$400 NLHE Full Ring: Live 2/5 (500max) 600bb pot

For those who don't know, I am a dual rate poker dealer/supervisor at Seneca Niagara Casino in Niagara Falls, NY. I have dealt for almost 4 years and usually I don't see that many interesting hands. Most of the games are filled with passive fish and pots are almost always won at showdown.

Every now and then I get to deal on some interesting/good games and this hand was from one of them.

2/5 NL $200min-$500max (10 handed)
Effective stacks:
SB: ~$1300 (Thinking 2/5 reg, has an overall smart approach to the game)
BB: ~$2800
UTG: ~$500
EP1: ~$325
EP2: ~$750
MP1: ~$1400 (Very successful 2/5 reg, regularly kills the game)
MP2: ~$800
MP3: ~$600
CO: ~$750
BTN: ~$400

3 folds, MP1 raises to $20, fold, MP3 calls $20, 2 folds, SB raises to $65, fold, MP1 raises to $170, fold, SB calls.

Heads up to the flop.

(Pot: $365) [Ks][Qd][8s]
SB checks, MP1 bets $200, SB calls

(Pot: $765) [Ks][Qd][8s][9s]
SB checks, MP1 bets $325, SB calls

(Pot: $1415) [Ks][Qd][8s][9s][10c] (SB has roughly $600 behind, MP1 has him covered)
SB bets $205, MP1 raises ALLIN, SB ???

I want to stop here for some discussion on this hand. SB has a little over $400 left to call off here on the river. After some discussion, I will reveal the SBs hand and then we can discuss his play/line and how to proceed.

Does SB 3bet light in this spot? Is that tiny squeeze sizing standard live? I'd tag someone online as a fish for doing that. Is MP1 capable of 4betting light?

SB is definitely not 3 betting light, I would instantly think JJ+, AQ+. MP1 is for sure capable of 4 betting light, his range is still wide open.

jordanbillie said:

SB is definitely not 3 betting light, I would instantly think JJ+, AQ+. MP1 is for sure capable of 4 betting light, his range is still wide open.

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Would MP1 not realise this range and give up with weaker hands?

SB river bet looks like a block bet, doubt hes very strong on that board. Im tempted to say AA or AK, but he may have called down with JJ, although that doesnt explain the river bet.

Does MP1 know the SB isn't 3betting light?

Yes, he understands the SB 3bet validates a strong range.

In that case I really can;t see any of SBs holding being difficult to play.

AA he should 5bet
KK/QQ he's hit his set
AK, given the MP isn;t bluffing he should probably fold (this is what I suspect the SB had in this hand)
AQ defo fold to the 4bet
JJ easy flop fold.

MP1 I suspect holds KK+. I'd feel very uncomfortable with AA here in his shoes.

This is where it's just a lol live reg situation and they both have A9o for a split

Weird hand.

If MP1 is capable of 4-betting light then his wider range is way ahead on this board with some flushes and Jx. Doubt SB ever has a flush or straight here except with JJ. So would think SB mostly has a set of Kings or Queens and MP1 has the same with a few AQss/Axss hands.

Deco said:

In that case I really can;t see any of SBs holding being difficult to play.

AA he should 5bet
KK/QQ he's hit his set
AK, given the MP isn;t bluffing he should probably fold (this is what I suspect the SB had in this hand)
AQ defo fold to the 4bet
JJ easy flop fold.

MP1 I suspect holds KK+. I'd feel very uncomfortable with AA here in his shoes.

This is where it's just a lol live reg situation and they both have A9o for a split

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A couple things. Should AA be 5betting? I think this specific player in SB would be 5betting AA, and probably only AA, but personally I prefer not to. Also, yes KK and QQ have hit there sets, but do we pay off MP1 with the river shove (assuming we chose this line with top/middle set?) SB is capable of still flatting the 4bet with AQs, so AsQs is still in his range IMO both players have AsQs within their ranges. SB contains no Jacks in his range, ever, so my thinking while SB was tanking, was KK, QQ, AK, or AQs (obviously after tanking AsQs is eliminated)

Once we have a little bit more discussion, I will reveal SBs hand and then determine how he played it and then elaborate on narrowing down MP1s range.

This is some advanced stuff you don't get to see everyday.

What's with the river blockbet- so small, doesn't make much sense to me. If I'm MP1 I'm shoving atc when I see that.

I don't like sbs play tbh given his range. Kk, qq ..he's picking an awful spot to slowplay. If not on the flop, he needs to show aggression on the turn! AK or AA make more sense, but those are behind atc at this point lol and should c/f river.

jordanbillie said:

A couple things. Should AA be 5betting?

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I never see this as an excuse to slowplay AA in the long run. If your 5bets look that strong you should be bluffing here even when villains range is {AK,QQ+}. Thing is in practise we're not going to do that because we don't know villain will fold everything bar AA. Live I really doubt we end narrowing villains range down to 1 combo of AA.

+1 deco. Qq and kk are not folding easily on a 2/5 table. The only rationale would be if you're trying to slowplay his bluff range(ie, if he would do this with 89s).

And if you're slowplaying aa (which I don't like), gotta pick up the aggression on some point the way the board played out. River blockbet is awful with aa. C/f ainec. Try to find a combination of cards above a 7 that don't have aa beat..lol. and if that river was a bluff, should have been much bigger. I highly doubt aa

It'd be interesting if MP turned AA into a bluff on the river.

baudib1 said:

It'd be interesting if MP turned AA into a bluff on the river.

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Thats what Im leaning towards now. The SB bet looks so weak. Would the SB 5 bet KK pre? Id prefer to flat the 4 bet, even oop. KK/QQ makes sense for the SB. AA/QQ for MP1.

SB holds AK o/s. How did he play so far, and how should he proceed?

Ako..I hate the play on every street besides maybe preflop.

River especially...what's the idea behind the blocker bet?? You're not getting anything better than ak to fold for $200--id like his line much more if he shoved river and at least had hope to fold better hands. C/f or shove river for sure. Ako is barely ahead of ATC at this point. I'm guessin he makes a sick herocall, but he should not without some distinct live tells that tell him villain has 45s lol

Deco said:

AK, given the MP isn;t bluffing he should probably fold (this is what I suspect the SB had in this hand)

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jordanbillie said:

SB holds AK o/s. How did he play so far, and how should he proceed?

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Ye lad!
But ye what I said is in reference to pre flop. If MP1 is good and SB never 3bet bluffs, MP1 is never bluffing.


If MP1 is bluffing its a sick spot to hold AK for, calling pretty much has us playing fit or fold on a flop we miss 65% or so of the time. Vs a bluffer I'd be half tempted to 5bet/fold (lol ye I went there). It's not like AK or QQ are stacking for 300bbs (I assume this is as rare live as it is online with regard to regs) and we have blockers for KK+ which make our hand a good bluff. But ye this is me rambling it doesn't apply to this hand imo as MP1 is unlikely to bluff a nitty 3better.