Couple of Quick Hands

[Hans Griese]

Hey all. Had a decent session (although lost a few crucial hands to rivers or runner-runner). I have 3 questions, and didn’t want to flood the forum with multiple posts. I appreciate any feedback!

Hand 1: Pocket QQs on the button, I make it 11 over a few limpers. 1 caller. Flop is Qh6s4h. I bet 15 he calls. Turn is an Ac, I bet 35 he folds saying ‘That turn was a bad card for me’. So it seems like maybe he had a Q. Can I slow-play this on the turn to get more value? I thought that, since I bet the flop, it wouldn’t look like I had an A on the turn, but I guess that’s what he ranged me at

Hand 2: J8 off in the BB, I check my option. 4 to a flop of J85 rainbow. I lead for 5, get 3 callers. Turn is rainbow Q, I bet 15 get 1 caller. River is a K, I check, he bets 20, I call. He has A10 off for runner-runner straight. Does this play out any differently? J8 off is usually outside my squeeze in BB. I felt like my sizings were fine, although maybe the flop should be $10 (but into $8…?)

Hand 3: I want to skip the start of this hand, because I played it very poorly (aka MP with AQ off limp…I had lost the previous hand with AK to turned two-pair, so was being stupid). Anywho, a flop of QJ10, I folded top-top to a $12 C-Bet ($20ish pot). The bettor had been playing very soundly, and I hadn’t seen a bluff from him. The turn blanks out (heads-up). Same guy bets $15, gets raised to $75, original bettor calls all-in for less. river blanks, original guy shows KQ and wins. Again, if I raise pre-flop, then I C-bet, and the hand is different (and I probably win). Skip my poor pre-flop play, and analyze as-is. I should call the flop bet, right? Seemed like i’d be up against a pair+open-ender, or maybe even 2-pair. I’m too annoyed at my idiocy pre-flop, and then the results, to look at this properly. But I’m assuming I literally made every mistake possible in this hand.

Hand 4: Not looking for analysis here, I’m just proud of this hand (which I didn’t take notes on, but it was roughly this): I opened with A-10 suited, a few callers. Board ran out 89JK8 (close to it – paired and wet, but no flush). I bet flop, got a very tight caller. I check-call turn. I check-jammed river and got her to fold. She’s exceptionally tight, but bets her top pairs every time, and never goes to showdown with non-broadway. River was about $70 pot, she bet 35 with ~70 behind that. I don’t think I’d have taken this line against anyone else at the table (hell, dude to my left called me out on it haha), but I’ve played with her enough, and I don’t show many bluffs.

[John S]

Hand 1: Most very bad players will put the pre-flop raiser on AK pretty much every time, so it’s not surprising he’s scared of the Ace. You can play this as a check on the turn for that reason, but you’re also giving someone a free card to hit their flush or straight. Obviously if you think villain has a Q then a check is a great play since it looks like you have JJ and are scared of the Ace. This could go either way, but I don’t hate betting.

One of the problems with top set is you control so much of the board it’s hard for anyone to have anything. There’s only one Q left in the deck, so it’s much more likely villain has something like draw (both straight and flush draws on this board), or something like middle pair. For that reason I like betting to charge the draws (especially if he has something like AXhh) since you’re not getting much more value from middle pair.

Hand 2: Nothing wrong with this. You’re either going to win a small hand here or lose a bigger one. Hard for anyone to have anything here, but when the board runs out that way I’m probably not betting 3 streets. Note how bad villain is for not raising the nuts on the river.

Hand 3: You played every street pretty bad, but I understand taking it easy after being a bit tilted from the previous hand.

Pre-flop – AQ is a pretty standard raise from almost any position. If you’re not raising this your raising range is pretty narrow.

Flop – So I will say one thing – this specific flop (QJT) is a very special flop. It connects so well with a lot of hands that people like to play. AK, K9, and 98 all make a straight, plus there are a ton of pair+ straight draws and two pair combos. I’m not exactly comfortable with AQ here, but I think you have to call at least once. You do have a gutter to the nuts.

Turn – Hard to say what I would do here. Top-top on this board, against two opponents, doesn’t make me feel great. I suppose my decision to call or fold here depends on how deep we are and the opponents in particular. Hard to think I’m good against two people when it goes bet-raise.

Hand 4: Not really sure what you’re representing here outside of a slow-played set/boat, but well done. This is a perfect example that cards don’t matter much when you know your opponent. Older, super tight and nitty players are highly exploitable, and you did a great job here. One of my favorite things to do at the lower stakes is to bomb scare cards (particularly flush cards, but when the middle or bottom card on the board pairs) since you can get a lot of folds from nits by putting pressure on them.

[Hans Griese]

H1: That’s basically what I figured. He was a relatively sound player, but had definitely played a few hands weirdly. It may do to mention he is the same villain from hand 2.

