blonde poker forum

hero is the big stack on the table with ~100k @ 300/600/75, been playing fairly aggro preflop and have been shown to cbet most flops (possibly 100% so far?) when called, either taking it down there and then or checking down after called. of my few showdowns did have to showdown A5cc as my first raise on the table i think a while ago but tbh not many of my hands are getting to showdown.

villain is a young german guy in a hoody who's been particularly active but he plays well. has opened alot/3bet alot/occasional 4bet preflop, but also flatted quite a few hands when either of his two young compatriots have opened in the two seats to his immediate right before him. again not many of his hands are getting to showdown but he is confident in taking flops and is sat on around 40k at the start of the hand. i think this is actually the first heads up pot we have played with hero in position (think i've called 2 of his raises from the blinds before now with pp's and c/f broadway boards)

hero opens  Ac Aspades to 1425 from mid position and villain flats from the bb fairly quickly

flop:  Qc Tc 3c  villain leads for 2375 into ~3.5k, hero calls

turn  6d            villain leads 4450 into ~8k, hero calls

river  Kd            villain leads 14.5k into ~17k, hero folds, thoughts?

Sounds like a good young aggro player. Could definitely be leading the flop super strong trying to build a pot, we do have lots of chips and we are drawing to the nuts, nevermind the face that we have an overpair. I like to play the flop pretty aggresively, espeically with the metagame between two good players. He is leading and probably expects you to raise a lot of the time, so I think we can profitably get it in on the flop after he has donked.

As played the river is really tough, if he did have a hand like q10/aq/ even  Kc Td I don't think he would bet 14.5k (half his stack on a value bet) More likely to bet 9-12k/ c/c imo. Nevertheless I can't really see how AA can be good in this spot, so as played I fold the river.

I probably raise the flop to test the villains strength as I agree with Pleno he could be building the pot. - Also happy to take it down here

as played i prob spew call hoping he shows Kc Jx

If you raise and he 3bets are you folding or trying to bink a club? I think flatting the flop with the Ac in our hand is kinda mandatory. I also think if I was playing well i'd fold river.

Yeah but raise folding the flop is tez.

im bad - im probably getting it in if he raises enough to effectively make it our only move

the only other hand he 4 bets  is a set surely? Or maybe Kc Qx whcih we obv arent concerned about. 2 pr hands arent that far ahead (if even ahead?) nor making that play

2 pairs are ahead, and it would be a 3bet on the flop, not a 4bet. I just thought metagame between two good players would make it profitable to get it in after the aggro guy donk leads.

He's good so he'll be leading for a reason, either to scare us meta game wise into just folding our air, or because he has a hand for value and wants to build the pot and have the chance of getting raised and getting a huge proportion of his stack in on the flop. He probably has a frush when he b3b shoves.

we are a fav to improve against 2 pr - i havent put it in a calc - but at  worst we are flipping

like i said he does this with a min of a set if he has a hand. for 40k of our 100k stack i just dont think it is that bad getting it in here (or at least raising his flop bet)

Think your line is fine. River is obv tough but agree with titbeam- if you're playing well you can find a fold here.

If he is capable enough of folding a small flush I might turn my hand into bluff and check/raise turn to pot bet/shove river with the bare  Ac obv this is a high risk play and probably spewy in the long run

I think calling turn folding river is better than fine and against a v good player probably the best line, we haz nut blocker tho can always move in on river :D

i was considering shoving river, and if he had started the hand with 60k+ and taken this same line i probably would of done

You played it fine, Good fold. Nice stack in the main event Bramm GL!

I find this so interesting. Really good that you see that turning your hand into a bluff here would be better than "bluffcatching" At this point what exact range did you put your oppo on? And what do you think he folds if he has 60k and had taken the same line and you shoved?

Wasn't Benny Spindler by any chance? Looks like the emo smiley on Skype?

Also with 60k stacks, what hands would you shove for value?

I've written a few different posts here deciding whether or not I like to raise the flop or not.

I've come to the conclusion that you've played the hand well.

My only concern is that the flat calling feels very much like the Ac. I doubt we'll get paid much on later streets. That said we're obviously never folding, drawing to the nuts and have an overpair. Hopefully if river bricks it'll go check/check. But after he makes that bet though I can't see you being good. Though against an aggressive player you never know. I fold as well.

imo if a good player is leading into another good player on a wet board, then they both have wide ranges.


I think raising the flop against a competent player without some weird history already is bad. If we get 3 bet we pretty much have to fold and that makes my head hurt just thinking about it.

