$400 NLHE 6-max: Suited Connectors versus UTG Raise

[TheBigFinn]

The MGM Poker Room at National Harbor (in MD just outside of DC) has gone to 8 handed (from 6) and with optional masks. I play my first live session in almost a year. After a short wait I'm seated to a non descript Thursday afternoon crowd. One other old guy, and a bunch of 20 somethings 1/2 of which have been drinking since noon. I buy in for $300 and that's about the table average, although the other old guy has 1/2 of that.

I play a tight game at a generally loose table. I am down a little and have yet to show a hand. A loose 20 something opens for $7 UTG and is called in the cut off. I am on the button with and 3-bet to $20. I am prepared to fold to a 4-bet, but think I'll get called at least once and see a flop.

Blinds fold, Villain calls, UTG folds and we see an flop with $43 in the middle less rake.

I put Villain on AXs, Pairs and Broadways. I doubt he has a big pair since he didn't 4-bet. My pair of tens is basically a bluff catcher. Villain checks. Do I check behind or C-bet? I C-bet $25 and Villain thinks for a few seconds and calls.

Turn is the with $93 in the middle less rake.

Bad Card. Villain's KJ is now a straight & AK is two pair. Villain bets $35 with ~$225 effective behind. Seems small to me. Is he looking for a call or is it a blocker bet? He seems nervous and isn't looking at me. I have a flush draw and a straight draw, but both are weak. Do I fold, call or shove. I want to shove, thinking he'll fold a pair and knowing TT isn't good. I call.

River is an with $163 in the middle. Villain throws in a black chip with $125 behind. I shove, just because if he has KJ he deserves it. He insta calls with ........

Spoiler

QQ

Amazing.

 

[Badday94]

You are one crazy dude, let me tell you lol. This is some insane playing to be honest, I hope you don't take this route very often though you won 300 this time, but with this kind of play you lose more than you win, for sure. Very bad play from that guy to bet so small on turn, don't know what he was thinking honestly. With K J I would understand that bet because you want to get called, but with trips you want the other guy to fold when there is a flush and straight draw on the board. All in all you seem to have fun so I'm glad for you and wish you all the best

 

[TheBigFinn]

Would like to discuss further

You are one crazy dude, let me tell you lol. This is some insane playing to be honest, I hope you don't take this route very often though you won 300 this time, but with this kind of play you lose more than you win, for sure. Very bad play from that guy to bet so small on turn, don't know what he was thinking honestly. With K J I would understand that bet because you want to get called, but with trips you want the other guy to fold when there is a flush and straight draw on the board. All in all you seem to have fun so I'm glad for you and wish you all the best

Do you think raising JTs preflop to an UTG from a loose player is bad? I don't. I'm behind a little for sure, but I usually know exactly where I stand on the flop.

The c-bet on the turn that hit Villain's range was questionable, I agree. I am a considerable dog there.

The turn was very good for me giving me lots of outs.

The last bet on the river was questionable too. I have had several people suggest very few losers will call.

 

[Badday94]

The things you mentioned are indeed questionable. Also I would add that even loose players sometimes hit or are dealt good cards, so yes, 3 beting J 10 is a bit loose for me but I understand it and you can take the aggressive route from time to time that's why I didn't mention this.

The things you did post flop whem you were clearly behind are pretty insane to me and I wanted to point out that in the long run you lose more than you win playing like that. But sometimes you get lucky like you did on the river and get the job done. I'm glad it worked out for you, this is definitely a hand you want to tell everyone about, even if it's more luck than skill. Thank you for posting, it was an interesting one

 

[liuouhgkres]

Preflop: pretty standard. Some pros like Alvin Lau suggest to never call in position and play 3bet or fold only in cheap games, because of high rake. Even if you have calling range, 3betting with JTs is never bad.

Flop: On this board you have a massive range and nuts advantage. You have sets, straights and two pairs, while villain has very discounted number of nuts. I would just go and bet small with whole range. However, you bet large and that is what makes it bad. I don't see a reason to turn your hand into a bluff just yet and with your hand you want to see turn and river for cheap. I would say it is a bad cbet because of the sizing you chose.

Turn: As played, I would just call. I don't like raising all in here, because in these games villains are rather call happy on these types of boards. If they have pair+draw they might just call, even though they shouldn't. So, no need to go too aggressive with marginalish hands.

River: Allin is the only play here, because you have so little behind. Get calls from sets and some random calls. If you were much deeper then you don't want to bet because of reverse odds, but here it is plain all in.

Overall, apart from flop c-bet I like how you played this hand.

 

[TheBigFinn]

Preflop: pretty standard. Some pros like Alvin Lau suggest to never call in position and play 3bet or fold only in cheap games, because of high rake. Even if you have calling range, 3betting with JTs is never bad.

Flop: On this board you have a massive range and nuts advantage. You have sets, straights and two pairs, while villain has very discounted number of nuts. I would just go and bet small with whole range. However, you bet large and that is what makes it bad. I don't see a reason to turn your hand into a bluff just yet and with your hand you want to see turn and river for cheap. I would say it is a bad cbet because of the sizing you chose.

Turn: As played, I would just call. I don't like raising all in here, because in these games villains are rather call happy on these types of boards. If they have pair+draw they might just call, even though they shouldn't. So, no need to go too aggressive with marginalish hands.

River: Allin is the only play here, because you have so little behind. Get calls from sets and some random calls. If you were much deeper then you don't want to bet because of reverse odds, but here it is plain all in.

Overall, apart from flop c-bet I like how you played this hand.

