blonde poker forum

Ongame 1/2. We start with $227, villain covers. We are playing 27/26/7 over 68 hands at this table. We have 441 hands on villain and he is 15/11/4. He is in the BB.

Preflop: Hero is UTG with    Ac 4c
Hero raises to $6.00, 3 folds, HowieDO_x calls $6.00
 
Flop: ($15.00)  Aspades 4s 5h    (2 players)
HowieDO_x checks, Hero bets $8.00, HowieDO_x calls $8.00
 
Turn: ($31.00)   9h    (2 players)
HowieDO_x checks, Hero bets $17.00, HowieDO_x raises to $69.00, Hero??

If we call, we have 144 back otr and the pot would be 167.

My thoughts were I would expect him to c/r 44/55/A5 otf. I thought his value range was 99 and A9 and included lots of semi bluffs. So I called and he shoved on a 6d river. Now?

Would depend on his fold to cbet flop\turn stats. I think this is a pretty easy fold now. 78ss gets there too.

Think its a call down but he could easily have  7s 8s- so weighted towards pocket pairs being tight pre. It is a dirty spot and he could easily have AJhh/AQhh so i can't see myself folding. What is with the pot size otf, you make it 6 and big blind calls, pot size is 15?

no 6+6+1 = 13 mate

I really think I'd pay him this one and find out. It's pretty crucial information and we get to see 1) if he's capable of doing this as a semi-bluff/bluff and 2) exactly what he's calling HU with OOP from the blinds, personally I'd have thought he'd fold 44 and 55 a high % pf the same with 7s 8s and I'd give him a lot of Ah Th+ hands. Also don't think he'd call A9 pf hardly ever but this is a spot where we're getting a decent pricce to learn something about a regs tendancies I'd just get this in and make a note of this hand for sure.

As for Jamming over call call OTT, seems like he is going with the hand on the turn so I guess I'd jam , I'd for sure call if I felt like he had any pure airballs in his range but I don't. The main advantage to call call is that we 100% get a showdown and get to see his hand

Does anybody fold small PP to one raise? I think 78 is actually not in his range. In fact tbh not sure he has many Fds in his range either. 4% is pretty narrow. Its surely connected and suited broadways or a set. Very unlikely to have a set with your blockers. Think this is pretty much neutral EV.

Also if 78ss is in his range so is 45 suited..

15/11???? Don't think you should ever pay this guy with something so far from the nuts. Can't see him playing anything but a set this way. Don't know why  7s 8s keeps getting mentioned, what's so special about that?

The only mitigating factor is that he never has A5 or A9 so his value combos are very few, if he ever does this with AK (which he might) then you're in clover

HH says 15, ongame is buggy as fuck i guess.

that is weird

if it's profitable to call call it's better to jam I think since he's never folding the turn but it looks like folding the turn is probs best.  I'm a bit worried he's gone berserk with AQ/AK which these nits do sometimes fall in love with but prob just most sensible to fold

like I wouldn't expect him to call 78 or 45 almost ever, 44 and 55 idk I think those are bad hands to call so i reckon nitty players espcially would fold but i spose it depends. I'd wanna see this hand personally

He had A9dd fwiw so peeling all suited aces and prolly 44 and 55 but these c/r the flop on this board surely?

yh. I wouldnt expect him to have A9. I actually think he's more likely to peel A9dd than 44 or 55but they all pretty stnd folds. These nitty guys make some good awful peels sometimes

In the words of yourself...fold pre

No need to play this hand as nice as it looks OOP.

Soon as the nit calls then raises turn, I'm chucking away non nut 2p alotttttt.

interesting, i wonder who else folds a2-A5ss utg 6max?

couldn't really say I think it's close, not sure it matters, think folding and opening are both pretty fine options

what about limping to see a cheap flop yo?

Is that a joke? I'm assuming so. Or some kind of level because I said fold pre?

its a joke yeh

A2ss - A5ss = open, A6ss - A8ss (I think a9 is here also but fk that) = fold

I had this argument before with a mate. He used to open suited ace. He saw it as important for range balancing. I used to fold A2-7 utg.

Im guessing why you say play a2-5 and not a6-8 but i think its daft. How often are you flopping the 2/3 nut straight realistically.

