Play a Hand w/ Me: NLHE .25/.50 (2 Viewers)

cpac54

cpac54

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Hand from earlier tonight. Online, 9-handed, NLHE .25/.50 (still early in the session).

First time posting one of these, but I've always found these extremely helpful, and so let's give it a go!

I'll play this through to the flop, as pre-flop was very straight forward.

PRE-FLOP:

HERO, UTG sitting on $49.70, dealt :ah::kh:

Hero opens to $1.50

folded around to BB, sitting on $93.66, CALLS.



FLOP: :3d::kc::2h: (Pot: $3.25)

BB checks.

Hero... ?
 
How skilled is villain? How would we describe villain - aggressive vs passive / tight vs loose / sticky vs fit-fold? We need to have more villain data if villain takes unexpected aggressive action.

How is hero perceived? Should we think of this as an exploitive situation vs a weak villain or not?

The table seems quite tight, is that a fair assessment? More context could lead to a more robust discussion.

As for the hand:

The SPR is just under 15. Not a good place for a "one-pair" type hand.

I think my decision depends greatly on the villain. I would not want to try to get three streets of value here unless I knew the villain was the type to go broke with a hand like KT . . .

My default line is to bet 100% of my range in an exploitive situation. Bone dry flops are classic c-bet / steal opportunities.

But if villain is skilled, I would check the flop. It is bone dry, Hero isn't giving up much with a free card. Hero is calling a turn bet, and betting if checked to. The goal is winning a small pot while avoiding getting into a big hand holding top pair and modest redraws at best.

If villain is passive, I would be concerned with any serious aggressive betting.

DrStrange
 
I mean... cbet like 1000% of the time here.

This is super dry, so there is merit in delaying the cbet if you have any type of read on the villain that they might take a stab at it later, perhaps.

Edit: I notice you aren't sitting on a full stack. Don't do that. Mash that auto-rebuy/auto-top up button online.
 
This is approx hand 50 of the session for me, but villian joined later, around hand 20 or so. Has been involved in a lot of pots, including taking down an $81 pot just a few hands previous, where he had KJs on the BB and was agressively pre-flop, and on every street, eventually beating the button's AQo on a A,K,10,Q,7 rainbow board. In general though seemed to check a lot of hands down (as did the table in general). In another previous hand villian, again in BB, with 68s, checked it all the way on a QQJ88 board.

Max buy-in at the table is $50.

My initial thought was C-bet of around $2.00. I was certainly over-thinking everything tonight it seems though, and ended up going with the check. I was working my way through the Daniel Negreanu Masterclass directly before and my head was admittedly full. Dry board, seemed fairly safe.

TURN comes: :td: (Board now :3d: :kc: :2h: :td: ) (Pot: still $3.25)

Villian: bets $2.00

Hero: ??
 
I’m c betting almost 100% on that flop, smacks my UTG opening range. I’m c betting small though, probably in the $1.25-1.50 range to keep his entire range in that hit any part of the flop. I’m calling any raise as well.
 
I'm sorry but isn't top/top exactly what you're looking for with no immediate flush draw to start building a pot? Especially from the BB with A4s or A5s or KQs, KJs will probably continue with a 1/2-3/4 pot bet.
 
Preflop standard. Vs BB cbet with entire range but check is fine. Turn pretty easy call I think. We’re calling the river, also.
 
small hand = small pot, right?

Call the turn bet. At that point, everybody knows you probably have a king or two, so play the river slow. Villain could have almost anything here (except for your two cards).
 
Please keep in mind this an on-line game. And a relatively "high" stakes game at that. I missed this critical factor in my first post ITT.

This IS NOT my Saturday night $0.25/$0.50 game where someone could stack off with KTo. Playing online "higher" stakes, Hero needs to lean closer to GTO vs exploitive.

I like Hero's line - check flop, call turn, call river. Bet if checked to. If I recall correctly, the game theory optimal solvers often suggest this sort of line. Hero should call the turn and plan on calling the river betting if villain checks the river.
 
kmccormick100 said:
I’m c betting almost 100% on that flop, smacks my UTG opening range. I’m c betting small though, probably in the $1.25-1.50 range to keep his entire range in that hit any part of the flop. I’m calling any raise as well.
Click to expand...

I like this choice as well. I'd small c-bet 100% of even a button range (nevermind a UTG range) on this flop. A BB range has a lot of low equity hands and he can't continue often enough to deny the effectiveness of your small c bet.
 
cpac54 said:
This is approx hand 50 of the session for me, but villian joined later, around hand 20 or so. Has been involved in a lot of pots, including taking down an $81 pot just a few hands previous, where he had KJs on the BB and was agressively pre-flop, and on every street, eventually beating the button's AQo on a A,K,10,Q,7 rainbow board. In general though seemed to check a lot of hands down (as did the table in general). In another previous hand villian, again in BB, with 68s, checked it all the way on a QQJ88 board.

Max buy-in at the table is $50.

My initial thought was C-bet of around $2.00. I was certainly over-thinking everything tonight it seems though, and ended up going with the check. I was working my way through the Daniel Negreanu Masterclass directly before and my head was admittedly full. Dry board, seemed fairly safe.