What do we do when the river is a 3, a 6 or an Ace?


Those woulda been interesting!

Just seen the size of that river bet Jesus! Hmmm... bit confused now! 

1st time I saw this hand I just glanced at it and said good fold but studying it further and really thinking about it

What do you think he can honestly bet this big on the river with there's like 3 hands.. flopped flush, flopped sets T-T, Q-Q, 3-3 and maybe KQ with the king of clubs?! but this bet size on the river is so weird, I'm starting to doubt it now tbh. Would A-J with the jack of clubs make this same play and bet size?

Confusing.. his story just isn't making sense. Which is making me think this could be a bluff!

Villain is decribed as aggro. He has opened a lot, he has 3bet a lot, and he has 4bet. This means he has bluffed a lot. If he hasn't been bluffing a lot he should review his vbet strategy cos it isn't working. By contrast hero has shown that he doesn't like putting chips in on later streets and usually checks it down. In previous hands villain has bet hero off pots. When we decide to smooth the flop we invite heat on later streets from this type of villain with this type of history. I agree that the size of the river bet doesn't necessarily mean we're beat. Oh yeah, and villain is wearing a hood.

how wides his bluffing range? what's it composed of?

this seems like a proper wafty post that says nothing rotflmfao

Surely you should attempt to work this out yourself!

Hi Titbeam,  meet Mantis....

Was it by any chance a tall skinny German kid (looked early twenties??) with floppy hair (he was definitely on your table at some point)?

If so I played a very similar cash hamnd against him when we were both deepstacked and he had the flush. 

I cant see much that's why I asked someone who seems sure there are some combos.

Saw someone say they dont see a ton of value hands in his range... meh, ii dont see ANY air in his range by river. I mean, if he is trying to get chris off a bare  Ac , then he can bet pretty small on the river. His hand seems like exactly 33 or QT... and maybe small small flopped flushes.

EDIT... just looked at hand again, even QT is super thin on river... guess he has 33 or like  6c 7c... Just cant see him ever having pure air here..

i thought alot of his flop leading range pretty much got there (if it wasn't already there) on the river a tonne. hands like J9, KQ, AxJc, KcTx. it seems way too thin for him to be betting this size with just the bare Kc, especially as the river is a good card for my range imo

Yeah. I was thinking about that too. And what I might lead with and it's the same hands as you mentioned. But if you ever say the word tonne in a PHA post again I'm defo deleting you off Msn. Thats what gay americans say u mincer!

As played fold the river.

I just go ahead and raise the flop, his stack size looks perfect and you can get him to make a mistake on the flop, its a lot harder for him to make a huge mistake on later streets. You have to have some sort of balanced range for raising this flop when getting led into, you become too exploitable if your range doesnt include our hand here, which is bang at the top. But the key is, people are far more likely to bet/3bet allin with a combo draw that we crush than they our to 3 barrel with it. You also have 60k even if you double him up and our hand can never be in bad shape with his bet/3bet getting it in range, so just raise the flop and allow him to make a mistake against our perceived range.

And please never turn your hand into a bluff and shove the river here even if it was 60k effective stacks, you will get called literally every time villain is value betting ANY better hand, no-one will ever believe your line.

truth be told i'd probs just raise the turn with all my bluffs/flushes but i dont think its that unbelievable to take this line with the nuts. the only bluffs i think i'd ever have on river would be like AcTx, AcQx, AcKx, AcAx, which villain would probs find really unlikely for me to do with these hands (with exception of AcTx). i know that my range is narrow but you can still get ridic amounts of folds when putting him to the test for his tourney life in a comp like this, and having the nut card is sooooo valuable. i'd be expecting him to fold all hands worse than a flush, and specifically the QT/KQ hands which i think are the most likely of his holdings.

we crush his combo draw hands but vs the trade off getting it in vs his QT/sets/flushes which he will probably bet/3b all in. we are drawing to the nuts and never in bad shape but even so its not the best spot when he actually has it. personally i doubt he would even be taking the bet/3b all in line with a combo draw since none of them contain the Ac....and my perceived range has the Ac smacked all over it, along with the Q/T or straight blockers since im unlikely to have A2o-A7o ever either. he is virtually never getting it in with even flipping equity unless i have precisely QT myself, a hand which i am certain to bet if checked to.

i agree he might bet the flop with these combo hands but i thought he was capable enough to know that getting it in with them was terrible. as such i think when we do get it all in on the flop he has the best of it almost always.

wp op

Twas why I was asking James, I value your inputs!