PAHWM - .25/.50 NLHE w/ QQ (1 Viewer)

Legend5555

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No real reads other than villain in this hand is a thinking player. 3 bets a good amount pre, and with good sizing. Plays fairly well post from what i've seen. Nothing glaringly bad. Though his preflop raise sizes are not always uniform, but I haven't been around long enough to see if there is any rhyme or reason to the sizing yet.

4 handed
.25/.50 NLHE

UTG folds
UTG+1 folds
HERO in SB with :qh::qs: ($62) raises to $1.50
VILLAIN in BB calls ($132)

Pot $3
Eff stack $60.50

Flop: :qc::9d::3s:

Action on HERO. What's the play?
 
Small bet. 1/2 pot. Have to start building a pot and hope he has a A9 or 10J that he can come along with. If not then you aren’t winning anymore anyways.
 
I bet 1/3-1/2 pot. Lots of hands that will call: JT/KT/KJ/9x/Qx
 
It depends how you’ve been playing previously. If you always c-bet after raising pre and you check now it may raise the alarm. It may also look suspicious if you tend to play passively out of position after the flop but come out betting now.

If you are an overall balanced player however, then I simply like to check here sometimes and bet sometimes. This way your check can’t always be read as weak and your bet can’t always be read as strong.

If you check and he bets I would just call and take a card off to let him catch up a little on this dry board. Save your check raises for the turn/river depending on what comes off.
 
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Continued

4 handed
.25/.50 NLHE

UTG folds
UTG+1 folds
HERO in SB with :qh::qs: ($62) raises to $1.50
VILLAIN in BB calls ($132)

Pot $3
Eff stack $60.50

Flop: :qc::9d::3s:

HERO bets $1.10
VILLAIN calls.

Pot $5.20
Eff stack $59.40

Turn: :qc::9d::3s::7c:

Action on HERO. What's the play?
 
A heart turn would cause me to downbet, but this turn opens up our opponent's calling range quite a bit. :ac::9c:, :ac::3c:, :jc::tc:, :kc::jc:, :tc::8c:, and:kc::tc: are holdings that absolutely love this turn and can continue on even a pot sized bet. I'd bet at least $4, if not full pot here.
 
Kind of hard to go wrong on this turn. I'd probably continue betting, unless I have a read that villain is very aggro and takes any sign of weakness as a green light to win the pot by force.

Reason I'd usually bet is that ranges are so wide that villain may very well have a hand he feels comfortable with calling bets with but wouldn't bet them himself. And in the event he hits a set or two pair himself, he very well might raise you here.
 
Bet around $3.50-$4 for value and to deny proper calling odds for straights/backdoor flushes.
 
I'd bet between .5 and 1.25 pot most times and every once in a while thrown in a check with intent to check raise. For fun I'm going to suggest this be one of those check raise the turn times. It looks like a give up and may induce a raise from a draw.
 
On the flop, I like a bet of $2. I want to build up this pot so that (a) there's something nice to win at the end, and relatedly (b) Villain feels more invested in the pot. I guess $1.10 is okay.

As played, on the turn, $4 should be good. Hard to put Villain on a range, but we should be able to safely assume that his bare minimum is probably something like AK chasing an overcard, and he could be as strong as a slowplayed set of 9s. Could also have the obvious open-ender or a gutshot. Giving a free or cheap card here after the board got wetter would be silly. Make him pay.

TBH, though, I'd like to know what your table image is. That factors in a lot. Myself, I'm capable of barreling away with A9 on this same board, if the play seems right against the opponent. That makes it easy for me to barrel away with top set and get good action, but your case might be different.
 
Continued

4 handed
.25/.50 NLHE

UTG folds
UTG+1 folds
HERO in SB with :qh::qs: ($62) raises to $1.50
VILLAIN in BB calls ($132)

Pot $3
Eff stack $60.50

Flop: :qc::9d::3s:

HERO bets $1.10
VILLAIN calls.

Pot $5.20
Eff stack $59.40

Turn: :qc::9d::3s::7c:

HERO bets $4.25
VILLAIN raises to $13.50

HERO?
 
BAD MATH ALERT _ CORRECTED BELOW!! :(

Well we cant be beat here - only concern would be a combo draw with clubs, something like :jc::tc: giving V 23 outs (i think as we don't count :8c: and :kc: twice) or 46% equity which means that you have 54%. V will probably call a shove so if he has a combo draw so its a coin flip - I am not a fan of coin flips as I play a more low variance game. There are other combo draws with fewer outs such as :kc::tc: but V is probably still calling a shove. Heck I bet :ac::9c: calls a shove but with fewer outs.

