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1/2 hand. I think I played it wrong. (4 Viewers)

joker80

joker80

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This is a hand from our biweekly 1/2 game. This game is a great game to play in. Lots of really loose players who play way too many hands and will call down in questionable spots. We are UTG2. UTG is one of the tighter players pre flop (other than me) but will make really bad call downs in spots and is quite passive. UTG is a break even player. Button is extremely loose and will rebuy multiple buy ins a night and is overall a losing player. Standard opening size is 10-12 $ and I have seen button 3 bet several under standard opens in the past few games. BB is unknown to me and has already doubled through UTG showing a weak 2 pair against UTG overpair. He is unknown to me but one of the other players mentioned to me that he is "good for the game action". Our image is tight and aggressive. Overall we are a winning player in this game, but I am not sure anyone notices.

Game is 8 handed

Stack sizes are 370$ effective. UTG opens for 9$ and we have :kh::kc:. What would you like to do?
 
Legend5555 said:
3 bet to $30-40. Anything in that range will work. The more willing they are to call regardless of size, the larger I'd go.
Click to expand...
This is an obvious 3-bet 95% of the time. The only time I'd flat (or limp) is if there were strong tendencies for players in late position to re-raise - in which case you can repop it when the action gets back to you. But those situations require a pretty specific read and confidence that a raise is coming.

Since you usually can't count on that, fire away!
 
Agree that this is almost always a 3bt right off the bat (anything above $30 will do) - but you can mix in the occassional flat here if button/others have been 3betting a lot of hands in the session. Sometimes it's just one of those games where you can feel the energy is more aggro and can lay (an occassional) trap. I don't like to fall into the habit of fancy play syndrome, but as long as you are balancing it correctly, I don't mind it here.
 
Duh, didn't see we are UTG2.

I agree with a 3x. 35-50 depending on table dynamics. Late in the night a loose 1/2 game will easily call 50 with mediocre hands.
 
Knowing nothing about the villains, I three bet, but less than "pot". Pot would be $30 all day or $21 on top. I think $25 all day or $16 on top is fine.

Villain reads matter though. If the table will cold call a $35 3-bet, sure let's bet that. If a couple of late position players can be counted upon to squeeze the dols callers, lets play trappy.

In the rare case that UTG 4-bets, I would seriously consider folding. Not saying I would, but a tight, passive player. 4-betting sounds pretty scarry.

Let's get that SPR as low as possible -=- Drstrage
 
I 3 bet 95 % of the time here, but given Buttons tendency to 3 bet and my image, I actually flatted here.

Button flats 9$ :mad:
SB folds 1$
BB flats 9$

37$ in the pot

Flop is :kd::6d::tc:

BB leads 20$ into 37.
UTG folds.
What would you like to do?
 
joker80 said:
This is a hand from our biweekly 1/2 game. This game is a great game to play in. Lots of really loose players who play way too many hands and will call down in questionable spots. We are UTG2. UTG is one of the tighter players pre flop (other than me) but will make really bad call downs in spots and is quite passive. UTG is a break even player. Button is extremely loose and will rebuy multiple buy ins a night and is overall a losing player. Standard opening size is 10-12 $ and I have seen button 3 bet several under standard opens in the past few games. BB is unknown to me and has already doubled through UTG showing a weak 2 pair against UTG overpair. He is unknown to me but one of the other players mentioned to me that he is "good for the game action". Our image is tight and aggressive. Overall we are a winning player in this game, but I am not sure anyone notices.

Game is 8 handed

Stack sizes are 370$ effective. UTG opens for 9$ and we have :kh::kc:. What would you like to do?
Click to expand...
Raise to $40
joker80 said:
I 3 bet 95 % of the time here, but given Buttons tendency to 3 bet and my image, I actually flatted here.

Button flats 9$ :mad:
SB folds 1$
BB flats 9$

37$ in the pot

Flop is :kd::6d::tc:

BB leads 20$ into 37. UTG folds. What would you like to do?
Click to expand...
Raise to $75
 
joker80 said:
I 3 bet 95 % of the time here, but given Buttons tendency to 3 bet and my image, I actually flatted here.

Button flats 9$ :mad:
SB folds 1$
BB flats 9$

37$ in the pot

Flop is :kd::6d::tc:

BB leads 20$ into 37.
UTG folds.
What would you like to do?
Click to expand...
So the BB who was priced in is leading here now and the original UTG (tight player) folds... we have the loose BTN behind us still to act right? This is now an annoying spot because the BB's lead is so weak that most of our raises just get quick folds but I agree that this board is too wet for us to simply keep slow playing and allow the button + BB to see almost a free turn. Gotta bump it up here to $85 ish.
 
