2nl. A bluff, and a couple thin value spots

[Sorcery11]

Hand 1- Villain is 33/24 over 46 hands. I have not seen him show down much but I have been paying attention to him and his post flop activeness has been noted. Preflop, his range is obviously wide: 22-TT and a host of SCs and broadway combos.

On the flop its a standard c bet for me and tbh I was just going to fire 3 barrels on this board since his range is so weak pre and most of it should not be able to stand the pressure. I was not surprised by his flop raise, and immediately decided his range was polarized to Ax and air. My hand is one of the worst to 3 bet bluff with here, but the price I was getting on my bluff was ridic and I'm confident the play is +EV. Thoughts? How is my sizing?


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (6 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG ($1.05)
Hero (MP) ($2.15)
CO ($5.06)
Button ($5.87)
SB ($3.19)
BB ($0.68)

Preflop: Hero is MP with ,
1 fold, Hero bets $0.08, 1 fold, Button calls $0.08, 2 folds

Flop: ($0.19) , , (2 players)
Hero bets $0.14, Button raises to $0.32, Hero raises to $0.64

Total pot: $0.83


Hand 2: Villain is 20/0 over only 5 hands. I'm auto labeling him as a fish due to stack size, the utg limp etc. Easy flop C bet for me, hes peeling any pair and any heart. On turn I feel he never folds Tx or any heart so it is a clear v bet.
On the river, I have a weird decision because I think I could either c/f c/c or shove. In the end, I decided that I would not be able to fold to this player if I checked and he shoved, and I still thought he would not fold any heart or Tx hand but maybe that is a bit optimistic?


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (6 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP ($2)
CO ($1.69)
Button ($2.53)
SB ($3.06)
Hero (BB) ($2.03)
UTG ($1.78)

Preflop: Hero is BB with ,
UTG calls $0.02, 3 folds, SB calls $0.01, Hero bets $0.12, UTG calls $0.10, 1 fold

Flop: ($0.26) , , (2 players)
Hero bets $0.18, UTG calls $0.18

Turn: ($0.62) (2 players)
Hero bets $0.28, UTG calls $0.28

River: ($1.18) (2 players)
Hero bets $1.45 (All-In), UTG calls $1.20 (All-In)

Total pot: $3.58


Hand 3: Villain is a 57/7 fish. On the flop, I am getting value from any PP,7x,89,JTetc and random crap that he does not want to fold. The turn, his calling range does not change much and it is a clear value bet. River, I debated about another v bet here for a few seconds but I just didn't feel like it would be too profitable. I think it is close either way. How is my line? Would anyone prefer a check flop, bet turn bet river? Who v bets the river as played?


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (5 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($2)
SB ($1.70)
BB ($2.53)
UTG ($3.04)
Hero (MP) ($3.73)

Preflop: Hero is MP with ,
UTG calls $0.02, Hero bets $0.10, 3 folds, UTG calls $0.08

Flop: ($0.23) , , (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $0.14, UTG calls $0.14

Turn: ($0.51) (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $0.26, UTG calls $0.26

River: ($1.03) (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks

Total pot: $1.03

[Hoopy]

H1) His raising range is probably Ax, flush draws and air. Your hand has little equity since his range has 9 outs minimum or is already ahead so calling his raise is bad. Turns will be hard to play as well

3betting as a bluff doesn't work because all better hands (and fd's) are calling due to your sizing and he may jam air some % for the same reason.

H2) Slightly bigger turn bet, river seems too thin without better reads. I like check/decide.

H3) Looks good, bet flop/check turn/bet good rivers is ok as well.

[Sorcery11]

H1) His raising range is probably Ax, flush draws and air. Your hand has little equity since his range has 9 outs minimum or is already ahead so calling his raise is bad. Turns will be hard to play as well

3betting as a bluff doesn't work because all better hands (and fd's) are calling due to your sizing and he may jam air some % for the same reason.

H2) Slightly bigger turn bet, river seems too thin without better reads. I like check/decide.

H3) Looks good, bet flop/check turn/bet good rivers is ok as well.

Hand 1- What better hands is he min raising the flop with other than Ax? My sizing is only targeting the air in his range and is essentially a pure bluff, so I do not think my actual equity matters. Since I assume hes got enough air in said range I'm sure this play is at least working 1/3 (break even point) of the time no? If he calls with anything, even a FD I am done with the hand.

Hand 2- Yes maybe a slightly bigger sizing on the turn, it was just a tad under half pot though so I don't think it is too bad. And you say check the river and decide, what factors should I consider when debating a call or fold when he shoves?

H3- Given my reads, do you think a river v bet would be too thin as played?

[Razvan729]

H1 AA:

your play is never +EV here at 2nl vs a 33/24 who's a short stack and is probably stacking of in this hand w/ 99-JJ,Ax,8x,FDs. it's one of the worst bluffs i ever seen.

