50nl Bleurgh...

[Kits]

Villain was 24/20/12 after 150 hands and pushing the table around. For the last 10 orbits he had raised the button. I re-popped him on the prior orbit from the BB with QQ and he folded. The only hands of his that had gone to show down were AJ, KQ and QT.

I really struggled with this hand. Is this complete air or does he have me crushed? Would he have hit the king with a strong enough hand to push? Comments on all streets please as I'm not convinced I played any of them particularly great. Pre flop I was actually thinking of floating the flop and taking the pot away from him on a later street.

I dunno........

Party Poker, $0.25/$0.50 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BTN: $72.19
SB: $68.01
Hero (BB): $91.22
UTG: $29.06
CO: $43.67

Pre-Flop: A T dealt to Hero (BB)
2 folds, BTN raises to $2, SB folds, Hero calls $1.50

Flop: ($4.25) T 9 3 (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $3.50, Hero raises to $8.50, BTN calls $5

Turn: ($21.25) K (2 Players)
Hero bets $13, BTN raises to $61.69 and is All-In
Hero ???

[thizzSantaCruz]

If button is opening that loosely I like 3betting from the blinds here. You are ahead of his range so raising is good. If he 4bets its an easy fold and it makes playing the hand much easier.

As played flop is fine, but when he calls your check-raise you need to give up.

[benny999]

preflop it's fine to 3bet but calling is ok too. i prefer 3bet pre, or if calling pre id rather just c/c or b/f on the flop.
on the flop, check raising is not bad because he should be calling with worse hands, but it's going to put you into difficult spots like this on turn/river if you don't have reads on his post flop tendencies.
on the turn id rather check-evaluate (prob fold if he bets), and then probably value bet a blank river.
as played, i kind of want to call because your bet size on the turn looks like you have the sort of hand you do, and he can have like J9 or something similar, but most likely your crushed so folding is good.

[Vrax]

You're pretty deep
You don't have position
Villain is aggro (or it looks like he is)
Your type of hand doesn't like big pots

...muck preflop?

Maybe I'm too much of a nit, but I don't like 3betting it that deep out of position. Calling also kinda sucks, so I'd dump it and move on.

[Deanglow]

Definitely dump ace-rag this deep preflop to this opponent. I hate your flop checkraise and you have to fold the turn now because you really don't beat much.

[djzcko]

I would 3 bet pf every time against a 24/20 button raise with AT in BB. The hand will play much easier if you do...cbet flop and let it go if you are raised. At $50nl, a 3 bet creates huge problems for villains as they play you like you have AA every time. Calling is the worst option by far. Fold or raise please...

[Ash256]

Definitely dump ace-rag this deep preflop to this opponent. I hate your flop checkraise and you have to fold the turn now because you really don't beat much.

Well put.

Your flop c/r essentially turns your hand into a bluff.

[Vrax]

At $50nl, a 3 bet creates huge problems for villains as they play you like you have AA every time. Calling is the worst option by far. Fold or raise please...

The hand will play much, much easier if it hits the muck before the flop.

3bet creates some problem for villain but it's small problem. He can put pressure on you by "just call" of the 3-bet. Then it's you, who faces tough decisions, even if you hit the flop.

24/20 has indeed a wide range on button, but he also is capable of putting us in gross spot postflop often enough to make entire hand very unprofitable. He has more options of bluffing, extraction, float, pot control implied threat whatever he chooses to use.

With lots of money behind and positional disadvantage, it's just not worth to try to pick up his 4BB.

If we had button and villain was on CO, it's different story. 3betting will put HIM into shit spot, and he may even muck better Ace or small pair, because he'll be OOP in all streets of betting.

[Kits]

The hand will play much, much easier if it hits the muck before the flop.

3bet creates some problem for villain but it's small problem. He can put pressure on you by "just call" of the 3-bet. Then it's you, who faces tough decisions, even if you hit the flop.

24/20 has indeed a wide range on button, but he also is capable of putting us in gross spot postflop often enough to make entire hand very unprofitable. He has more options of bluffing, extraction, float, pot control implied threat whatever he chooses to use.

With lots of money behind and positional disadvantage, it's just not worth to try to pick up his 4BB.

If we had button and villain was on CO, it's different story. 3betting will put HIM into shit spot, and he may even muck better Ace or small pair, because he'll be OOP in all streets of betting.

Yes, I agree with all this but at what stage do you take a stand against his constant blind stealing? The table was actually pretty weak other than this guy who seemed pretty solid. Is it just a case of find another table?

[Vrax]

Yes, I agree with all this but at what stage do you take a stand against his constant blind stealing? The table was actually pretty weak other than this guy who seemed pretty solid. Is it just a case of find another table?

You still play tight from SB, but you 3bet him more liberally when you are on button and he opens light from MP/CO.

If it comes to SB vs BB confrontation, you can also playback at him more often. Not because you have full 1 blind in the pot, but because you have positional advantage and are already heads-up without other players behind you.

If someone who plays well postflop and has your big stack covered, then it's no shame to give him some of your SB's and getting it back from weak blinds or in a big pot, when aggro become too reckless.

If you want to play back at him OOP, it's good to have some big pot hand like 77-TT, or big suited cards, so you can flop more hands that play well out of position (sets and combo draws).

[Ash256]

Yes, I agree with all this but at what stage do you take a stand against his constant blind stealing? The table was actually pretty weak other than this guy who seemed pretty solid. Is it just a case of find another table?

You still play tight from SB, but you 3bet him more liberally when you are on button and he opens light from MP/CO.

If it comes to SB vs BB confrontation, you can also playback at him more often. Not because you have full 1 blind in the pot, but because you have positional advantage and are already heads-up without other players behind you.

If someone who plays well postflop and has your big stack covered, then it's no shame to give him some of your SB's and getting it back from weak blinds or in a big pot, when aggro become too reckless.

If you want to play back at him OOP, it's good to have some big pot hand like 77-TT, or big suited cards, so you can flop more hands that play well out of position (sets and combo draws).

Strongly agreed.

Use position, calling PF with A-rag out of position and turning a medium-weak hand into a bluff is not blind defense.

[benny999]

i don't like this "find a better spot" idea. at least learn some of this guy's tendencies, and then you can play the AT oop profitably.
like maybe he folds too much to 3bets or plays too straightforward post flop...some things where his range gets narrow.
also, c/r flop is not turning the hand into a bluff if he just checks the turn with JT or similar hands, and esp if u do it often enough.