H2: He did value-bet for $20 once he hit his river. Thankfully it was thin value….I’d have been calling most anything here. I was more afraid of 10-9, I didn’t consider A-10.

H3: Yeaup. In theory its an easy pre-flop raise (3-bet even), a C-bet on the flop, and then it could get complicated. Against the guy who won, I’d have probably folded to a raise. The other dude I’d have shoved on, he was a newer player to the table, a little looser, and a complete asshole. The effective stack was the winner, who started with about 100.

H4: In my head, I was thinking slow-played straight on the turn, trying to get value on the river. The 8 widened what my range of slow-play could be, so I figured it was a safe scare card to bomb on. that being said, I would never slow play an actual straight like this, so a boat looks the most obvious….but I don’t have a ton of 8’s in my pre-flop raising-range. Again, its opponent-based play.

Thanks for the input John, always valuable!

[DeeKay]

Hand 1: I think John S has it right. You have top set which is likely blocking anyone else from picking up a queen. He either doesn’t believe your c-bet or perhaps drawing on a flush. As John points out, you’re controlling so much of the board that I love when the Ace pops out. Of course I’m hoping he has connected with the ace or even possibly made two-pair with A-6 or A-4. So under that assumption, the bet is fine because you have to think you’re getting 3 streets of value. However if you don’t think he hit the Ace… then you are only maybe getting two streets of value, and checking up could show weakness to which your opponent my try to attack on the river.
Hand 2: It happens. I think you could have been more aggressive on the turn as there are a lot of cards that could come out that crush your hand. I would have liked a more aggressive stand here. But sometimes the hand goes the wrong way. You didn’t have much invested in the hand so, unfortunate, but just move on.
Hand 3: You flop top top drawing to the nuts. I don’t think you’re folding here. I would probably have folded after the turn given a check raise situation… just thinking he was representing a bigger hand… but I have no issue with a call and see what the river brings. Overall I think you played it a little too timid, but sometimes with a check raise type of hand, you have to consider what he could have played and what type of hand would he check raise with. However, still drawing to the nuts, and also a good chance drawing another Q or A keeps you strong for a reasonable call. All of your situations are tough spots and I think it just depends how you read it…. but don’t be afraid just because its a relatively snug player. Yes, I agree that your warning lights should be going off… but if you are still trying pretty good as long as you can control the pot size.

[WBGolf7]

1. Definitely like betting the turn. $35 is just over 1/2 pot, reasonable size with 2 hearts out. Doubtful he’d call the river unless he catches up

2. Seems like a bad runout. $15 into $23 on turn seems fine. No reason to get fancy pre flop

3. I’d probably call the flop and see what happens, but can’t feel good there at all. Folding is on the tighter side, but live reads and such can sway you. There were basically just the other 2 Q and the 4 K that would help you on turn. So easy to just go into check call mode and lose to QJ J10 Q10 K9 89 and there isn’t much besides KQ that’s going to put money in that you beat

4. Did you show her the bluff?

[Hans Griese]

I didn’t show the bluff, but pretty quickly I wished I had. I’ve been working on making my table image looser (without playing too loose), and this would have been a great opportunity to do that.

[Chuck M]

Hand 1 : as others said, i’d bet turn as well. Villain will call his Ax hands, possibly his draws as well. If the ace scares him, then most likely he would check back had you checked, so that’s just giving him a free card to draw. When you iso a bunch of limpers pf, Ax is in your range. I think you gotta bet again to protect/balance your range, for the times you wont have the ace. Plus, with you not having an ace increases the chances that villain limp/called you with Ax.
In summary, if he folds, he would have checked anyway…

Hand 2 : i think u played it fine. Lost the minimum. You were betting when you were ahead, and checked when were behind. I like the x/c riv. It would be a little surprising to see a better 2 pairs since it’s a limped pot. T9 is possible, but i expect the pot would’ve been raised on an earlier street. That leaves a bunch of one pair hands and busted gutshot : (KT, K9, QT, Q9, JT, even a bluff witg 76). With almost 4:1 on the river, that’s a call imo.
And on a vocabulary side note, villain’s bet isn’t thin, he’s got the nuts. It’s a small bet indeed, but a thin bet would mean he would try to value bet Jx or 8x 😉

Hand 3 : yup, raise pf, cbet flop, reevaluate turn.

Hand 4 : knowing villain is the key here. That implies she bets river with something she could fold tona raise, aka she bets hands weaker than nuts. I think you wouldn’t shove a straight on the river (?) You’re repping a flopped set or 98, but wouldn’t have you raised (or lead for a 2nd barrell) on the turn with that wet board?
But as I said, knowing the opponent is the key, if you think she’ll fold anything but a fullhouse, then it might be a good spot 🙂

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