$1-3 NL – My First Hero Call!

Hi guys. Had a hand last night where I made a decision based on previous street action and did my best to narrow villains range. This is my first hero call and it ended up okay for me, but DAMN it was a close one. I’ll outline my thought process. Please let me know where my logic could use more work.

Hero stack: 340
Hero position: UTG2
Hero hand: AJ cc

Villain stack: 600
Villain position: Directly to my left
Hero hand: ….

Preflop:
Hero opens to 15, villain 3bet to 50, hero calls, heads up to a flop

Pot: 100
Flop: Js 7c 8d
Hero checks, villain bets 40, hero calls

Pot: 180
Turn: 7s
Hero leads 50, villain calls

Pot: 280
River: 9s
Hero leads 60, villain raises to 240, hero tank calls

I’m facing a 3bet, when I’m the opener from early position. So I’m assuming to be facing a premium hand here, out of position. I decide not to go the high variance route and call in this spot.

The flop gives me top-top. The villain down bets to 40. This is the most pivotal point for me. We are about 100 BB effective. I’ve known this villain to make a strong c-bet with made hands on the flop. I’ve down-bet before in 3bet pots, when I have the betting lead, and for value reasons. I didn’t believe this villain knew how to down bet effectively. I call keeping in all his bluffs.

The turn paired the board and I just called his flop bet. I did not want the action to check-through, so I led out. I wanted to lead out 1/3 pot, but I bet out a little too small here. I can’t do math on the fly sometimes =( He calls, which was a good sign for our hand.

At this point, I think his likely holdings are A10+, 1010.

The river was probably the worst card for us. 9s. The backdoor flush comes in, and its a one card to a straight. I lead out again, very small, attempting to target his ace-high. I was fully prepared to fold if he shows some aggression, but changed my mind before choosing the fold option.

He raises enough to get me all in. I would usually snap fold in this spot in the pass, but I took a minute and thought about my options. Fold or call.

Folding would be ok, but something didn’t seem right about his line. He bet out small on the flop, and I didn’t believe he was strong there. He just flat my turn bet on a draw heavy board. A decent player would’ve raised to deny equity, which I thought he was. Raising when the draws came in, there was only one hand that I think he would 3bet preflop with and take this line: pocket 10. 6 combos of.

Calling options: I thought I was getting close to 3 to 1 on a call – 25% pot equity. Hands we beat are AQ+ and KQs 28 combos. I had discounted AA, KK, and QQ from his range, given his post-flop action.

Hands that beat us: JJ, A10, 1010, maybe even 99. 1, 12, 6, and 3 combos respectively. So about 22 combos.

At the table, I thought this was very close. I ran the equity calculation off the felt, and I was a 0.4% favorite against this range on the river. It’s a profitable call and I’m glad I made it.

Villain shows AK offsuit

Phew! I got lucky and that was a hard decision to make on the felt!