Hey guys I've just played another couple of really interesting hands. One I'm about to share with you now. And I really wasn't sure about my decisions. I'll add a few comments as we go along the streets and would love to get feed back.

Hero in SB (about 260BB)- dealt
Villain (~140BB) on BT

Preflop:
Villain open raises to 3BB
Hero 3bets to 9BB
Villain calls (rest folds)

Flop:

Hero bets 8.5BB
Villain 3bets 25.5BB
Hero calls

Note: I'm already not sure at this point. People may argue that I should try to get it in here. The reason i called is that I dont fear A or K appearing on turn because I can't think of any comb with A or K that 3bets the flop. Facing this 3 bet it felt like I was up against sets but on the other hand QQ may still be ahead of some value 3 bet hands (JJ, 10A) and of course against straight draws like 9J, 67 and I wanted them to continue betting on the turn.
But what do you think? is calling or raising better here ?

Turn:

Hero checks
Villain bets 30BB
Hero calls

Note: Not to special this turn. Again I can't think of any hand that contains an 8 and 3bets the flop other than 810 but I guess we can count this out (preflop fold). So my plan was to check call and let potential bluffs or semi bluffs continue betting.

River:

Hero checks
Villain goes all in for about 80BB
Hero calls
Villain shows
Hero wins
Question: Given how deep we are can or should I find a fold at any of the streets?
Or is it standard to call it down!? I mean you know the feeling, I was so sure he shows me something like pocket 10s or 5s. Maybe sometimes even KK or AA but generally I feel that people tend to 4bet preflop.

Thanks in advance

Postflop this is kind of a tricky situation, and your decisions could certainly depend on, what reads you might have on Villain. Without reads many lines are probably very close in EV here. You could 3-bet the flop and jam the turn, if he just call. Or you could fold the river, if you think, he is just not getting it in without a boat often enough. To be honest many players at 5NL are not.

This was obviously a bit of a cooler for him and a best case scenario for you, but your postflop line is not wrong at any point. Him raising JJ on the flop is a little bit wild, but he was probably thinking, that he wanted protection from your overcards. In his spot I would just have called on the flop.

Flop if it is 2-flush board and you don't have that suit, then perhaps 3bet is better to charge the draws.

Preflop you can raise to 12BB given stack depth.

Without any reads, I think you played the hand well. I don't love playing a pair of queens that big, and I would consider a fold on the turn, but ultimately, I would have called down too. Villain over played JJ imo.

Originally Posted by quant1986

Flop if it is 2-flush board and you don't have that suit, then perhaps 3bet is better to charge the draws.


Preflop you can raise to 12BB given stack depth.

Agree with a larger 3-bet sizing preflop. 3x is fine in position, but out of position we should go larger. It was a rainbow flop. The diamond draw only developed on the turn. We block that draw with Qd, which is kind of bad, but not all that important.

I hate to be "that guy," but this needs to be said - the villain's flop raise is NOT a "3bet." It is technically a "2bet" if you want to give it a name.

This is a common error. People think that because a reraise preflop is a 3bet, that a single flop raise is also a 3bet. But the way the "3bet," "4bet," etc nomenclature comes about is that the big blind is actually the FIRST bet. So the first raise is a 2bet, the reraise is a 3bet, and so on.

On the flop, there's no blind. So the cbet is the first bet (the "1bet"). Therefore, the raise can't be a 3bet, but is a 2bet.

Anyway, that nitpicking aside (XD) - The hand seems reasonable to me up to the flop for sure. I go back and forth in spots like these because coming back over the top on the flop (with a 3bet) is sort of begging to be shown a better hand. There's no flush draw so it's going to be a challenge to get action from substantially worse hands I figure - so a call as a default seems good to me. With some sort of player reads I suppose I could be talked into a 3bet/gii line though.

On turn, this starts to get dicey for sure. I am not saying I fold, but I don't like it, yknow? Same on river. I can't fault your line, but I'd expect to lose this hand a good portion of the time.

I'm sort of with everyone else here. It doesn't feel like we'll get shown bluffs TOO often, so we NEED him to be willing to overplay JJ or AT here for this to be profitable. But if he does, we're in the clear. NH.

Originally Posted by Gildog89

Without any reads, I think you played the hand well. I don't love playing a pair of queens that big, and I would consider a fold on the turn, but ultimately, I would have called down too. Villain over played JJ imo.

Yeah its an overplay for sure. If he is going to raise the flop to charge draws and protect against AK type of hands, he should check back the river. He lose to boats, trips and better overpairs, and Hero is probably letting TX go at this point. So he is not really jamming for value, and JJ has showdown value, so no need to try to turn it into a bluff.