TURN comes: :td: (Board now :3d::kc::2h::td: ) (Pot: still $3.25)

Villian: bets $2.00

Hero: ??
Click to expand...

My thinking is... on the flop, if you are checking the top of your range which AK suited is, are you betting the bottom of your range? That's the opposite of what I'd want.

On the turn, you beat many value hands. Of course call. Any time you can beat a lot of value hands then you should at least call. Raising is too thin here I think.
 
WedgeRock said:
I sense it's gonna get tougher when the wheel gets there...
Click to expand...

I appreciate the jest, but I think it leads to a legit question, is villian defending his blind with wheel friendly cards? If the answer is yes, than I think you need to bet for value.


And then I read the check. I mean I get the argument the board is so dry here, and if you are are going to check misses it's probably good to check some strong hands too.

But if you are c betting misses, you need to bet here as well.

cpac54 said:
TURN comes: :td: (Board now :3d::kc::2h::td: ) (Pot: still $3.25)

Villian: bets $2.00
Click to expand...

So here's the thing, you checked the flop, you are super under-repped, meaning villian can be legit betting many hands you still beat and maybe even bluffing wider than usual. I think you call here for pot control and to avoid a decision on facing a 3 bet, unless you are sure he can 3 bet bluff you.

Re evaluate the river, but I don't think there is a lot of reason to fold anywhere the rest of the way.
 
Last edited:
Don't raise and fold out his bluffs and worse hands now. Call the bet. He can be betting with Kx and now AT. KT is there of course and BB will show up with that from time to time. All the more reason to keep his range wide.

@DrStrange makes a great point to. 50NL is a tough stake. If you're just learning areyou sure that's the level you want to be at? .25/.50 online is NOT .25/.50 live if that's your usual game with your crew.
 
Last edited:
FDLmold said:
small hand = small pot, right?

Call the turn bet. At that point, everybody knows you probably have a king or two, so play the river slow. Villain could have almost anything here (except for your two cards).
Click to expand...

The cardinal rule, which I of course ignored...

Hero: thinks for a second about just calling, which seemed to be the intelligent move. As was my tendency it seems last night, I did the complete opposite of that and raise to $5.50

BB: tanks, then calls.

RIVER comes: :2d: (Board now :3d::kc::2h::td::2d:) (Pot $14.35)

BB: checks.

Hero: ??
 
To me with the villain leading out on the turn it screams KX diamonds or A4 or 5 of diamonds. I’m guessing KQ-KJd. The hands you beat he isn’t going to call with the run out anyways. To me there’s no reason to put anymore money in this pot.
 
cpac54 said:
The cardinal rule, which I of course ignored...

Hero: thinks for a second about just calling, which seemed to be the intelligent move. As was my tendency it seems last night, I did the complete opposite of that and raise to $5.50

BB: tanks, then calls.

RIVER comes: :2d: (Board now :3d::kc::2h::td::2d:) (Pot $14.35)

BB: checks.

Hero: ??
Click to expand...

I'm not a good player but my thinking is this... your raise on the turn is repping KKK TTT AKd AA as value/thin value since you really shouldn't have any 2's or 3 in your UTG open range. Only KKK or TTT should be checking the flop though.

So what are your possible bluffs that fits into your UTG open range? All the suited diamond hands that don't include a Td since the 10d came on the turn. So maybe suited connectors 67d+, gappers like T8d, J9d, Q9d, K9d, and a bunch of Ax of diamonds.

If I were villian on the turn I would think you have a lot of possible bluffs and not enough value.

I would call your raise with a pair of 10's or better. I'm not betting a pair of 2's or 3's anyway on the turn so I really should have at least a T in my hand. If I had two diamonds in my hand it would block your flush draw bluffs, and if the flush comes I'd most certainly have the best hand against your value range on the turn. So pretty much I'm calling with everything outside of stone cold bluffs with no equity.

A 2d on the river is good for all of hero's ranges on the turn. All of hero's bluffs got there. Hero's value range on the turn became boats.

If I were Hero I would fire the river for sure as that card is much better for my range than for villian. As a matter of fact I would polarize it by firing 1.5x pot.

Again take this with a grain of salt as I don't consider myself a good player. I'm actually pretty fishy.
 
Last edited:
Hero has his two streets of value. Hero is not going to like a check raise. I check behind.

There are villain holdings that will pay off a value bet - KQ maybe KJ. It is the risk of getting check/raised exceeds the profit from the value bet.

If someone advocates betting here - it is a bet/fold or bet/call? If betting, is Hero hoping to get called by worse or fold out better hands?
 
Villain can have us crushed with nearly all flushes, flopped middle or bottom set, turned a set of tens, or really gambooled it up with a random hand that contains a deuce.

Is KQ or KJ really going to call us after a backdoor flush comes in on the river even after being raised on the turn to boot? Not bloody likely, but we've all seen nonsensical plays before at a table.

Check behind and hope to win a decent pot with one pair.
 
We didn't get three bet on the turn, we didn't learn much about villian here. I think he has lesser King's and 10s all day to target for value.

I think a check here is so weak. It's possible he lead the turn with diamonds and got there. It's possible he turned a two into a bluff and got there.

I think betting the river makes money.
 
Does anyone think it's possible that Villain got a little loose pre-flop in the BB and called with K3 suited? Been slow-playing since then?
 

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