sierradave

I'm reading this at a convention, and just started laughing hard enough that everyone at my table turned around and started staring.I usually bet this flop, since I would often do so with AQ. I then don't get any action and hate myself for it. If checked on the flop, I definitely smooth-call the turn and hope the third flush card hits.As is, you probably weren't making any more money unless you were against opponents who are liable to bluff at big pots. Betting this flop may reek of a c-bet, but many low-stakes opponents are folding anyway.

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I considered moving all-in on the flop, but chickened out and decided to call instead. He's been known to check-behind me when scare cards hit, so when the turn card came, I moved all in quickly and let him make the decision. I felt he was a solid enough player to know that betting 100 and moving him all-in were basically the same thing there, and the all-in push often looks just a little more like a desperation bluff.I expected him to call with a set and have a very tough decision with two pair, potentially calling with that as well. he thought for a long ti

I like the play. It's similar to the mega-standard play I've pulled a few times recently, where I raise pf with a big pair (QQ-JJ-1010), get reraised all-in by a shortstack, one person calls the reraise, I shovel and they fold. They fold every time because, once I've shoveled into an otherwise dry sidepot, they become sure I have a monster. I like the idea of doing it not because you have a monster, but because doing so creates favorable pot odds.Unfortunately, I'd need gigantic steel balls to actually pull this play in a livegame setting. Mine are normal-sized and made of gold (which may

1/2nl, local card club.4-handed game. BB is semi-tough, sometimes bluffs off a lot of chips, but reads me as being fully-TAG and doesn't usually get too far out of line.BB has ~$300, I have everyone covered with ~$700.Preflop, I'm in the sb with K5hearts. UTG limps, button folds, I complete, bb checks.Flop (3 players, $6): Ah-2c-4h.I lead out for $4. This is much smaller than in my average game, but all four of us have been playing sort of tight, and this has become the standard "does anyone even want to stay in it with me?" bet on the flop. BB says "four, nah, make it $12." UTG folds. I

Yup, it's $1/2 nl.Part of what I find so difficult about this is the number of opponents. Sometimes it'll be as many as 5-7 callers. That's a HUGE pot preflop, so I don't like just folding cards that can make a big something big when getting 5-to-1 or 7-to-1 odds. But then postflop it isn't just about how well the pf raiser plays postflop - it's everyone else as well! There just isn't enough information to put 6 people on hands!One example, about a week ago I held qjo, there was a limpfest and a button raise, and everyone called. Getting 6-to-1 and having good relative position, I called.

Okay, I've been running into this sort of decision a lot recently. Wondering how you all play it...Late position preflop, stack is non-short (at least 100 bb, usually higher), pick up QJo. 2-4 loose limpers in front of me, so I happily limp as well. Cutoff or button makes it $15 to go, pretty much everyone calls and it comes back around to me.The QJ is interchangeable with K10, K9, A8, or various other trouble hands. At what point are we essentially priced in? Good news is that I'm closing the action, so I don't have to worry about a reraise. Bad news is that I'm often going to flop top

Agreed, no question. I'd like to point out though that, as I mentioned in the OP, the decision process wasn't "hmm, I'm so talented I think I can make money with hands like 84o against my weak opponents." The decision process was "no one seems to be raising here, we're shorthanded, and a couple of these people love seeing flops but are otherwise timid and don't make a lot of moves. If it isn't already a limpfest, I'm going to make a button-raise, probably get one or two callers, and then c-bet any uncoordinated board that gets checked to me." I still think that is very +EV. I'm likely to

The action I'm usually going to get is a preflop call, then a fold on the flop 3/4 of the time (the 2/3 they miss the flop completely, plus a few times when they hit a small pair but don't want to get involved). If there are a ton of limpers, that gets dangerous b/c once a couple have called a raise to $15, everyone else does as well, so I only make the play if there are 1-2 limpers in front of me. At these tables, I'm going to get a little action, whether I have a hand or not. But if I've been raising a lot and they've gotten less worried about the likelihood of a monster, they start to ad

Really? At relatively tight 1-2 nl tables, I find that most of my money is coming from preflop raises followed by continuation bets. Raise to $12 when it isn't a mega-limpfest up front, get a caller or two, fire at an uncoordinated board, take down a nice smallish pot. More importantly, this sets me up to get action when I have a real hand. Pot-sized bets aren't the norm at these tables b/c most players are a little too timid, plus the action is often 8-way preflop, meaning no one wants to get too involved with a non-monster. I find that if I haven't raised and continued very often at a t

You're my new hero. nh sir.

No idea. I recognize the guy vaguely, probably played him a year ago. He didn't make my list of tough opponents, significant LAGs or TAGs, or easy marks. This is my first button raise, so I doubt he has me on a steal attempt. No physical tells indicating this as a resteal. I don't think he's the type to make a play here at all.My plan going into the turn was to either check-behind and keep the pot small or bet $30 and fold to a check-raise, taking the free showdown if he called again. Turn card changed everything, so then I started thinking about building a big pot and surprising the hel

Yeah, kinda weird. I'd say you've got to make some sort of move preflop, and if not, you certainly need to bet the flop. It's the first hand, so you can hollywood it a bit, laughing and saying "oh yeah" or something as you raise it to $600. Fold the button out so you have position, get one or two callers, and then get the stacks in there on the flop and the turn.If you're going to smooth call, you can't let the flop go by with no betting. You want to get the stacks in there, and you can't do that without betting. Bet $600 at least on the flop, get a caller, bet $1000 on the turn, push or

