$5 NLHE Full Ring: What does this villain line mean??

$5 NL HE Full Ring: What does this villain line mean??

Stats over 53 hands

Full Tilt, $0.02/$0.05 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 8 Players
Hand History Converter by Stoxpoker

BTN: $1 (20 bb)
SB: $1.67 (33.4 bb)
BB: $6.49 (129.8 bb)
UTG+2: $2.77 (55.4 bb)
MP1: $5 (100 bb)
MP2: $5 (100 bb)
MP3: $3.93 (78.6 bb)
Hero (CO): $5.23 (104.6 bb)

Pre-Flop: Hero is CO with 7:club: J:club:
4 folds, Hero raises to $0.15, BTN folds, SB calls $0.13, BB folds

Flop: ($0.35) A:diamond: 5:diamond: T:spade: (2 players)
SB bets $0.05, Hero raises to $0.25, SB calls $0.20

Turn: ($0.85) 2:heart: (2 players)
SB bets $0.05 Hero???

First off, am i stealing too wide for the micros? I know its a small sample but over 2k hands my stealing pct is at 29.4.

Next question, obviously i'm raising the min-donkbet on the flop but i'm having trouble with drawy boards when they call and min-bet the turn after calling a flop raise.

Is this a draw that can be raised on the turn and then taken down on a safe river?? Or is this a small ace rag that isn't going away??

What this line means is highly villain dependent. I've never played 5nl, but my experience at the micros says its a weak made hand (any pockets, any A, any T) or a draw.

I would bet larger on the flop as your raise looks weak (you're essentially betting .20 into a .45 pot). As played, I call the turn with the intention of trying to steal the pot on any non J river if villain gives up on the pot.

Raising the turn with the intention of barreling the river is a mistake. It would essentially be a triple barrel bluff which is almost always a mistake at the micros. I doubt you could blow villain off an A meaning you're bluff becomes very expensive should they have an A. If they are on a draw with a better high card, you can cheaply steal this pot by calling the turn and stealing blank rivers (non diamond, J, Q, or K). The size of the river bluff doesn't have to be that big because the hands that fold will fold and the ones that call will call.

As for stealing, 29.4% is definitely not too high but your propensity to bluff is highly dependent on who is in the blinds (and in this case the button). A couple of general stealing notes:

-Steal more from BTN than the CO because you are guaranteed to have position postflop from BTN AND you have less people to go through
-Look for high FTS in the blinds, or nits if your sample is small. A 12/12 is much more likely to fold to a steal than a 30/5. This is more important than your hand strength.

thanks, i just folded the turn in the end, didn't wanna get into the realms of fps at the micro's and couldnt really think of a plan for the river quick enough.

Interesting that you say try to steal on any non J river though, i always think its more likely that villains chasing a flush on fd boards, purely b/c there's more suited combo's than connecting combo's. I suppose on these types of boards though it's probably more likely that they're chasing a straight though b/c people call with 2 broadways all the time.

Well I actually said any non diamond, J, Q, or K. If a third broadway comes and villain had 2 broadways, they either filled their draw or have a pair now which they likely won't fold. Basically, the best shot you have here is when NO draws come in so those are the only times I would stab at this. Also, I do this only because we have little show down value. If I had a Kx type hand, I would probably just show it down assuming villain doesn't make a reasonable river bet.

In regards to the combos, there are 52 non combo flush draws and 45 non combo gutshots on the flop. Your statement regarding combinations of draws is correct with regards to OESD vs flush draws (on most boards) but not when you include gutshots.

Fwiw, I actually missed that villain was so shortstacked so my willingness to bluff the river goes way down. However, I would still call the turn, and call a river minbet to see what villain called us with preflop and what their minbets mean. Knowing what the person behind you and two seats behind you defends with is valuable stealing information.

This may sound weird, but I've seen this line from awful players at this limit (which I play, but 6max). I've found that if I float them on the flop then reraise their follow up bet on the turn w/o a huge scare card I usually take down the pot uncontested.

I usually don't do it against short stack opponents however so I'm not sure this is the best hand to try that. I also think you might be stealing a little too wide where, but I can't see the opponents' stats in the blinds, not sure if they got deleted or what..