K6s in the BTN (1 Viewer)

[Adam Crowley]

Playing .25/.50 3 handed.

Tale of the tape

Hero and villain are playing ~$100, hero is in for $80 and villain $40

Villain plays a TAG style and is one of the better players at the table. He is an overall winner in the game but sometimes takes non optimal lines. Has been in the black all night and not got involved in too many big pots.

Hero is slightly looser then TAG generally but is playing slightly tighter tonight. The game has not gone his way and would be in the red if not for two big pots that were gifted to him by some of the weaker players that busted a few hands before. Hero is not playing well tonight and not connecting with boards very often. He has been aggressive pre flop but would be veiwed as weak passive post flop has not been cbetting much and conceding a lot of pots after opening pre.

Hero has on the button. Action?

 

[DrStrange]

How are people adjusting to short handed play? Lots of skilled players devolve when playing short.

I find K6s to be an acceptable starter playing three handed, more so if the villains are passive or not adjusting well.

Let's make it $2 to go.

 

[Adam Crowley]

I should add the last three players left are the best three players in this game, but by no means would I say skilled players. At this point in the hand it is hard to say how well they are adapting to short handed play. Hero has the most experience playing short handed and has played Heads up vs villain once before. Villain makes more mistakes short handed then at a fuller table.

Both small blind and big blind don't consciously think about hands in terms of ranges at any point in the game but are well aware that hero plays looser short handed and on the button.

 

[AlPresidente]

I agree with doc. $2.

 

[Adam Crowley]

Hero makes it $2.50, SB calls BB folds

$5.50 in the pot

Flop:

SB checks action on hero. Check or bet. If betting what sizing are you going with?

 

[DrStrange]

I bet $3.50. 64% of the pot AND who can resist a good chance to bet tree-fidy?

Still hoping for some villain reads.

 

[Adam Crowley]

I find villain particularly hard to play against at the moment. His game has changed a bit since we started playing again.

Only things I know for sure. Villain will only continue in hand if he thinks he has the best hand. Have seen him call three streets with Ah vs super aggressive fish that gets caught bluffing every other hand. Aside from this villain will fold strong hands if put to the test. Not sure on what his tolerance is to draws but he is not known for chasing draws unless they are very strong.

Looks to take the lead in the hand prematurely/overplay hands. Has been cbetting or betting vs missed cbet a large % of the time and then betting turn and river for the same amount as his flop bet. Have not seen a showdown to determine an accurate range

 

[Trihonda]

I think we bet $4.

 

[Jimulacrum]

In most games, this is basically an automatic preflop raise for me three-handed.

Bet $4 or $5 on the flop. K6 is probably best. Bet is for value and to keep SB predictable. Of course, the turn will be an overcard 106% of the time, so watch SB for any signs of improvement.

 

[Adam Crowley]

I think flop is a clear bet hero bets $4

Turn

Board

SB checks, heros action?

@Jimulacrum I agree it is an automatic open. What conditions do you consider it not an open?

Hero is not overall confident with live tells and definitely does not look to pick them up often enough. Hero does not watch villains reaction to turn card.

 

[Jimulacrum]

@Jimulacrum I agree it is an automatic open. What conditions do you consider it not an open?

If stacks are way shorter, if I'm dramatically out-matched by my opponents, and/or if one of my opponents is frequently 3-betting me preflop.

There's $13.50 in the pot, so let's go $10 on the turn.

If SB makes a move here, it's an easy fold. If he folds, that's not a bad result. If he calls and checks the river, it's an easy check back if no 6 hits.

The only tough decision is if he calls the turn and bets out the river. I'm leaning toward a fold there too, though, because there are really no draws for him to miss and bluff on the end.

 

[AlPresidente]

I'd expect a TAG villain to 3-bet PF with most hands ahead of us on the flop; betting here is clear.
I like a check on the turn intending to call all rivers except a 6 or 2. He has a strong incentive to bluff the river, if he's ahead already it costs nothing and it also means we avoid potentially ugly river spots where we might get bluffed off the best hand or call with the worst of it.
I think this outweighs the danger of letting him hit a 6-outer on the river.

 

[Adam Crowley]

Hero checks. This was one of the decisions I was iffy about. I checked because I figured I was ahead or behind. I wouldn't expect to get floated by any hands worse than KT+ A8+, all pocket pairs

May have missed value.

Something I should have probably written earler. There is next to no three betting in this game. I would give villain a 3b range of 22 - 55, 99+, AJ+

River is

Pot $13.50

Board

Villain checks. Heros action?

 

[Jimulacrum]

Do you think Villain would routinely pay off with 55, 44, 33, or ace-high? Those are your only value spots here. Everything else is a chop at best. Checking behind may be the right move.

 

[Adam Crowley]

I would expect a call from all pocket pairs. I would expect a 3b pre st least half the time. A high would call as well depending on bet sizing.

 

[DrStrange]

Bet / fold $5

 

[AlPresidente]

Bet $5. Re-raise if he comes over the top.

 

[DrStrange]

I presume that the re-raise is a pure bluff?

 

[AlPresidente]

Yes. Pretty hard for a reasonable TAG player to have a 2 or TT or to call with any pocket pair that beats us.

 

[Adam Crowley]

Hero bets $4 trying to get a call from A high, K high and smaller pocket pairs

Villain thinks for a second and raises to $10

Pot $27.50

Does hero call fold or raise?

Also thoughts on river bet size

 

[AlPresidente]

Let's recap the action.
PF, we raise 5x and TAG villain calls from SB. That's a biggish and he has the worst seat. So he doesn't have junk & unless BB is lagtard, he's highly unlikely to have a big hand.
On the flop he calls $4 into $5.50. That flop misses most of both our ranges. We can't narrow his range much here as we wouldn't expect him to raise monsters and floating with overs is fine too.
No turn action, then he check/raises small on the river. We lose to 2x, 66-AA. Ac2c seems the only plausible 2 he can have. I guess A2o & Kc2c are feasible, but they mostly fold pre imo. 6c6d is possible. 77-99, I'd expect a check/raise from on the flop. TT-AA I'd expect to raise PF. Whatever he has, he's played it weird & I don't see how we can possibly fold for $6 more.

Quick actions tend to be bluffs often; I've reconsidered - call.

 

[Adam Crowley]

Any one else got a view of the river decision?

 

[Adam Crowley]

Hero calls villain tables QTo. Still not sure if calling is a mistake or not. I would have expected Tx to bet the river for value and can only assume that 2x may try and trap sometimes but given the turn action I would assume a small bet sometimes as well. I am not sure if villain would ever bluff in this spot though which begs the question what do I beat.

 

[Jimulacrum]

I am not sure if villain would ever bluff in this spot though which begs the question what do I beat.

This is the big question right here. The minimum hand betting for value here is a 6, and even that would be thin, so the bottom of his non-bluffing range is only a chop (and even those hands, I think he's checking more often on the river).

That runout just doesn't lend itself to bluffing. There weren't any good draws on the flop or the turn, and the river put up a card that would give you a minimum of a full house if you had anything on the flop. If Villain is a reasonably competent player, I would expect that river bet to be a bluff < 1% of the time.

 

[Adam Crowley]

So do you think my value bet is decent or do your think I should check behind and value bet 88+

My thoughts in the hand where that I should value bet 6x plus (out of my opening range obviously)