Game: live $1/$2/$300
Hero in LP: sitting with about $1,000 -- wakes up with AKo
Villain on button: sitting with about $750

It's 4:30 a.m. and this table rocks for ten minutes, then goes dead for 10 minutes, then wakes up again and rocks some more. Villain is unknown to hero, and came to table about 45 minutes ago. Showed a nut tree top or something like that for a nice pot and that's all the hero knows.

So someone in EP raises to $10 .. there's two callers, hero re-raises to $45. villain calls and folds around and flop comes heads up.

Flop is KQ4 rainbow. hero bets $75, villain calls.
Turn is 8 (KQ48 rainbow), hero bets $100, villain calls.
River is a Q (KQ48Q rainbow), hero bets $100, villain insta-says, "all in"

Hero ?

river bet looks weak, why 100 again unless you're trying to induce that exact move? check/call somewhere around the pot sounds like the play for me here with no read.
edit, turn bet's too small also. bet 125 at least.

Also is this english? It's 4:30 a.m. and this table rocks for ten minutes, then goes dead for 10 minutes, then wakes up again and rocks some more. Villain is unknown to hero, and came to table about 45 minutes ago. Showed a nut tree top or something like that for a nice pot and that's all the hero knows.

well you've really hacked up my post in your quoting. My saying 125 is for the TURN not the river, my line on the river was check call up around a pot sized bet, also a 100 river bet represents 20% or so of villian's remaining stack, I guess by that time he'll have commited 40% overall but I'm not sure that comes into play in his head when thinking about his move as this is cash game not tourney, I still don't understand, what was your reason for betting 100 into a 450 pot?

I'm not sure I get the blocking bet so much. I'm not sure what you're putting him on that you think you can get value from. Kj? The river should be a scare card in addition to the obvious A and 9. So I think I'd rather check/call, then weak-betting the river. I don't know... maybe he's suicidal but usually 1/2 players that accumulate stacks like that like to hold on to thier wins and don't make crazy bluffs like this against another big stack.

I think this is a fold for sure... Also I usually check call against unknowns here or check fold depending on the bet.

What's the difference? I bet $100 on the turn.

Are you talking about the river bet? Let me ask you this: why did you interpret the river bet as a blocking bet?

Why do you check-call the river? Did you think villain was calling down with a Q?

What the hell is a nut tree top.



It looks like a thin value bet to me. I don't particularly like thin value bets against unknowns, obviously they are very effective against calling stations, I also don't like thin value bets OOP, at least in position you know that they gave up the option of betting on the river.

It looks like the hands you could have are AA, AK, KK, KQ, QQ or maybe 10J and you missed and threw out a weak value bluff bet on river. If he insta all ins me I have to think he has me beat here, generally the quicker the play someone makes the weaker they are because they are trying to feign strength, but with no real reads I'm not jumping in with TPTK.

You check call because the villian isn't calling you down with absolute garbage (99%). He does have something. Betting 100 is asking to be shoved on, while c/c also induces a bluff, and protects you from getting it all in when you are WB.

And if that 100 isn't a blocking bet, than it is the stupidest bet ever. If the guy is not a complete moron, he's shoving the river with ATC because the bet is so thin. Not only that, but the villian wakes up with a much better hand than AK here a lot. 44 is very reasonable for his line. Unless you have some massive live tell, I'd never call the river. If you were beating him, well you got outplayed.

1. AKQJT for the nuts. Broadway no paired board, no flush.

QFT

But, as to the river action, I don't like it... and as far as your read, no one really knows what the above means, so therefore I have to ask what you viewed your river bet as? A value bet? A blocker bet?

I mean you've been at the table with this guy for 45 minutes, which easily is 20 hands, if not more... so you can get a general read, even if it's not a true read or a helpful read.

I think check/call is the best line here, unless you forsure have a dead-on read that you are ahead.

Cause it's small and you can't expect many hands that you beat to call you. It could be a feign block bet, but you don't have a strong read on him that makes you able to expect him to come over the top of you here with regularity.

