The Leveling Wars, Episode I: The Fish Menace
PokerStars Zoom,
Hold'em No Limit - $0.01/$0.02 - 6 players
Replay this hand on Upswing Poker
UTG: $2.75 (138 bb)
MP (Hero): $2.05 (103 bb)
CO: $2.59 (130 bb)
BU: $0.95 (48 bb)
SB: $2.37 (119 bb)
BB: $2.09 (105 bb)
Pre-Flop: ($0.03) Hero is MP with J
♥ 7
♥
1 fold,
Hero raises to $0.06, CO calls $0.06,
3 players fold
Flop: ($0.15) J
♠ 8
♥ 5
♥ (2 players)
Hero checks,
CO bets $0.07,
Hero raises to $0.18, CO calls $0.11
Turn: ($0.51) Q
♥ (2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks
River: ($0.51) T
♦ (2 players)
Hero bets $0.14, CO calls $0.14
Total pot: $0.79 (Rake: $0.03)
Showdown:
MP (Hero) shows J
♥ 7
♥ (a flush, Queen high)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 33%, Flop: 49%, Turn: 100%, River: 100%)
CO mucks J
♦ 9
♦ (a straight, Eight to Queen)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 67%, Flop: 51%, Turn: 0%, River: 0%)
MP (Hero) wins $0.76
Hello there Bluebottle88, thanks for posting your hand!
It seems that preflop, J7s is your bottom range from the MP:
22+, A8s+, A5s-A2s, K9s+, Q8s+, J7s+, T9s, ATo+, KJo+ (18.25%)
I don't know if you play all the suited aces from MP, so I removed A6s-A7s.
Well, this is a very complicated hand to play out of position. I don't open J7s everytime from MP, neither from CO I open the 3 gapper combos a 100% of times.
If this is a Zoom table, even more hard: many regulars are going to play very tight in zoom tables, utilizing 15% to 20% at maximum, even in 6-max games, because the ammount of fishes is outstanding.
That being said, it is not right or wrong to open these combos from EP, but we must be very sure that the players left to act (CO, BTN, SB and BB) are really NITs or Whales: if they are NIT's when they call you, you will be dominated for better jacks almost always.
If they are whales, they are going to level a lot against you by calling and 3-betting. When a fish in the CO calls your raise and there are another whales to act, give up, unless you get a pretty decent equity postflop.
We see that there aren't too many good scenarios for J7s to play out of position postflop, as the hand shows, Villain called and you were dominated for J9.
Flop ranges
I love to have a checking range out of position, most of times, but when I have such a dominated hand in a very connected board like this, I will not go checking:
From MP we usually have AJ, KJ, QJ, , 88+, so this flop hits very good our value range, and we must be betting here most for protection: we need to protect our range that doesn't have a flush draw, or a hearts in its combos.
The check-raise is a line that I am more inclined to go, out of position, by
bluffing: mixing some air stuff in a very low frequency at the micros with some whiffed draws such as T9, Q9, QT, KQ, 97 (?), and 22-77, specially if these
hands contains one combo of hearts, which turns our check-raise
bluff +EV in the long run, because our hands will have more chance to hit tunrs/rivers when Villains calls.
A check-raise for value here I don't know if I love, because great part of my range here doesn't have the flush draw of hearts, the AJ, KJ, QJ, and 88+, in the best case scenario we will have one hearts in these combos, but if we have a hearts on our combos, that turns our value hand too strong to be bluffing, by check-raising.
When you do check-raise here you are bluffing all of your value range: some smart can make exploitative folds here when you are in the top of our range and are claiming for protection.
At the micros, I really don't love to play my 3rd nut flush draw with TP7K too aggressive in a scenario like this, because even when I hit a flush I could be already dead for better ones, with Ah and Kh.
However, the check-raise flop is not that bad. I just believe you unbalance your range quite a bit here by doing this. When you check-raise this flop you barely have no bluffs at all: you have a Jx, or you have a flush draw, or you have Jx + FD, or you have J8, that I forgot to mention, 88, JJ, AJ, KJ, where are the hands you bluff here?
You are turning J7s in a very strange bluff in this flop, given that now you have value.
If Villain has a flush draw now with Ah or Kh it is never going to fold. If Villain has two pair with 85, J8, or J9, JT, QJ, if they have a hearts on its combos, also is not going to fold.
The Turn completes a flush
The Qh completes a flush and you decide to check. This looks like some attempt to slow play your hand: when you check-raise flop, means that you will have at least one combo of hearts with your value range: we have 88+ here, we have a lot of TPTK, Two Pair, and sets in a board like this, and all of those needs protection, for some rivers when comes another hearts it is not so good for us, or when river double pairs.
The River completes a Straight
I don't understand your 1/4 pot bet in the river. Was your desire to induce the player in position to re-raise you with dominated hands such as straights, sets and two pair types?
Only real weak players are raising these hands at the micros. However, most of them are going to have serious problems in folding these hands when it comes a very strong bet in the river, and in fact, they shouldn't to protect their range from some random bluffs.
It is very hard now to fold a straight, two pair and sets if you go for 70% of even 100% pot.
I believe that if you bet more than 100% pot some players are going to overfold TPTK and some Two Pair hands and there is always the risk of the player shoving all in putting you in a very strange position with your 3rd nut flush, because you will have the
odds to call.
If BTN is a weak player, a recreational one, you can safely bet turn for value and bet river for value because it will be very hard for it to fold a straight, and if you make the pot grow, better for you:
We see that in this scenario, Villain in position called a check-raise flop with a very dominated Jack: J9 is simply dominated by JT, QJ, KJ, AJ. Very simple, but the player in position had a runner-runner straight (also dominated by MP) and because of it, decided to call the check-raise.
On the turn, the Qh is a good card for Villain's range, because now, if it has QJ, Q8, J8, JT, J9, or even better combos such as AJ and KJ, it is not going to fold to a decent bet in the turn. Something between 1/2 pot and 65% would do the work just fine.
When completes a Td on the river we can go again for a pot bet or a 80% pot bet, because now there are too many hands in V's range that are going to call here for protection, and some crazy fishes are going to re-raise you here with straights and two pair types, you must know before the hand starts, who you are playing with.
Regards;
Carlos 'Aballinamion' Barbosa