H2 JJ:

pre and flop are really ok. turn i'd bet 0,4-0,45 and really check river. w/o reads and a good sample on him i rather think he is an ok player then to assume he's a donk and get busted. also by checking river we allow him to bluff or to bet weaker flushes. when we shove river we lose value from a lot of hands he bets if we check. even if he really is a donk and limped UTG, he still has a lot of Ahx,Khx, Qhx combos in his range that crush us. when we shove , 90% we will fold sets, 2 pairs and weaker flushes and we will only be called by better then us.

H3 QQ:

flop is ok, but why do you bet the turn? by betting turn , most times we get called by Kx and fold 7x and smaller PP that may have floated flop and we are not getting anymore value from them. beeing IP we can check back turn and keep his range wide and maybe get some more value on blank rivers from his 7x and PP.dont be afraid to give a free card on turn here since there are very few FD and he has 5 outs on his 7x and just 2 on his PP.but he has a lot of weak K's in his range that he is not gonna fold. so checking back turn i think is better then betting.

[Sorcery11]

H1 AA:

your play is never +EV here at 2nl vs a 33/24 who's a short stack and is probably stacking of in this hand w/ 99-JJ,Ax,8x,FDs. it's one of the worst bluffs i ever seen.

H2 JJ:

pre and flop are really ok. turn i'd bet 0,4-0,45 and really check river. w/o reads and a good sample on him i rather think he is an ok player then to assume he's a donk and get busted. also by checking river we allow him to bluff or to bet weaker flushes. when we shove river we lose value from a lot of hands he bets if we check. even if he really is a donk and limped UTG, he still has a lot of Ahx,Khx, Qhx combos in his range that crush us. when we shove , 90% we will fold sets, 2 pairs and weaker flushes and we will only be called by better then us.

H3 QQ:

flop is ok, but why do you bet the turn? by betting turn , most times we get called by Kx and fold 7x and smaller PP that may have floated flop and we are not getting anymore value from them. beeing IP we can check back turn and keep his range wide and maybe get some more value on blank rivers from his 7x and PP.dont be afraid to give a free card on turn here since there are very few FD and he has 5 outs on his 7x and just 2 on his PP.but he has a lot of weak K's in his range that he is not gonna fold. so checking back turn i think is better then betting.

Razvan,

H1- This player is not a short stack, I think you mis read the HH. Villain is also not the type of player who will stack off on this flop with under pairs or 8x hands let alone raise the flop with them. As I said, his range is polarized to Ax and air. Even IF he is stacking off with 8x and other hands, it does not matter because my raise is SPECIFICALLY targeting the AIR in his range. (IE: I am not trying to get him to fold pairs)

H2- Villain is 20/0, meaning he is SUPER PASSIVE. Hes not going to be betting pairs or worse flushes a lot on the river. However he will call with them as I said, so I will be losing value the times he checks back. He is NOT folding Tx,sets,two pairs, or worse flushes 90% of the time to a shove. In fact, hes probably CALLING with that range close to 90% of the time.

H3- Hes 57/7 and a complete fish. My general strategy is to expand my value range vs these players since they are so peely. You are basically trying to tell me that every time this player calls my bet on the turn, that he will have me beat and I just cant see that... I could probably even get away with a river V-bet from this player although it would be really close.

I really would like others to give their opinions on these hands, if they could. I am trying to figure out if my thought process is okay for these situations.

[Razvan729]

H1: yes, i seen him as UTG,my mistake, but still is a poor bluff that will cost you money long run. his preflop range has so many Ax you cant even count.

Ah2h=13 combos Ad2d-Ad7d,Ad9d+=12 combos

Ah2c,Ah4c+=12 combos Ad2c,Ad4c+=12combos

Ah2d-Ah7d,Ah9d+=12 combos Ad2h+=13 combos

Ah2s,Ah4s+=12 combos Ad2s,Ad4s+=12 combos

thats fcking 98 Ax combos... do you realize how much non A combos he has to have to fold there so your bluff is +EV ?! lets not talk about 88, TT-QQ who is not ever folding here by a 33/24.


H2: sample is 5 hands so draw no conclusion about his play. i am 15/13 over 100k hands, but i have days when i am 30/25 over 100 hands on one table and 10/9 over 100 on other table depending on opps i have on the table and hands i get. so saing that about someone on which you have 5 hands is absurd.

H3: put down a range for preflop, calling flop, calling turn and see how behind you are, even vs a fish. count how many Kx type of combos the fish has and he's never folding and you will see how bad the turn bet is. dont make the mistake to consider all fishes dumb, cause they are not.


edit: try when giving stats to post like this VPIP/PFR with AFq or AF and hands sample.