I tend to make all of my flop C-Bets the same size. As I look back on it the extra $7 call/fold preflop pushed me up to $25. The table standard was $20 and I should have stayed with it.

 

[gustav197poker]

I have not seen the final result of this hand played live.
I don't think you're playing too tight if you 3-bet with UTG opener with JTs, but I don't think it's wrong to do it from BTN either, so I just hope you keep telling your story on this hand.
The flop is quite heavy and has the greatest impact on V. You decide to make a slightly higher bet than half a pot. At this point, if I match the rank you set on your villain. AXs and maybe some flush draw. The problem is that we do not expect many flush draw combos that have a broadway other than Ah or Kh at most, due to the position of V.
On the other hand, you block a negative hand for you (QJs) because it increases the possibility of isolating yourself with stronger hands, such as QK or AQ of slow played.
There really is little fold equity in UTG, if he decides to call on the flop. So it is not necessary to place a very large OTF bet size, even check behind seems reasonable here (for example).
As played if you bet the flop, you should continue to bet the turn. But here the villain decides to lead. He makes a fairly small bet, which could be interpreted as a bluff induction or a block. So the turn call seems correct to me, considering that we will not get folds often enough, unless we bet super aggressive, but I do not think it is the appropriate scenario to try that line.
On the river I agree that you should go shoving your chips. You will rarely win in these places, because the villain has an advantage of range, while you represent all the TPTK or failed flush draws. So UTG could start by catching bluffs with 2 pairs and better.
Greetings.

 

[gustav197poker]

So UTG could start by catching bluffs with 2 pairs and better.
[/QUOTE]


I mean the villain CO. UTG fold and yet I could have folded OTF if you had bet less. Because you are representing all the best sets and generally the strongest hands for this texture.
Now I have seen the showdown. The villain played very poorly, building a MWB while he let a premium hand devalue.

 

[Casey55]

I think the hand depended on what you were trying to accomplish, with the flopped pair you could have checked the flop to keep your opponents range wide and your equity in a decent spot. I think anytime you have some sort of marginal made hand with a draw its best to treat it as a marginal made hand that has showdown value. I think using other hands in our range that missed the flop but have draws are better for bluffing. Unless you knew the guy was capable of folding and laying stuff down to you maybe checking flop was best. In theory you will have all the premium hands on that flop but still, betting with a marginal pair and getting called on that flop I'm not loving it.

 

[eetenor]

The MGM Poker Room at National Harbor (in MD just outside of DC) has gone to 8 handed (from 6) and with optional masks. I play my first live session in almost a year. After a short wait I'm seated to a non descript Thursday afternoon crowd. One other old guy, and a bunch of 20 somethings 1/2 of which have been drinking since noon. I buy in for $300 and that's about the table average, although the other old guy has 1/2 of that.

I play a tight game at a generally loose table. I am down a little and have yet to show a hand. A loose 20 something opens for $7 UTG and is called in the cut off. I am on the button with and 3-bet to $20. I am prepared to fold to a 4-bet, but think I'll get called at least once and see a flop.

Blinds fold, Villain calls, UTG folds and we see an flop with $43 in the middle less rake.

I put Villain on AXs, Pairs and Broadways. I doubt he has a big pair since he didn't 4-bet. My pair of tens is basically a bluff catcher. Villain checks. Do I check behind or C-bet? I C-bet $25 and Villain thinks for a few seconds and calls.

Turn is the with $93 in the middle less rake.

Bad Card. Villain's KJ is now a straight & AK is two pair. Villain bets $35 with ~$225 effective behind. Seems small to me. Is he looking for a call or is it a blocker bet? He seems nervous and isn't looking at me. I have a flush draw and a straight draw, but both are weak. Do I fold, call or shove. I want to shove, thinking he'll fold a pair and knowing TT isn't good. I call.

River is an with $163 in the middle. Villain throws in a black chip with $125 behind. I shove, just because if he has KJ he deserves it. He insta calls with ........

Spoiler

QQ

Amazing.

Thank you for posting.
Have not seen results yet

If a raise takes control of the villains than raising is always right here. If V are agg post flop and are showdown happy then keeping our SPR high is much better preflop with this hand so we call.
Sizing is a little small to get folds pre vs loose players usually but you got the fold so great bet.

I do not know if you noticed but on a flop of AQT KJ is a straight. So the turn 9 is more likely a 2 pair hit not a straight hit.

With the range you give a loose passive player on this flop a bet of 25% would be best so 12-15. We should not expect our V to fold very often as this board either nailed there range most often or missed it completely. The small bet can buy us a river when called even if the V is trapping- passive players seldom lead turn.
If the V has skills and knows you are TAG they should not have any weak Ax here OOP

Of course if your V attack all smaller bets as can happen live we may need to bet 18-20 but the least we can bet is the best choice.

When the V calls your sizing flop it is free card time. When the V bets into us for that sizing and we were going to take a free card we just call vs loose players. Our V has the nut advantage and our hand vs their range when they lead is not strong and they may even have our flush outs dead. KQd for instance may play like this. We have draws that crack all of the V's value bets on turn and KQd is only one hand so easy call no need to risk our stack.

We want to think more clearly about what our V bets blocker turn then half stack river.
This is where you want to focus your learning moving forward.

You gave no info about this V UTG was loose 20's but was CO part of the drunk half of the 20 year olds? If so the shove is 100% correct.

So let's see what happened.

V had QQ.

So your read of fear on the turn was incorrect. You may want to work deeper on your live read skills.

Hope this helps