$2 NL HE 6-max: calling big river bets with top pair NL2

[Jarud]

Game

Hold'em

Game Format

No Limit

Stakes

$.01/$.02

Table Format

6-max (6 seats)

Currency

$

couple of river spots from a recent session, thoughts?

pokerstars, Hold'em No Limit - $0.01/$0.02 - 6 players
Replay this hand on CardsChat

villian stats are 33/23/6 vpip/pfr/3b (250 hands)


PokerStars, Hold'em No Limit - $0.01/$0.02 - 6 players
Replay this hand on CardsChat

villian stats are 81/63/30 (52 hands)

 

[gustav197poker]

In general, while you unlock flush draw combos that could bluff, your queen is not the best card you could have, as you are blocking natural bluffs that your opponent could call preflop and then try to get you out of the pot, like: QK and AQ . Don't forget that you are the opener from the toughest position at the table, so Villain needs to combine his calling range with hands of varying strength.
So it's really hard to find hands in your opponent's range that are 3 street value with a hand worse than yours.
If we think that V has a very wide range preflop or we suspect that he has a fish style of play, this board is not favorable for us, because here we are only beating 88 or 99, since it is more likely that there is only one combo. T5s and at most 2 combos: 53s.
Personally in 2NL I would call with AT and fold with worse kickers.
Greetings.

 

[gustav197poker]

Ok. Regarding the other hand, I'm a bit against just calling preflop. You are interfering with the opener since V from MP can open with a hand of this caliber or better, so I would look for a way to get him out of the pot or at least put more pressure on him, considering that MP does a min open raise.
The flop is somewhat dry so trying a bluff could be another option. Calling is fine, but when you do, your villain has a stronger perceived range than you.
On the turn the ranges start to polarize when V fires a second barrel nearly the size of the pot. Here calling is a reasonable option and possibly one of the best alternatives against this opponent.
On the river the overbet definitely screams value. It is very unlikely that anyone will have pure air in a spot like this.
A villain's bluff range includes hands like QQ+. I mean, an average player will try to appear polarized, but in general that polarization will be expecting to get calls from hands like KJ or JAo, more or less exactly what you really have.