time regardless of position or players already limping in front. I've already 3-bet him multiple times.
One time he was down to about $80 so I shoved with JJ and he called with 25s and made 2 pair. Other times he just folded or called then c/f flop.

OTTH: V MP says lets try something different and raises to $20 over several limps. I 3-bet $60 HJ. A limper I was concerned about who almost matched my stack folds to my 3-bet. V says may as well go home and shoves $190 more.

Hero has QQ. What's your decision here? I range him on AK/AQ/JJ+ and possible because it's him some spazz factor. I don't have a fully accurate EV calculator in my head but it seems to be around 50%, maybe %45. With dead money it should be +EV but who knows if we are ranging him correctly and the meta aspect of giving this guy a stack that would be equal to ours if we lose is not fun.

I try table talk asking if he has Aces or if he might want to run it twice. He just angrily says all-in. Not sure what that means. Any comments on that as my table talk game is weaksauce.

??? Isn’t this a snap vs described V

If the limper had shoved, it would be more of a decision.

Sorry you lost vs KK or AA

Just read spoiler: lol at randomizing this spot, wtf

When he says that I'd assume he's got a good hand. Like I've seen people talk about how they have to go home soon and then start going insane and shoving wide ... but whenever I've seen someone say it during the hand they are never going insane.
Would slightly lean fold with QQ but I don't hate calling it because he might think all 16 combos of AK are the nuts, and might even assume JJ/TT is the nuts vs. your 3bet range.

I assume his AI range is larger than JJ+...

OTOH, pushing a sizeable stack and saying, "I guess it's time to go home," is probably one of them most reliable tells of strength.

I apologize if i sounded rude in my original post. The dude is running 90/70, i understand his 4bet and speech play can be seen as more nutted but the nuts to this guy could be TT or AQ.

This guy deserves a little action too, even if you lose it could pay dividends in the future. Honestly QQ is just way too high up your range to consider folding. Even with the range that you gave him , seems like AQ, 99+ is a call.

Not that it really matters but my randomizer landed on call V said run it once and I faded his AKo.

Beware the speech followed by a jam. Be even more leery if the opponent seems angry in his speech or manner.

Generally, anything said which could be interpreted as weakening the speaker's range should be regarded as a sign of real strength. Players with weak hands generally don't want to antagonize opponents into making light calls by being belligerent.

That's not to say he always and only has AA/KK. He could make the same speech and take the same attitude with AK or JJ, but bad players will often want to see a flop with those hands before committing themselves to a jam.

Whether or not we call off with QQ depends - are we close to the end of our session, has he quieted down for a while before this, etc. Generally, though, if this guy's been throwing a party all night, and we've been relentlessly 3B'ing him, and then he does this...I think we might want to find a fold.

Had a similar situation in my last session - young dude nursing a $200 stack at 1/3, mostly folding everything for the past 2 hours, decides to jam over my $25 open and a $25 call, saying, "send me home," but then he goes into a cone of silence.

I thought about it for a second or two, then saw that he was just staring down at the table, sitting as still as possible, not making a peep. I figured he wouldn't be scared to look up if he had AA/KK, so I re-jammed with JJ.

He had AK. My hand held up, and I scooped. I guess he thought he wanted a call when he made that speech, then realized he wanted a fold when I didn't turbo-muck.

agree with docvail

but it's not foolproof, i've definitely folded QQ in that exact same spot only for the guy to flip over T4o and rack up his chips and leave super annoyed that he didn't either bust or double up his final hand

given that he already called with 25 we can not rule that out

but... i think the fact he didn't just go for stacks right off the bat and instead only put in $20 severely discounts the notion that he's either trying to double up or leave with nothing - and the double speech play of the "let's try something different" just screams aces