Not opening it purely to flop the nuts. Thats just silly really. We're wanting to flop hands that hold lots of equity, ie s+f draws, more than anything else.

Flopping the nuts is also cool.

You flop a straight with A2-A5 more often than A6-A9

lol yeah. But doesnt hands like this exemplify the issues with these type of hands.  Tbf at least you managed to flop top 2 not top and bottom.

My point is there is no blanks on the turn oop with a2-5 that dont improve our hand. Equally its impossible to flop the nut straight (thats nit picking) surely a6-9>a2-5 in the majority of spots as our kickers/2purs are less vulnerable.

It's great to flop trips with A2-A5 cos it's hard for our opponents to put us on 2x, whereas A9 on 99x we have more 9x combos in our range (i open 98ss, T9ss and J9ss sometimes Q9 or 97ss on the right table). The only 2x I'm opening is A2ss.

Secondly, the kicker point isn't really that important imo. I wouldn't really play A2 much differently to A9 on an A high board. Getting one or two streets of value or bluff catching. It's not like we can get 3 streets with A9 on Ak3 but only one or two with A2. Also for the kicker point to be valid, you have to assume that people are peeling A6-A9 in the first place (for us to be outkicked) which people don't really. Even if they do I think the odds of it coming ace high are about 8 or 9:1.

The point about having more vulnerable two pairs is fine, but it's so rare to have two pair over two pair (there's 2 aces left in the 48 cards unknown, 3 of our kicker and 3 of theirs, so for one of each group to come out is v rare)

So is flopping a straight I hear you say, but flopping gutshots is still pretty important, as we can barrel with 16% more equity which is pretty huge. Suited aces generally are pretty sick imo. I might peel or 3b too much from the blinds when I should fold them, but I can't see opening them utg being a mistake.

Yes open, theres a 15/11 behind and you have a hand that can make a nut flush

It depends hugely on who's in the (big) blinds and to a lesser extent in the other positions.  If there are weaker players in the blinds then obviously you want to play pots with them so A2s might be an open. If there's a LAG on the button who's going to course you a headache and two TAGs in the blinds then it's not a hand you want to play. sthief09 talks about this concept a lot in his videos on Deucescracked.

Why? You are UTG, if he c/r you and then bets the turn is his range not really narrow and therefore you can easily fold AK/AQ given his stats?

Think turn is a clear fold. Someone playing 15/11 just isn't bluffing often enough in this spot for you to be ahead.

Opening any suited Ace UTG is fine for a player who has a large skill edge in his games. Whether that applies to you yet, given that you've not played much online and are still adjusting, is for you to decide. Either way, there's not going to be much in it. Same with medium suited connectors and some of the dominated offsuit broadways like AJo and KQo.

Postflop this is a slightly strange spot since you'd assume villain would want to c/r the flop with sets (to build the pot) given the fact that your flop bet sizing is pretty small. And of course you'd not expect him to always have the small pairs or A5s (or A9s!!) type hands in his preflop flatting range given that he is a nitty type and you have opened UTG (although in practice very few players fold small pairs to a single raise, even though they probably should).

Nevertheless I think turn is a fold, and not just because you say he turned up with A9. Two reasons for this:

a) The Nit Rule: When a nit shows strength you need to play super tight even with hands that are strong in terms of absolute strength. This is even more the case vs a nit's turn check raise (a la baluga theorem). And even when the nit is only repping a very narrow value range as here... well he just always seems to have one of these unlikely hands :-(

b) You have opened UTG. This is a key point. Given your position, your perceived range is very strong especially when you bet the flop and the turn. Essentially villain is saying he can beat AK. You can only just beat AK yourself. If I had opened on the BTN then I would struggle to fold this hand even given the fact that opponent is a nit, since my range is so much weaker and so villain can be check-raising worse for value and bluffing sometimes.

This is missing the point a bit. The reason why A5s is usually more playable than A6s is not because it is going to flop a straight very often. It is because it is going to flop a gutshot. Or pick up a gutshot on the turn. This allows you to stay aggressive on the turn since you are playing your equity, and thus gives you more chance of winning the pot without showdown.