1/2 at MGM

I like putting in a 3bet here pre instead of the flat. I like a fold better than a flat. Flopping 1 pair (which is the most likely thing for you besides missing) isnt exactly a great spot for you, especially letting people flat behind you preflop. playing this hand heads up in position with the preflop raiser is a much better situation to be in than 5 way oop with a hand that can be dominated and almost no information about the other players in the hand.

try not to think about “it worked well”. being results oriented can lead you into some pretty bad play down the road. trust me. lol.

Sizing of that 3bet would depend on where the other flat callers were. You said 4 callers including yourself, but didnt say if there were before or after you, or in the blinds… all this stuff matters.

Also, you said you were CO, but then said the CO bets 20 on the flop and you call. was it the HJ who bet 20? it matters if its the preflop raiser, or not. and what position it actually was. What was the rest of the board texture? Q high with 2 diamonds leaves a lot out. Q73 and Q89 are very different flops here.

you say that you think the button was drawing, but a 3rd diamond comes on the turn and you keep calling with 2nd pair? and again when the board pairs with the button left to act behind? why? what did you think he was drawing to if not diamonds? (was there straights out there, need those other cards if so.)

Honestly, I disagree with Patrick a bit…

The HJ can open a wide enough range most of the time that I think a flat is ok here. If it was UTG or UTG+1, it has to be a 3b, but I think we’re strong enough to flat here preflop. Don’t get me wrong, I think a 3b is probably the best play in the long run, but in a 1-2 game with position, I much prefer a flat to a preflop, assuming we have skill, range, position advantages.

Now, again, this will depend on the game itself…when we call in the CO, if we expect to bring in 2 more callers, then it is a different story, but I think a fairly large chunk of the time, a 5x open will generally get us heads up or at the worst 3 ways (usually the button, whose range we smash anyway). I’d love to know from Steve if this was a game where there were tons of multiway flops, in which case a 3b is warranted for sure.

I also need to know the flop itself. Once the button overcalls the flop, his range is super heavily weighted towards flush draws, which come in on the turn. I dont know the board so i dont know what straight draws were out there. With that in mind, I would probably end up folding the river, if it were me. The guy who leads into 2 players, when the board pairs and the front door flush gets there, should have you crushed most of the time, unless he is a total maniac. And if he doesnt, the button should have you beat as well, because he will generally have a flush, or some 2 pair (in 1-2, I am assuming a lot of players won’t raise the turn with even weak flushes). What other draws can the button have.

For you to be able to call and win on the river, the HJ has to have total air for the most part, or a ridiculously overplayed QJ, QT type hand (in which case our call preflop is definitely OK), or the Ad (not many combos of those), AND the button needs to have a draw that somehow didn’t get there and that he decided to call 2 streets with even after the flush got there.

This seems like such a rare occurrence to me, I think you should be folding the river here.