Hello friends, did I make the right play here against a fairly unknown villain?
I only had 6 hands on him but he seemed fairly loose and he donked flop on the only other opportunity he had.


PokerStars - $0.02 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

CO: 100 BB (VPIP: 28.26, PFR: 21.74, 3Bet Preflop: 7.89, Hands: 92)

BTN: 116.5 BB (VPIP: 30.68, PFR: 1.14, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 89)

SB: 54 BB (VPIP: 50.00, PFR: 33.33, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 6)

BB: 195.5 BB (VPIP: 17.39, PFR: 15.94, 3Bet Preflop: 12.50, Hands: 71)

UTG: 135 BB (VPIP: 19.75, PFR: 13.58, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 87)

Hero (MP): 101.5 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A♥ Q♣

fold, Hero raises to 3 BB, fold, fold, SB calls 2.5 BB, fold

Flop: (7 BB, 2 players) 6♦ J♣ A♦
SB bets 3 BB, Hero calls 3 BB

Turn: (13 BB, 2 players) 9♠
SB bets 6 BB, Hero calls 6 BB

River: (25 BB, 2 players) 5♠
SB checks, Hero bets 16 BB, SB calls 16 BB

Looks ok to me, you could possibly go a little smaller 10bb to get some lighter calls from Jx or 9x that was a flush draw on the flop as well as villains worse Ax.

he possibly hit somethink. block bet/fold 1/3-1/2 will be fine

WP. Maybe River bet 12.5 BB

You obviously can never fold top pair second kicker to someone like this, when you opened from BTN, and he called from the blinds, which he probably do like 80% of the time.

To be honest I think, you could even raise the flop here. He is never folding an ace, and there are some draws, he could be donking as well, so why not let him pay the maximum. He did not even start with a full stack, so I am actually totally ok with playing for all the money here, which is otherwise not standard with just top pair in a single raised pot.

As played yeah I am definitly betting the river for value. Looks like he has a weak ace and got nervous, or he has a missed draw and is giving up. Maybe 10% of the time, he is trapping you, but you cant live in fear of those 10%.

I would never play it like that, I don't think this is played well, you're losing value by just calling vs his donk bet there.

Raise his flop donk bet, you basically have top pair top kicker (AK would 3bet you preflop, especially in those positions). By raising his donk bet, you get more value out of his Ax, Jx, flush draw, gutshot type of hands. The guy is obviously a fish by looking at his stack, you need to raise this and size it up, maybe even prepare for a river shove... Why would you let him get to the river this cheap?

I'd raise flop too based on what you know, looks like a player who could turn up with all sorts of junk, playing for value you'll lose here sometimes, and he'll fold sometimes, but often you will scoop a big pot as he won't let terrible hands go. As those above me indicated, even with only Top pair second kicker you are good often. Not suggesting this is the right line as you need to show some care, but in a bubble if you played for stacks against this guy every time you would be coming out ahead in the long run. Use this knowledge to put pressure on these sorts of opponents and milk them for penny they are willing to cough up. Play slightly looser, more aggressively and raise more frequently against obvious fish, they frequently hang themselves and pay you off. Just be a bit wary then they start to fight back.

You played correctly, but I think raising here on the flop is good, according to this villain. Villain seems to be a fishy player that hits some medium strenght hand, and this type of player sometimes will pay you off even with 2ndP.

raise on the flop.. make sense because that can help u to know where u at.. but toppar isn't a hand to pay big things..

I always raise against this donk with strong hands.

Originally Posted by CaneLepus

Hello friends, did I make the right play here against a fairly unknown villain?
I only had 6 hands on him but he seemed fairly loose and he donked flop on the only other opportunity he had.


PokerStars - $0.02 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

CO: 100 BB (VPIP: 28.26, PFR: 21.74, 3Bet Preflop: 7.89, Hands: 92)

BTN: 116.5 BB (VPIP: 30.68, PFR: 1.14, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 89)

SB: 54 BB (VPIP: 50.00, PFR: 33.33, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 6)

BB: 195.5 BB (VPIP: 17.39, PFR: 15.94, 3Bet Preflop: 12.50, Hands: 71)

UTG: 135 BB (VPIP: 19.75, PFR: 13.58, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 87)

Hero (MP): 101.5 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A♥ Q♣

fold, Hero raises to 3 BB, fold, fold, SB calls 2.5 BB, fold

Flop: (7 BB, 2 players) 6♦ J♣ A♦
SB bets 3 BB, Hero calls 3 BB

Turn: (13 BB, 2 players) 9♠
SB bets 6 BB, Hero calls 6 BB

River: (25 BB, 2 players) 5♠
SB checks, Hero bets 16 BB, SB calls 16 BB

Thank you for posting.

We have to be careful about reads with no data. The problem becomes we assume an action has a single meaning when in fact multiple meanings could apply. So we think bad donk bet when villain might be donk leading for other reasons than poor play. We cannot know if the villain has history with others for instance.

By looking at villains in two basic frame works, strong and weak we better offer ourselves the ability to quickly analyze their actions. We do not make a weak judgement until weakness is proven. Ie weak flop play followed by weak turn play. I this villain trapped you in this spot it was a good move but why no river raise for instance?

Hope this helps

I would raise on the flop or river, since you have a strong hand and your opponent is betting that's a good chance to take some extra value

I tend to agree with consensus. I don't think you played significantly wrong anywhere, but I'm raising flop. I think a raise probably makes him fold Jx, but Ax will call you all the way to the river...and you give him a chance to make a bad call by raising. You also take back control of the action with a raise, you avoid letting him control the betting in the event of more nasty turn/river cards that he could force a fold by simply barreling like crazy.

My guess is this guy turned over A7 or A8.

you're losing value calling all his bets, raise his bets, he surelly calls with his Ax

Don’t think you played it wrong either. Always hard to get a good read on limited amount of hands.

The only thing I would of done differently was probably re-raised him on the flop.

My gut tells me most comments are correct and donk is playing Ax hitting the 9 on the turn.