$2 NLHE Full Ring: Playing KQ top 2 pair versus maniac with wet board

[rmcneice]

Questioning plays on all the streets.

Hero (MP): 95 BB ~(VPIP 14, PFR 12, 3Bet Preflop 5)
MP+1: 142 BB (VPIP: 65.38, PFR: 19.23, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, hands: 26)



Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has


Qh, Kc

fold, fold, Hero raises to 4 BB, MP+1 calls 4 BB, fold, CO calls 4 BB, fold, fold, fold

Thought here standard open from this position and the MP+1 is going to call with almost anything.

Flop: (13.5 BB, 3 players)


4d, Ks, Qs


Hero bets 10 BB, MP+1 calls 10 BB, fold

So flopped top two pair against flush or straight draws and behind three different sets. The 75% continuation bet is a little low giving decent odds for anyone on a good draw. At the .01/.2 level most callers on the flop pay no attention to the odds versus the outs so I use a little lower bet here than I should if I was going to force the draws to fold or make a bad call.

Q1) Should I reconsider my standard bet sizing here?

Q2) At this level with this stack should I over bet or even shove a percentage of the time with both top two pair or the bottom pair included in the two to protect the hand on a wet board?

Turn: (33.5 BB, 2 players)


Ac


Hero bets 15 BB, MP+1 calls 15 BB

This is where I think I made my first bad play. Normally I would check with the A making both the flush and straight draws good. But with a 65% VPIP I expect villain to bet anything, especially and A, if I don’t double barrel so what’s the good of checking. I think I let his looseness convince to spend chips I should not although we are still good here and except for top pair hasn’t improved his hand.

Q1) What should I have been thinking here?

River: (63.5 BB, 2 players)

Ts


Hero checks, MP+1 bets 45 BB, Hero raises to 66 BB and is all-in, MP+1 calls 21 BB

Here I just got stubborn with the 10 which took my +70% equity and erased it. I’m bluffing and he has the goods.

Hero shows

​

Qh, Kc ​

(Two Pair, Kings and Queens)
(Pre 41%, Flop 78%, Turn 73%)
MP+1 shows


As, Jc


(Straight, Ace High)
(Pre 59%, Flop 22%, Turn 27%)
MP+1 wins 186 BB

So, I need to do better here but I think the improvement has to really come on the turn or flop.

 

[oriole]

A making both the flush and straight draws good

The board according to you is 4d, Ks, Qs, Ac so there's no flush out there yet.


If the villain is aggressive postflop then I would check-shove turn.


As played you have to fold river. Raising 21bb into ~140bb pot as bluff against 65% vpip is suicide.

 

[Hujiko]

Flop
If you think that gutshots, flush draws, straight draws and one pairs will most of the time call a bigger bet then yes bet bigger on the flop e.g. 90% pot.

Turn
Would bet bigger here like 2/3 pot 20 BB. Let those maniacs pay for their draws.
When you have seen the same guy bet a lot against passiveness a check raise can also be considered.

River
Don't bluff with two pair. What can he have that would fold and beat you on this board their isn't enough fold equity. Would probably check fold the river if I could find the fold button

 

[bark9188]

I bet a little bit more on the turn; MP1 is laggy but you might get the flush draw to clear out here. The river is an ugly check/fold.

 

[Jacki Burkhart]

Questioning plays on all the streets.

Hero (MP): 95 BB ~(VPIP 14, PFR 12, 3Bet Preflop 5)
MP+1: 142 BB (VPIP: 65.38, PFR: 19.23, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 26)



Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has


Qh, Kc

fold, fold, Hero raises to 4 BB, MP+1 calls 4 BB, fold, CO calls 4 BB, fold, fold, fold

Thought here standard open from this position and the MP+1 is going to call with almost anything.

Flop: (13.5 BB, 3 players)


4d, Ks, Qs


Hero bets 10 BB, MP+1 calls 10 BB, fold

So flopped top two pair against flush or straight draws and behind three different sets. The 75% continuation bet is a little low giving decent odds for anyone on a good draw. At the .01/.2 level most callers on the flop pay no attention to the odds versus the outs so I use a little lower bet here than I should if I was going to force the draws to fold or make a bad call.

Q1) Should I reconsider my standard bet sizing here?

Q2) At this level with this stack should I over bet or even shove a percentage of the time with both top two pair or the bottom pair included in the two to protect the hand on a wet board?

Turn: (33.5 BB, 2 players)


Ac


Hero bets 15 BB, MP+1 calls 15 BB

This is where I think I made my first bad play. Normally I would check with the A making both the flush and straight draws good. But with a 65% VPIP I expect villain to bet anything, especially and A, if I don’t double barrel so what’s the good of checking. I think I let his looseness convince to spend chips I should not although we are still good here and except for top pair hasn’t improved his hand.

Q1) What should I have been thinking here?

River: (63.5 BB, 2 players)

Ts


Hero checks, MP+1 bets 45 BB, Hero raises to 66 BB and is all-in, MP+1 calls 21 BB

Here I just got stubborn with the 10 which took my +70% equity and erased it. I’m bluffing and he has the goods.

Hero shows

​

Qh, Kc ​

(Two Pair, Kings and Queens)
(Pre 41%, Flop 78%, Turn 73%)
MP+1 shows


As, Jc


(Straight, Ace High)
(Pre 59%, Flop 22%, Turn 27%)
MP+1 wins 186 BB

So, I need to do better here but I think the improvement has to really come on the turn or flop.

preflop: fine. i bet a little smaller than that online and about that live. totally fine.

flop: I'm gonna favor my standard flop bet sizing here and that is 33-67%. bigger for more coordinated boards and smaller for dryer boards so here I would bet about 9bb. not much different from what you did. When it's multiway I'll change my bet sizings away from "standard" and be more straightforward/exploitative/exploitable. since it's HU I'll generally always bet 9bb on this type of flop.

turn: since we have the board somewhat locked that Ace will either kill action or make him top pair. as such I think we can bet big to continue to charge draws and worse hands. But not so big that only better hands call. at this point I'd say 60-80% of the pot is the sweet spot.

river: as played that is a bad card and we're in bluff catching mode only. I would check call or check fold depending on sizing and reads and I would never lead or check raise.

 

[braveslice]

Maniacs are aggressive, there is nothing indicative in his stats saying he is agro, on the contrary he has the feel of passive fish.

https://www.pokernews.com/pokerterms/maniac.htm