Do you really see this as a value bet? As has been said, there isn't much you beat that will call.

Fold river. River bet is fine though. Only missed draw is 10J and he would have to have a donktastic read to demolish your blocking bet with that and you actually gain value from some Kx hands.

Adjust for 1/2 live, but what type of Kx hands cold calll the three bet preflop?

EDIT:

QK, KJ and KT, and AQ might do it and then come along for the ride after the flop.

I think the OP has been smudged in translation. We have no real read on him. (Meaning we don't think he's capable of folding AA on any board but not stupid enough to call off with middle pair for over 2 buy-ins.) Maybe I'm wrong, but my default read for average 200nl player is that he doesn't call me with k2 often given the 3-bet. I would say he calls with Kj and Kq suited but i just don't see any other king besides that.

Edit: Meaning of which that if you don't have a read, you shouldn't assume he's awful just because at he's at 1/2... especially as the pot is getting bigger.

My read was that I was ahead at the turn, and he was fishing. JT does this. I see in retrospect that if that's my read, I probably need to bet bigger on the turn.

havent read anything, but man.

whats with the large re-pop preflop with AKo in a 1/2 game?

a repop to 25. is just fine. sometimes i even just smooth call. depending on the raiser and my position.

also. i hate the constant barreling. I also dont throw bets out there without really knowing where i'm at.

The object to poker is to trick your opponents into paying you off. right?

i mean, why are you firing 75 here? cuz u have TPTK? so ur betting ur hand to protect it and scoop the pot? whats the point in even hitting TP with AK if u bet it as strong as u would if u were bluffin a c-bet?

how would u play this flop if u had KK, and hit top set?

I agree that the repop with AKo in a live 1/2 game to 45 is a big too big. I like a smaller reraise or a call more than a large reraise.

Betting the flop is fine, and I don't mind firing the turn again, but you have no idea where you're at at all in this hand after the flop hit, which put you in a very precarious situation and led to the result in the hand. Feeling out your opponent is a little bit more key than simply throwing around money because you're the big stack.

the biggest issue is the OOP here IMO.

1) we're all + $600 in a late $1/2 game; basically we're playing somewhere between $2/5 and $5/10. Besides, if I'm big stack, why not push people around PF and TID?

2) I don't think it's 'barrelling.' I think I'm ahead by a mile. I want to put money in this pot.

3) I don't know how to play sets. I don't hit them. Especially with KK ......................................................................
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............ OK ... honestly, I play it about the same. I don't understand people not wanting money in the pot when they're ahead. The only draw on the board is the straight draw, but why slow down?

True. Why give free cards?

I think your preflop re-raise is fine, although I will often just call here OOP. I think a smaller re-raise is crazy!

I think the river is a check-call, though, and by a wide margin.

I would assume he's trying to get it heads up with a hand that plays well heads up. The pot is $33 before it gets to him, I'd probably reraise to $35-45 here with deep stacks. A repop OOP to $25 is too small you give everyone at the table amazing odds to come along and now you're playing a bloated pot OOP with a hand where you need to hit to make any money.




I don't know what constant barreling means? I feel like he needs to bet the flop and turn right? Of course you want to trick them into getting paid off, but you also don't want to be so passive to give them free winning cards, people bet to gain info.

The pot is $110 at the flop. $75 is standard flop bet IMO. I'd be betting almost any hand that I reraised with OOP to this amount. I don't understand the bold. Of course we're betting the same if we hit or missed, doing otherwise is really bad and exploitable.

If I had KK I'd check 35% and bet $75ish 65%.

The deep stacks, is non sense. why play a 1/2 game like a 5/10 game? Its no limit, you can bet any amount, whats the point in inflating the pots so large that u are pot committed with a 500bb stack.







we're not giving free cards are we? we're 1st to act. we are shooting shells blind OOP. why not just close your eyes and pray everytime ur in a hand?

