$50 NL HE MTT: 3 bet pot OOP, marginal bluff catcher

[Rajten]

Game

Hold'em

Game Format

No Limit

Table Format

MTT

Buy-in

50

Currency

$

Global millions 2 lvl

CO raises 2,2bb (129bb stack 50% vpip) Bu calls (100bb), hero Ac8c (120bb stack) 3 bets to 9bb, Co folds, Bu calls

Flop 8d5hQh (21,4bb)

Never know how to play this sports, I got middle pair, I guess bluff catcher. Do you bet here?

hero checks, villainbets 6,4bb, hero calls,

Turn 6c (34,2bb)

hero c, v bets 10,5 bb, hero calls

What does, this small sizing means?

River 9c (55,5bb)

hero c, villain bets 28bb, hero folds.

What do you think about this hand, and villain range? How do you play this hand? All suggestions appreciated.

 

[JappsPK]

Given that you have middle pair on the flop, checking and calling the bet from villain is a reasonable play. On the turn, since the board didn't change much, calling again is also reasonable. As for the small bet sizing, it could mean that villain is trying to get a cheap card or is attempting to induce a call from weaker hands. On the river, when villain bets 28bb, it's possible that they have a strong hand like a set or a straight. It's a difficult decision, but folding in this situation is understandable since you have just middle pair and there are better hands that villain could have. In terms of villain's range, it's hard to say without additional information on their playing style and tendencies, but it's possible that they have a wide range of hands given their high VPIP.

 

[fundiver199]

Preflop
Seems like a fine spot to 3-bet. Its worth noting, that its not the original raiser, who call you, so we are looking at, whats called a dubble flat. The implication of that is, the opponent usually has a very capped range.

Flop
I agree that this spot is sort of tricky, so just for fun I decided to "ask the solver" in the form of GTO Wizard. GTO Wizard use a larger 3-bet sizing than yours, and it does not have A8s in its range. So the closest, we can get, is A5s. Perhaps though the more important result is, that the solver bets 99,4% of its range. So basically this is a 100% C-bet spot according to the solver. And going back to "old-school" analysis, I think, betting makes the hand easier to play. With a middling pair we cant take a lot of heat over multible streets, so its not a bad outcome to make a worse hand fold right now and take it down. As played you obviously has to call.

Turn
As played I guess, you have to call again. The solver can not help any more, since you deviated both preflop and on the flop.

River
Now there is a 1-liner to a straight, and you obviously only beat a bluff. However you have sort of only been beating a bluff the whole time. And actually several factors make this seem like a decent spot to try to catch a bluff. Yeah he could have backed into it with a hand like 77 or A7s, but he is probably not valuebetting a Q any more or even a set. So his value range have gotten thinner, and you dont block the busted flushdraw. Finally we have to expect, that obviously scary runouts like this will be bluffed at least some percentage of the time. So all in all I do lean towards a call here as played. But maybe its more important to take note of the fact, the solver C-bet this board 100% of the time.

 

[eetenor]

Global millions 2 lvl

CO raises 2,2bb (129bb stack 50% vpip) Bu calls (100bb), hero Ac8c (120bb stack) 3 bets to 9bb, Co folds, Bu calls

Flop 8d5hQh (21,4bb)

Never know how to play this sports, I got middle pair, I guess bluff catcher. Do you bet here?

hero checks, villainbets 6,4bb, hero calls,

Turn 6c (34,2bb)

hero c, v bets 10,5 bb, hero calls

What does, this small sizing means?

River 9c (55,5bb)

hero c, villain bets 28bb, hero folds.

What do you think about this hand, and villain range? How do you play this hand? All suggestions appreciated.

Stack depth dictates our actions preflop-
What is your goal when raising in this spot?
What sizing would be best with 100bb effective stacks OOP to accomplish the above goal most frequently with our range?
What do you do vs a 4 bet? Do we want to fold this hand preflop to a 4?
At this stack depth if we expect to get called often by one of 2 players what hands do we not want to build a pot with OOP-
What hands benefit from EQR (equity realization) and therefore want the pot to stay smaller?
How likely are we to be dominating the CO range with our hand?
How likely are we to be dominated? Does CO flat better AX?

 

[300HPGOD]

Pre: Depends on BB and how much we think CO and BU will fold but I generally just call in this spot if we are dealing with a suited hand like we have and we are all deep. I would play this hand because it has nut value and not the value of the ace. I think 3 betting is fine but if we are 3 betting here it is solely to take the pot down so 9 BBs is not nearly enough to get the amount folds we need to make this work in the long run.

Flop: As played going to the flop I dont love this spot to begin with but we did at least hit middle pair. I hate that the top card is a Q as I think that can smack the calling range of a player who overcalled before our bet. I think Fundivers point is very important that we are getting called not by the opener but the over caller before us so they probably dont have QQ+ as we can easily have it. Therefore I would bet this flop and bet a sizing that gets folds so maybe somewhere around 9.5-12 BBs. As played when we check it is a call for that small a sizing.

Turn: Its an undercard non club so I think we have to be happy with that. Unless we were going against 97 or 66 then we are ahead now if we were ahead before. As played there is nothing you can do except check here and then I would call as well on the turn but not liking it and already saying to myself how d*cked I am for the river on most cards that could come.

River: A lot of this comes down to what we know about villain but I am fairly strongly leaning towards folding. I just hate spot with 2 overs and 4 to a straight. Could be a busted club draw for sure from villain and their bet sizing kind of says that but I still hate this here and tell myself a bad fold here is better than a bad call and just pitch em in the middle. It goes back to why I dont like 3 betting pre in this spot with this hand and also that if we do we need to be c betting on the flop. I do, though, really like Fundivers point about his value range getting shrunk here, thats astute