1-3 getting late

great table, only competent player is asian woman to my left and she's pretty abc so easy to hand read

hero on the btn, 900 deep staddles to $6

sb folds
bb folds

utg is a maniac who will call any raise preflop if he has something remotely connected, any suited cards, any two gappers etc

he's called all ins preflop with 9Ts, a bunch of other hands where he didn't show and against me with J8 which obviously cracked my queens, he's bought in about 3-4 times

utg bumps it to 20

utg +1 is an old white guy, former military, looks exactly like bruce dern from nebraska

he bought in for 200 and lost it all within an orbit calling big raises pre and then calling an all in with ace high and no draws on the turn

he leaves to find an atm, comes back with 100 and quickly doubles up a few times, mostly at the expense of the maniac where his top pair is good - guy has no fold button but the few times he's shown agression he's had something like top pair

he just won a 3 way all in with his AA beating KK and utg's random two cards which were mucked so he's got me covered just slightly

old man raises it to $50 and folds around to me

i'm thinking about what's the highest amount i can bump it up with them calling and pump it to 180 - maniac snap calls (he has maybe 150 behind), old man goes into the tank for a while and finally calls

flop is J64r

maniac insta shoves, old man thinks for a few seconds (he does this no matter what, he's just super slow) and then reshoves over the top - he's barely got me covered

i snap called assuming I was up against air or a gut shot of the maniac and perhaps Jx or KK/QQ/TT from old man

thoughts?

You have AA? I think for a couple of seconds, but can't see how we can do anything but call.

You have KK? Life sucks and both options feel bad.

Not folding.
Also think 3bet size is good

i mean, i think at this point it's obvious

55 not a set but typo notwithstanding, you’d need a very solid read that old man wouldn’t proceed with one of the other hands like QQ before folding

my bad, flop was j65r not j64r

and yes, i had a very solid read he was shoving Jx+ there - that's exactly how he'd built up his stack from $100 shoving with top pair and getting called light

1/1 game at the pub, 8 handed. Table is one hour old.

UTG+1 ($350) raises to $6, HJ ($250) calls, I (BB $170) raise to $26 with A♣ 7♣, UTG+1 calls.

Flop ($59) K♣ Q♣ 4♦

I bet $25, UTG+1 calls

Turn ($109) 9♣

How much should I bet river? (I have $120 behind)
What should my PFR size/flop bet size have been?

I noticed villain raising preflop to $6 a handful of times in the last two orbits, so probably raising somewhat wide. (I tried to squeeze and take it down preflop, it was my first 3-bet)
Postflop he seems pretty straightforward, no particular hands to note, he just check folded on the turn mostly, didn't seem interested. I raised a couple of times in the last two orbits where it went multi-way; I check folded on the flop, in another pot I c-bet flop, check folded the turn. We both should have pretty straightforward images.

I'd want to know that both of my opponents had fold buttons before I attempted a 3-handed squeeze with A7s.

As played, unless you think he's going to stab at the pot if you show weakness, I'd either bet $35 and jam the river, or just jam here.

2/5/10 on a friday at a casino. 7 handed and we've had a straddle on for a little bit, but it's not mandatory

2 limpers, hero in SB with 42hh calls (1300ish eff). BB/STR are not actively raising much so i think i can get away with limping with SC. both call. 5 ways to the flop

Flop ($50): 2d3h6h

hero checks
checks to BTN who bets $50. (competant early 30s reg. seen him be super laggy in games before but this game wasn't playing that way and he was playing a little more buttoned up today)

hero raises to $175
folds to BTN who thinks for 30ish seconds and calls

Turn ($400): 2d3h6h [Qh]

hero?

i checked in game but i think it's a mistake. this has to be a bet right?

Bet/fold 300?

With so little left behind, I'd probably check turn, and then jam the river.

Alternatively, we can bet small, like $40-$50, and then jam the river.

Hard to know what to do with so little info to go on.

He opened UTG1 pre, and then flat-called a 3B with the HJ still in the hand. Then he flatted your less than 1/2 pot c-bet. It seems unlikely he's getting to the turn with 2P+, so he's probably got AK, AA, maybe some AQ or JJ that got sticky / stubborn on the flop and decided to float to see if you'd bet turn, and not much else for value.

Ideally, he made a set with 99, or turned a straight with JT, or flopped a pair and turned a BD draw with a hand like QJ or QT, and you can get him to bet turn for value and protection if you check to him, or possibly raise if you bet small. Maybe he'll call off a river jam with AA/AK/AQ if he checks back turn.