Raise all-in, especially with that kind of player on the button.
You don't want a third diamond or any broadway card flashing on the turn, and yourself out of position.
 
Coyote said:
Raise all-in, especially with that kind of player on the button.
You don't want a third diamond or any broadway card flashing on the turn, and yourself out of position.
Click to expand...
We have over 400 behind here. Like 420 and cover all other players
 
So two things going through my mind...

BB is unlikely to have top pair. So how strong can he really be?

He led into 3 people, so he should have something.

Normally in this spot with the board crushed, I'd advocate for just a call. This may even still be pretty good if villain behind likes to raise draws and stuff. But, I imagine in BB is leading, he isn't folding to a raise. And given he can't have much top pair, he likey has a draw that is always going to call, or possibly a lower set sometimes. So raising seems like it can't really lose you value against him ever.

So I say raise to $60-80 Though I'm not convinced it's always going to be the most profitable play with a loose cannon still to act.
 
Last edited:
joker80 said:
I 3 bet 95 % of the time here, but given Buttons tendency to 3 bet and my image, I actually flatted here.

Button flats 9$ :mad:
SB folds 1$
BB flats 9$

37$ in the pot

Flop is :kd::6d::tc:

BB leads 20$ into 37.
UTG folds.
What would you like to do?
Click to expand...
Do we know ANYTHING about the BB?

Have you observed him betting into a preflop raiser and two callers like this before?

It's such an odd move that's difficult to assign a motive to. Since we don't know anything about him, I think you have to give him credit for some type of marginal top-pair type hand or perhaps a ragged 2 pair. Since 3 of the 4 kings are accounted for, does 10-6 make sense? Would a set of sixes make sense?

I guess it's always possible he's leading out with a FD or SD or some type of combo draw... but that would be a fundamentally bad play.

A raise here is needed but you don't want to kill your action. I think a raise to $70 is about right - that should be price-prohibitive for the button to continue (he'd be facing a $70 raise to win $127+ implied). You could go a little more I suppose but you don't want to induce two folds.

The overarching strategy for the rest of the hand is to get all your money in the pot. Assuming only the BB calls, that will put $177 in the pot but you'll still have ~$300 left to bet. You could structure that at $150 per street, $125/$175 or some variation of that. But you should be thinking at this stage about how to get the rest of it in.

This all sort of underpins the importance of 3-betting preflop - that would have set up a turn-jam nicely in this spot. You could still jam the turn as you got there but it'd be such a huge overbet that it'd prevent you from maximizing your EV.
 
Flush draw definitely is a strong possibility here. Given we didn't 3x we have under repped our hand so they likely don't put us on something like KK or AK even.

Maybe BB has something like 10xdd or something like 97/98/87 double diamonds? Maybe 66 or T6 or KT/Kx? Either way, moderate raise to build the pot. 70-80 works.
 
joker80 said:
This is a hand from our biweekly 1/2 game. This game is a great game to play in. Lots of really loose players who play way too many hands and will call down in questionable spots. We are UTG2. UTG is one of the tighter players pre flop (other than me) but will make really bad call downs in spots and is quite passive. UTG is a break even player. Button is extremely loose and will rebuy multiple buy ins a night and is overall a losing player. Standard opening size is 10-12 $ and I have seen button 3 bet several under standard opens in the past few games. BB is unknown to me and has already doubled through UTG showing a weak 2 pair against UTG overpair. He is unknown to me but one of the other players mentioned to me that he is "good for the game action". Our image is tight and aggressive. Overall we are a winning player in this game, but I am not sure anyone notices.

Game is 8 handed

Stack sizes are 370$ effective. UTG opens for 9$ and we have :kh::kc:. What would you like to do?
Click to expand...
I reraise to 35
 
I agree with @boltonguy - I read the half pot bet as blocking and/or setting the price for the draw.

If hero had 3-bet preflop, Hero's range dominates that flop. over pair / top set / top pair / middle set are all in the range. But rarely a flush draw and no OESDs. A good LAG can put a lot of pressure on Hero's set with a harsh turn card.

But Hero didn't 3-bet, so his preflop action strongly leans towards draws and a few lesser sets and top two pair hands. A raise here looks like a semi-bluff more than a value bet. A good LAG might well make a huge mistake thinking Hero can't call a big bet.

Pot for Hero's potential raise is $37 + $20 + $20 = $77 I like $100 all day. Depending on Hero's history, all-in might be fine too. < thinking that a history of jamming with big draws and big hands might get called down by risk seeking villains.

What Hero must avoid is flatting the $20 and giving a cheap draw. Half the deck makes a three flush or three to a straight.

The $100 raise leads to a $237 pot vs $261 effective behind. I feel pot committed on q bad turn, but it is close. Maybe raising to $125 is better? That makes a $287 pot with $236 behind.
 

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