Good spot to Cbet? Bb steal vs blind call

Very new to table so no reads at all yet. Simple steal with a call from the blinds.
flop is pretty wet, I want to cbet bc I have 2nd pair and feel he could have a lot of drawing hands that would have me ahead as well as back door flush and issd if he does have the lead on the flop.
It’s kind of a simple hand but I’m wondering if cbetting is the best move? Will it actually make me money in the long term? Villain could already be ahead, or have a lot of equity with draws.

PokerStars Hand #239325943281: Hold'em No Limit ($0.02/$0.05 USD) - 2022/10/19 11:50:40 CT [2022/10/19 12:50:40 ET]
Table 'Agamemnon' 6-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Markland999 ($5 in chips)
Seat 2: PB_JNR ($3.73 in chips)
Seat 3: Yurgentus ($5 in chips)
Seat 4: VPyan ($6.40 in chips)
Seat 5: MadMark4 ($5 in chips)
Seat 6: rarmiro ($4.65 in chips)
PB_JNR: posts small blind $0.02
Yurgentus: posts big blind $0.05
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Markland999 [Jc Kc]
VPyan: folds
MadMark4: folds
rarmiro: folds
Markland999: raises $0.05 to $0.10
PB_JNR: folds
Yurgentus: calls $0.05
*** FLOP *** [Ac Ts Js]
Yurgentus: checks
Markland999: ?

I think we should be mostly checking back this flop but we should probably bet with some frequency with middle pair + straight draw hands and it makes sense to do this when we have the backdoor flush draw, so your JKcc JQcc and JKo where the K is the spade. This is a handful of combos which keeps some balance to your range.

We can call a reasonable raise here on the flop. If we improve on the turn we can continue, if not we can fold.

I don't think we can continue on a king turn btw, improving to two pair is not good because we lose to any queen and don't have a reasonable redraw. But straight, trips or flush draw are good to continue.

I'd bet small here, like just under half pot. This is consistent to how much I'd bet with AA/AK/KQ/flush draw in this spot.

IDK. Ong's assuming some rather sophisticated opponents for 5NL, maybe.

Are other players C-betting as a matter of course where you play? Do the players have experience dealing with a relatively standard level of flop aggression? 'Cause a lot of value in a C-bet at these stakes is due to your own inability to hand read, but your relatively good talent at starting ranges being stronger than your opponents.

C-bets at small stakes worked very well for me in almost all cases, because my ranges were nitty tight, and even when I felt maybe I was behind, I was often giving my opponents too much credit. I was getting familiar with how my tight ranges played, and I assumed their ranges weren't that far from mine... but their ranges are often way wider than mine... and that put me more ahead than I expected pretty often.

So a C-bet regardless of the flop tended to make me plenty of extra monies.


I can't really just jump in and say to go ahead with a C-bet, though. This board is scary wet, and you have a piece of it, but it's not a huge piece yet. Mid-pair on this board with some draws is pretty nice, but I'm not excited to keep going if the pot gets too big, yet.

MADMOJO: I would say there is a lot of cbets happening. Although I have been away for many years, I feel there is more floating happening now compared to ten years ago, but I dont think the players are thinking about ranges super deep, they are more likely to float an Ace high flop to someone cbetting from BTN or CO, bc CO/BTN range will encompass so much more than just Ax.

How I thought of it during the hand:
During the hand, I did cbet. My feeling was he had a tonne of draws, Some Kxs, Qxs and I was probably ahead of his range enough to profitably cbet.

2 seconds after the hand: Should I have cbet? What did I beat? His draws probably had a tonne of equity, Ax beats me, some 2 pair possibilities. Only thing I beat is his med PPs he called with.
So, as a total, the range he likely called pre with probably beats me on that flop.

Originally Posted by mojo

IDK. Ong's assuming some rather sophisticated opponents for 5NL, maybe.

I prefer to see it as hero attempting to be the most sophisticated at the table. We want a balanced range so it comes naturally to us, we don't want to be playing 5nl forever.

We often get in spots where we're not sure if we should bet for value or check back. We don't want to be predictable in these spots. Betting when we have the bdfd is a solid way of ensuring we're not betting with too high a frequency, while also putting money in with slightly more equity.

I don't think villains are thinking about ranges super deep, but that doesn't mean we should be complacent about what our range looks like to a competent player.

I don't think villains are thinking about ranges super deep, but that doesn't mean we should be complacent about what our range looks like to a competent player.

alright, I can buy that.

Sims can't make up their goddamn minds when it comes to flops with broadway straights. They'll range bet half of them and then bet low frequency on some you'd think are quite good for you. Sizes are also all over the place. IDK, maybe I just suck, but these spots really strain my pattern recognition abilities.

Anyway, I basically just bet this hand at the same size and frequency that I bet my range overall. There are completely equal merits for both betting and checking with it. It gets clear value from one bet, but that bet can come on any street and our ability to vbet should remain pretty stable with this combo in particular. The added equity this hand has from the backdoor flush and gutshot make it perform better in larger pots but you can also check and realize that equity.

Just don't take the same action with all your pair+draw hands here and you're doing fine as far as I'm concerned...