Stop limping in from the SB, especially in 3-blind set-ups. Definitely don't do it with trash hands like 42s.

I wouldn't x/r the flop when the BTN bets pot. I'd just call. If he's value betting worse or bluffing, we want him to keep doing what he's doing, not narrow his range to better hands or better draws.

I don't know what you should do on the turn, because I wouldn't get to the turn the way you did, with your hand. I think I might slow down and check here. He's not going to call turn and river bets with much worse for value, unless the poor bastard has a straight.

I'd probably just check and hope he thinks we flopped 2P or a set that's scared he turned a flush, and that he'll turn whatever he has into a bluff, if it's not a better flush. Otherwise, I'd be hoping he checks back with his better flushes.

I'm definitely not looking to pile the money in here, as played. The best case scenario is we're up against a straight, set, or 2P that is happy to check back turn and might call a small river bet. Worst case is we're drawing dead and just torching any money we put into the pot.

Turn is a bet,I mean wtf were you hoping for with this hand. You can't let an action killing card roll off that might also put you behind.

Fold pre obviously ffs

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Adjusting versus loose aggressive players is straightforward (play tighter) but how should we adjust to player types described below. The ones who don't want to scare away their opponents preflop or want to hit set over set on the flop with their big pocket pairs or don't want to raise big preflop with them for fear of an overcard appearing on the flop.

In my local $1/$1 game, players generally play quite wide and passive. There are two players who have a habit of flatting premium hands to a single raise (AK, AA, KK, QQ) preflop. They are also capable of calling/checking their set on the flop with the intention of a huge raise. They seem to want to get it in AI when they know their opponents are strong too.

Eight handed (200 BB eff stacks) spot I saw yesterday versus them which sort of sums up how they play preflop. UTG+1 raises $10, HJ calls, CO calls, V1/BTN flats with JJ, V2/SB flats with QQ, UTG limp calls.

Flop: T96r
V2 (QQ) leads 35, UTG+1 (preflop raiser calls, V1 folds his JJ.
Turn: J
Check-check
River:3
UTG+1 bets 46, V2 reluctantly sigh calls and loses to KK

Do I just bet bet fold against these player types? How best should I play versus them?

I feel like I just watched a video about adjusting to players like this, but I'll be damned if I can remember who was in the video or what they said.

So...I dunno. They sound like standard rocks (tight-passive). Don't try to bluff them off of strong hands. Just out-hand them. They don't play many pots, so it shouldn't be too hard to avoid getting it in bad with them.

When they're tight-passive, play loose-aggressive, at least pre, but be sure not to overplay marginal or possibly 2nd best hands post. And don't go crazy semi-bluffing with your draws. They'll let you know their hand strength with their bet sizes.

Like, in that T96 flop example, I'm going to have JT, J9, T9, 87, and (flame suit on) 96 in my range often enough that I'm not going broke with an over-pair to the board.

Last week, I got stacked by a similar player type. I raised pre with 55. She and a couple others called. Flop comes AT8 two clubs (I have the 5c). I check, she bets 1/3 pot, one caller, I call. Turn is the 5h. I check, she bets pretty big, and I jam on her. Of course she has 88. I wouldn't have been shocked to see TT. I should have known she wouldn't call a jam with AT / A8, or just a draw.

Maybe a year ago at 1/3 - maniac opens to $15 from MP. Rock calls next to act. OMC folds. Another rock 3B's to $75 on the BTN. I'm in the SB with AQs. I flat call, figuring the maniac and other rock would come along, and they do. Flop comes KQQ two spades. I check. Maniac donk bets like $100 into $300. Fold. BTN raises to $300. I thought about it for a few seconds, then folded, pretty sure BTN had KK. He's never raising with AA, and probably not AQ, because he's never 3B'ing that pre, nor is he 3B'ing KQ. Nothing else in his range but KK.

Sure enough, I ran into him about a month later, and he confirmed he did indeed have KK, and was shocked I folded AQ. He shouldn't have been, when he was only playing one hand an hour.

Just pay attention and be sure to label the opponent as a rock when you see them playing this way. They just never get a lot of money in without the nuts.