game was 16nl at pokerstars
https://www.cardschat.com/replayer/624Dw5L2m
i opened 4x because on the button was a huge fish but i usually open small so my hand was pretty much face up. unfortunately the fish didnt fall for it and i ended heads-up against a TAG.
flop is standard i think. i dont have a big advantage as he could have bottom and middle set and TPTK.
on the turn im not sure whats the best approach. JTs shouldn't be in my range but i thought there are only 4 combos that beat me if he wasn't trapping with KK+ (which would make sense) and i get called by bottom set and AK, AQ so i decided to continue. maybe a check would be better because my range is so face-up?
at river i'd love to call but i just couldn't find any bluffs in his range but some random stuff that he was brave enough to raise on the turn and i don't think he would play AK or a lower set like this.
So, you opened 4 blinds, out of position, because there was a fish in the Button?
It seems very strange to me, because out goal is try to play in position versus fishes, not out of position against them.
Second, you are playing a more advanced level, 16 NLHE has a lot of decent regulars, that are going to observe when you raise 4x because there is a fish either IP or in the blinds, and the regular is going to call more, because it knows that you have interesting bluffs on your range when you go for fish exploitation.
Are we going to exploit a calling machine fish using a weak 'ish' range to approach and try to extract value?
Before raising 4x, out of position, try to think that there are other players at the table, observing your behavior and trying to take advantage of it.
Personally, I don't like these exploitatives lines, out of position never and in position, I like to preserve my perceived/unread/uncollected range.
It doesn't matter to me that there is a potential fish ahead, because I know that fish is going to pay me anyway with hands like Kx, Ax, and when it hits it will never leave postflop, etc, plus the poker variance takes no sides, fishes also have hot streaks and hit monsters.
The postflop
It was well played, the flop was very default, but OTT we shouldn't be calling when Villain raises, we should be jamming quite a fair chunk of hands here depending on Villain's perceived range/tendencies:
For example, we are pushing here OTT, all of our Two Pair Types(KQ, AQ, AK, etc), plus with hands like AJ and AT that must cointain the combo draw of spades and clubs, most of times, and against players that we already know that it can fold a second best hand OTT we can be jamming, for example, AcJd, AsJh, etc.
Another hands we are jamming are the sets, QQ, KK, AA and 66 in a lower frequency, and some part of our range is going to fold here, whether we like it or not, hands like 77, 88, 99, TT, JJ, lost a lot of value in the face of a raise coming from position and unless we are leveling we are going to fold some of these pocket pairs.
So, I believe that when we do call OTT, we give a free chance for Villain to hit either a straight or a flush OTR for a very friendly price:
Player in position try to bluff its draws and Hero calls, which is awesome because now if Villain/IP hits the draws it can push versus Hero and gain value, Hero will have a real hard time folding, or Villain/IP can miss the draw and even so push, and Hero could only call with hands like QQ, KK, AA, AK, AQ, just a tiny part of UTG's opening range, so we are giving rope for opponents to bluff us out of the pot or beat us.
I really don't understand when MP/Villain bets that little OTR, when almost all of tis bluffs completed. I don't know if we should be folding OTR as well.
Regards;
Carlos 'Aballinamion' Barbosa