Been a while since I entertained: fiddy pounder at a local gaming establishment

[Tal]

£50+5 at local Grosvenor. 6k guarantee spanked to £7,200 (partly thanks to hero's second bullet...). 20k starting chips. You join us in level six. Blinds 200/400. Hero has 19,500 and has only been at the table five minutes.

Two limps to my cut off (mid position kid flicks his 500 chip in, hijack fairly decent player for this level and has chips calls with confidence). I make it 1,500 with  .

Small blind is a creative and superloose player. He (30k) and HJ (35k) call.

Flop . (Pot 5,200)

SB leads 1500, which is called. I make it 4k and both call.

Turn . (Pot 17,200)

SB checks reasonably quickly but without any obvious adrenaline change. His head is resting on his left hand, leaning away from me and the chap to my right but with his legs obviously facing forwards (so he's twisting slightly). This has stayed his pose until this point. He released his cards to check with the same, right hand. FWIW he is almost certainly right handed.

We all check. HJ and I each take a little longer - around six to ten seconds - to check. I figure I can get all the bluffs to fire the river and not much value on the turn, as I don't believe I have a bigger ace against me.

River . (17,200)

SB thinks for three seconds and bets 14k with his right hand again, now facing forwards with his left hand in a more normal position.  (14k is exactly how much I have left). HJ folds quickly.

SB is Slavic or Russian, about 25 years old and is comfortable in a casino environment. He speaks fluent English, albeit with a heavy accent.

I want more information. I say "you must put me on Ace King" and he looks at the board immediately. He looks at it for a few seconds before looking back at me. He breaks the stare by checking his cards after a short pause.

I say "Oh no! I was going to call but then you did that ! You can't possibly be bluffing now!" He furrows his brow slightly and smiles on the left hand side of his face when the chap two to his left chortles.

I think this is such a tough spot, as I believe his primary range is 46/88/all clubs. He is capable of going a bit nuts with nothing, I suspect, but "going a bit nuts" also includes calling a chunk for a gutshot.

Trivial decision?

[pleno1]

why did you raise the flop Tal?

[pleno1]

also why do we expect him to have 64 (fold pre flop surely) and 88 (fold flop - twice surely) ?

[Tal]

why did you raise the flop Tal?

Protection.

Seems to me neither player is likely to have a bigger ace (HJ would not have limped and SB isn't likely to call then donk). I could rep an ace if I didn't have one, of course, but mainly protection.

also why do we expect him to have 64 (fold pre flop surely) and 88 (fold flop - twice surely) ?

SB can call pre with anything. I think he takes pleasure in showing garbage that gets there.

I say 88 because he's come along pre, donked to pressure me (HJ likely doesn't have an ace so he can attack my weak ace or pair), checked the turn and then hit gin on the river.

What would you put him on?

[pleno1]

when you raise the flop and somebody is to act behind thats already called i would be v v v surprised to see 88. maybe he somehow has it but id say he has 88 less than 0.1% of the time.

i'd flat flop and proceed with caution tbh.


pre flop i may just limp along too, if i raised id probably go bigger, around 2k to get the pot hu more than multiway. our hand plays really well with a high spr 5-6 way, really well hu with initiative, but poorly 3 way even with initiative.

[david3103]

Are you sure he only smiled on the left side of his face?

Did he raise his eyebrows?

How did he eat his Oreo?

[Tal]

Are you sure he only smiled on the left side of his face?

Did he raise his eyebrows?

How did he eat his Oreo?

Think you're new to my PHA threads, so I'll let that slide.

[rfgqqabc]

I'd limp pre I think, I want to see 3 cards, might just iso in game I think its a stylistic decision that should be based on gameflow for the large part.

I'd fold the river without an oreo tell as he can have lots of good hands. Not too worried about calling on one of the worse board runouts for us that doesnt have a club on it.

[pleno1]

Honestly these live tells etc are very entertaining and fun to read but you really shouldn't be remembering them all. You should be focusing on constructing their ranges correctly it's very likely that they will give away significant tells on their Hand strength due to sizing or simply a line taken. I'd really
Recommend simplifying everything and trying to give these guys proper ranges.

When we are thinking on the river about what they can have it should be less than 1% of the time that they have 64 or 88 as played.

We need to ask ourselves

- would he play 2 pair like this
- would he play a set like this
- would he play a flush draw like this

Try and work our some rough or estimated conbos and then look at your pot odds and if you're getting the required price call if you're not fold. If the maths is close then thjnk deeper about how likely he is to have which hands. If it's really close then start asking questions and looking for live tells.

[rfgqqabc]

How can 64 be more likely than 54 and A4? Both seem more likely than 88 too.

[Oxford_HRV]

How can 64 be more likely than 54 and A4? Both seem more likely than 88 too.