$2 NLHE 6-max: What is a Small Blind Flatting Range ?

[Casey55]

pokerstars, Hold'em No Limit - $0.01/$0.02 - 6 players
Hand delivered by Upswing Poker

UTG: $1.03 (52 bb)
MP: $1.96 (98 bb)
CO (Hero): $2.91 (146 bb)
BU: $1.60 (80 bb)
SB: $1.30 (65 bb)
BB: $2.55 (128 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($0.06) Hero is CO with T♠ A♦
1 fold, MP checks, Hero raises to $0.10, 1 fold, SB calls $0.09, 2 players fold

Flop: ($0.25) 4♣ 8♣ 4♠ (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.08, SB calls $0.08

Turn: ($0.41) J♣ (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

River: ($0.41) 8♠ (2 players)
SB bets $0.26, CO (Hero) folds

Jc good turn card to barrel?

(I'm posting spots where I think I may have been able to bluff, I play generally pretty tight post-flop at 2nl but these are the spots where I thought I could have bluffed but gave up, I usually c-bet 1/3 and give up when they call because they seem to over-fold flops )

OTF I'm wondering what villains calling with, maybe some weak PP, A8,98s,K8s, FD's, A4s,54s,44, who knows maybe some gut-shots. OTT I thought the club was a bad card since he can have the FD's but in hindsight I am thinking ... well sure he can have FD's but thats not all he can have, and the J is a nice high-card to barrel on and potentially fold out his weaker PP and 8x. Thoughts?


EDIT: did not realize Villain's stack size, when they have broken stack like this what is the general read ? they are fish? what does "fish" imply? calling station? weak passive? what flaws do they have that I can exploit?

 

[Hermus]

I instantly flag people playing a broken stack as recreational players. That read is sometimes wrong, but I find that it's right most of the time. That way it sort of becomes a population read for the part of the population that plays a broken stack so we can start playing an exploitative strategy right away.

Generally, this player type calls too much, folds too little, is inelastic to sizing, and almost never raises (i.e. loose passive). Meaning we can value bet thinner, should decrease our bluffing frequency, increase our bet sizing, and overfold to raises. I think we can extend that read to pre-flop so the SB cold-calling range probably doesn't contain AA, KK, QQ, but probably does contain a lot of middle strength hands that look pretty but probably are pure folds (like AXo, QJo, JTo etc.) and a lot of hands that probably should've 3-bet (like A5s, AJo, KJs etc.)

As for the hand, I like your thought process for determining a bluff. However, we should also think about our own range and how many value combo's we can have and how many bluffs make sense. Additionally, I think we should decrease our bluffing frequency against this player type.

The best hands to bluff with pre-river should have barely any showdown value (e.g. bluffing 3 high gets 3 through A high fold so you win the pot against as many hands that normally beat you as possible) while at the same time having some equity in case you do get called (i.e. draws). That's why suited connectors are very good to triple barrel bluff with when you miss the river. For the same reason, AXo combo's without a flush draw are pretty poor bluffing hands.

As for the specific lines, I would've checked behind on the flop because we don't have that many value combo's (against any player but definitely this one) and we can easily balance that value range with all the club draws and AcXo combo's.

As played I don't think it's terrible to also bet the turn because we are supposed to bet a lot of flush draws on the flop. If the flop action was a check behind I'm not betting because we can't really represent the flush anymore.

If we disregard the flush for a second, checking behind a flop that completely missed our range could set us up to range bet any high card (often called the delayed c-bet). That's another reason why I like checking behind low flops rather than c-betting range each and every time.

 

[zuker]

Preflop raise too big, 3bb would be enough.
As played bluffing against casual players is useless most times.

 

[mktpppr]

P: raise to 4x is enough.

F: easy check-back, club draw and paired isn't good for us vs bad player type.

Generally a player with a 65bb stack is a bad player because, amongst other things, they don't understand simple concept of value.

Also, we have good continue and showdown value with 2 overs and A-high combo.

T: as played, fine. Why do you think another club is good for us? We're checking back almost all our club draws on flop, so by betting we're saying we don't have a club draw on the flop. Anyway, villain isn't thinking on that level, but get into habit of thinking logically.

R: fine, no need to hero with A-high.