With no fold equity I would call and hope for a clean river. If its dirty, check/fold and save some $$.
 
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Hero holds the current nuts. I would consider justifications for fancy plays but I think this is a jam. $32 pot with ~$32 left behind.

Villain can only have six straight outs plus nine flushing outs less two "poison" outs that pair the board while making the flush. 13 outs once, let's call it 30% equity.
 
So tempted to shove. No other bet size really makes sense. A smaller raise would probably reek of strength even more than a shove. This is an all-or-nothing kind of spot anyway, especially with one round of betting still left.

This line could easily be a slowplayed 33 or 99, in which case Villain thinks he's successfully sprung his trap, and you're always getting paid. A hand like :tc::jc: would make a lot of sense too, and in that case, you also want to shove to deny him proper odds to chase (and, importantly, get all the money in before he whiffs his draw and won't pay the rest on the river).

Other possibilities: AA, KK, Q7, Q9, 79, all of which are fairly likely to pay you off. Villain's line is very strong here, so I wouldn't expect a hand that's going to get scared off at this point.
 
Raise all in. If he has a draw let’s get it while he is drawing still. If he misses the river he won’t call a bet and probably won’t try to bluff either.

If he has a made hand like 2 pair or a miracle smaller set he will obviously get it in now. But he may be able to get away from it or you both may check it down if a scare card comes off like a Broadway Club costing you value from an inferior hand.
 
@DrStrange I'm going to try to count outs correctly :)
So with the flush, V has 9 outs less the :9c: and :3c: as you correctly noted boat up hero. So 7 outs for the FD.
With the OESD (best case for V I think is :jc::tc:) V has 8 outs less :8c: and :kc: for 6 outs so 13 or 26% equity.
Correctly counting outs matters - I concur with the jam.
 
There’s basically no downside to jamming here. You’re probably not going to get any more value if you call and he has nothing as he’s likely not going to fire another barrel on the river since you’ve shown strength throughout the hand. I’d rather put him to a decision on the turn than have to make a big decision on the river if a bad card falls.

If he has a set or two pair he might think you are semi bluffing with a flush/straight draw and call off.
 
Just so we are all on the same page, a jam would end up being $45.90 into $32.20 after the call of the $13.50.

This was IMO the real decision point of the hand. Jam or call? What range are we putting the opponent on and what range do we have in his eyes if we jam?

Side question: Would the play change if the positions were reversed (VILLAIN limp calls from SB pre) with same action leading to a VILLAIN turn check raise?
 
Considering the hand was blind vs. blind, his range will usually be more wide and I’d be putting him more on some suited 3-4 gappers or unsuited connector type hands. If he had anything like 99,33,77,AQ,QJ,AK etc...you might expect a 3-bet pre flop but since he only flat called I’d be less concerned with those hands unless he plays sneaky from the BB. I don’t have him on A9 of clubs because he would not want to raise himself out of seeing a river with a hand that could turn into the nuts or second pair that might be good at showdown.

I’m seeing his raise on the turn as a semi-bluff. It can get you to fold on the turn or worst case scenario, it will get a little more money in the pot if he hits on the river. It also lays the groundwork for a convincing bluff if he misses. Gives himself 3 ways to win (you fold on the turn, he spikes the river and you call, or he bluffs the river and you fold.
 
Jam

Villian has polarized his range to very strong or bluff - my read is overpair, 2 pair, set in that order. Maybe big draw but I doubt it, just easier to play that passively.

A club kills your river action vs overpair, 2 pair, set so get it in now.

Stack sizes are awkward. A raise to $30 leaving $15 behind doesn't make sense, so get it in.

I don't like a call. It would only make sense if you had a good read that he is bluffing.
 
Could we be looking at set over set here? Villain may be thinking he’s letting you hang yourself and now doesn’t want you to draw out on him either.
 
is this online or live? I do think there are a few ways to play this hand depending if online and live.
 
Just so we are all on the same page, a jam would end up being $45.90 into $32.20 after the call of the $13.50.

This was IMO the real decision point of the hand. Jam or call? What range are we putting the opponent on and what range do we have in his eyes if we jam?

Side question: Would the play change if the positions were reversed (VILLAIN limp calls from SB pre) with same action leading to a VILLAIN turn check raise?
I like a jam. Just calling sets up some pretty awkward river spots when oop. I assume we would like check to him to stay in game flow and to give him a chance to shove his bluffs. He may decide to give up on some of those and depending on the river card he might shut down some of his value hands, both of which could have called a turn shove.

In position, and assuming he has a very wide calling range pre and is capable of raising plenty of weak draws as well as the big ones, I think a turn flat makes more sense, at least some of the time.
 

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