Caesar's AC, $1/2 nlMy table has just broken and I'm seated at another shorthanded table. I know two of the other players and they're loose-passive/make the game very juicy...We're five-handed after I've been there a couple of orbits, there's very little preflop raising. I decide if there's only one limper preflop that I'm going to button-raise with any two cards to start getting a sense of how the table will react to my raises.Villain limps UTG, we both have stacks of ~$400. I raise to $12 with 84o. Both blinds fold, villain calls.Flop (2 players, $27): 852 rainbow.Cool, I was planning on

Good point. Villain bets this flop with most holdings, except potentially checking behind with an underpair to the board. If he'd check behind with the underpair, then he'd likely fold to a flop bet. The board is heavily coordinated, but it's a good texture for a reraiser, so it's really odd that he didn't fire at it.Given his starting stack size, we're looking to get all the chips in the pot with our set. That's going to be in 3 chunks of $20, $30, and $50. Usually I'd check the flop, let him bet the $20, then either check-raise him to $50 or smooth-call and bet out $30-$40 on the turn.

Wow. Um, wow. I can't see giving him credit for the flush here, unless it's a tiny one. The hands I'm worried about are AA and KJ without a heart. But he has no reason to put you on anything close to a set of queens. This bet is basically a dare, and the question is whether he's daring you because he has the K of hearts, ace-ten, or nothing in particular.Have you seen him make the all-in overbet before? Unless I have a specific read that he'd do this with a monster, hoping you'll look him up with one pair, I think I'd have to call here. KJ is the only strong hand on the flop I would exp

I don't follow that last point. Any river? If the 6h falls on the river, don't we check-fold? Or do you just mean that we should expect a LAG villain to be pushing any river, so we're calling $40 here fully expecting to call a river push? I agree that the call means villain is pushing the river, but are we really deciding that we're going to represent a hand on the river, whether a scare card falls or not?Not sure how I'd play the hand. Certainly agree I don't like being in this spot, and particularly don't like laying down to the opponent's huge range. Honestly, it probably is going to

Caesar's Atlantic City $1/2 nlHero is in the cutoff with about $700. Villain is button with ~$600. Villain and BB are here for a bachelor party. They like to play aggressive, they like to raise a lot, particularly preflop, and they've hit some huge hands so their stacks have gotten impressive.I've gotten almost no playable cards for the past couple hours and have developed an unfortunate nut-hunger table image where people who are calling anyone else's $15 preflop raise actually consider laying their hand down to me.Preflop: two players limp, I pick up QcQs in the cutoff, decide there's a g

Combo draw, like AJs or A10s. Also JJ or 1010 that picked up outs and is muttering "no way does he have a queen..."I agree, if stacks were deeper I'd check behind for pot control. I'd rather be calling one pot-sized bet on the river than face a stack threat on a dangerous board that is also inviting bluffs. As is, any bet on the turn here is essentially an all-in bet, as we're either betting our stack or building a pot so big that calling a reraise or river bet is automatic anyway. If we check behind, do we expect the villain to lead out on the river with a 9 or a pocket pair other than ki

Caesar's Atlantic City $1/2 nltable is shorthanded, I think there were 6 of us. I have $300, both opponents have about the same.UTG and button are standard $1/2 players. Not a lot of bluff, not a ton of aggression, raises mean big cards or pairs.Preflop: UTG raises to $12, button calls. I have AKspades in ths small blind, decide not to reraise because I don't want to create a huge pot from out of position.Flop (3 players, $36): 5s6h7s. I check, intending to check-raise the likely continuation bet. UTG bets $20. Button reraises to $50. I reraise to $150. UTG reluctantly folds, Button th

Can't, the price you're getting is too good. With stacks of this size, by the time you know he has the str8, the pot is so large that you have to call and hope for the board to pair.

1/2 nl, Caesar's Atlantic City.Table is 7-handed, there's one experienced player on my right and one decent one on my left, but neither have made any interesting moves. Couple of loose-passive guys as well. It's late and I've been running good, image is aggressive and a little loose, but not particularly LAGish.small blind (tough): $170Hero (big blind): $550, covers tableCutoff (loose-passive): $170Button (loose-a little aggressive): $120I have Kd9d. Three limps preflop, sb completes, I check.Flop (5 players, $10): Q-J-10 rainbow.Sb checks, I bet $10, one fold, all others call.Turn (4 playe

You know what? I completely phrased my question wrong. What I really wonder about is, based on stack size and his potential range of hands, is this a good spot for a reraise. I don't like folding here because I think he's put me on nothing but overcards and mid-pair, top-kicker in a shorthanded game isn't awful. I basically need to give up on making these small raises with position if I'm going to fold to any check-raise with less than top pair or a strong draw, and that feels way too weak to me. I don't like calling here because I felt his range of hands was huge here(including outright

lol. That's good, thanks.

Do we give him ace-nine here, given his preflop limp? I feel like this is squarely within his raising range preflop. He's seemed comfortable betting into the raiser when he hits the flop. The check-raise struck me is being more likely to be a semi-bluff or total bluff.

okay, I've waited a couple of weeks, scratched my head a considerable amount, and it's time I give up and admit my ignorance...BBFIDTS? IHNIWTSF(I have no idea what that stands for)Help the new guy?