You're succesfully betting worse hands off their hand, and only allowing big draws, or bigger hands than ours to call on a flop that we seemed to hit well.

further more, what level are you on here? i mean, "don;t give free cards" type thinking is silly, what do you put him on that another card will scare you?

I dont like much of the hand.

I play 1/2NL live a lot. i cant say i see this type of playing often. this is very very LAG looking. I know he has AK, but its playing higher than a 1/2 game

with that being said, if we're gonna compare it to a bigger game, than the flop bet is ok. but the turn and river plays are puke.


my guess is u folded AK here right?

That's because you see very very poor players a lot. I think the turn bet is too small, and I c/c river most of the time.

but u dont have any solid reads on him? how can u say this??

I always give people the benefit of the doubt, unti they prove other wise.

I think his holdings are

AK,AA,KK, QQ , JJ AQ maybe KQ

dude, comon, agianst a donkey with AQ, K,J AJ, J,T this play makes perfect sense. but no reads on villain means we cant be sure he calls 3 bets PF with these crap hands

and even if he does, is the K,Q,8 rainbow flop what he is looking for to invest another 2/3 pot?

Gotta throw 10J in there. I weight less towards AK AA and KK just because we are holding AK and because of no 3 bet PF. Obv doesn't mean its impossible. I think his most likely holdings are 10J, QK, AQ, and flopped set.

Live read will help huge on determining whether this guy just shoveled in with his bricked 10J or not. Like I said earlier, no read I muck it, but usually insta-all in is weak and trying to push you around. So with that and if I could sense something while looking at him, I could call.

Again, a bigger reason to check/call unless you had a dead on enough read that you could feign block-bet and have him push in. But you said in the OP that he was relatively unknown. So I don't see how these two ideas can live together with eachother.

This is where I'm sort lost with playing a big hand here. I'm fine with playing TPTK for a huge pot in a 1/2 game if I'm fairly sure I'm up against an utterly horrendous player. If I'm unsure, I think we should be leaning to being more conservative and giving him a little credit for having an idea of what he's doing.

Remember a few things ... that I'm as unknown to him as he is to me, I've got him covered, he's not raising ... he's calling down.

In which case, I won't assume, that he assumes that we can fold TPTK at a 1/2 game.

What are you trying to get at?

The key question is what does villain CALL a still multi-way pot that's been raised to $45 with, that he calls down with with a K and Q on the flop?

If he puts me on AA
If he puts me on KK
If he puts me on QQ
If he puts me on AK
If he puts me on JJ

What does HHHEEEEE hold that he's doing this with and that he goes all in with at the river?

why lead for so little on the turn?

AA: KK, QQ, 44, JT, KQ, K4, Q4
KK: JT
QQ: KK, JT
AK: KK, QQ, 44, JT, KQ, K4, Q4
JJ: AA, KK, QQ, 44, JT, KQ, K4, Q4, AK, KJ, KT, K9, K8, K7, K6, K5, K3, K2, AQ, QJ, QT, Q9, Q8, Q7, Q6, Q5, Q3, Q2

Well, those are the hands he'd call you down with if he put you exactly on the hand at the front. I assume if he puts you on exactly KK or QQ, he folds JT on the turn.

Anyhow, I think JT is the answer you're looking for, so go ahead and tell us he had J-high.

If he puts me on AA KQ, KK, QQ, 44, JT
If he puts me on KK JT
If he puts me on QQKK, JT
If he puts me on AKKK, QQ, JT, 44, KQ
If he puts me on JJJT, KK, QQ, AK, KQ.



He goes all in with KQ, KK, QQ, 44 if he thinks you're strong and reraises JT if he thinks you're weak. I would discount the JT more just because of the action preflop too.

I didn't catch this response last night and now I don't know what street or play you're referring to.

He also goes all in with A9

Did he go all in with A9? LOL.

Yup.

WOWZA live play

this is silly.

the point of strat is to help create +EV solutions to situations. You betting was not good at all. So villain having A,9 on a complete bluff is not important.

Meh. I figured the strat discussion was over and people like to see results.
I missed betting big on the turn.