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Blind Play

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Posted by posted in Low Stakes

Blind Play

BN: $31.50
SB: $58.29 (Hero)
BB: $66.94
UTG: $74.84
HJ: $62.78
CO: $49.68
Preflop ($1.50) (6 Players)
Hero was dealt T J
UTG folds, HJ folds, CO folds, BN raises to $2, Hero calls $1.50, BB calls $1
Typical problem for me. I have a hand that I am on the fence about playing. The button villain has a fold to 3-bet of 82%, so I assume that if I raise I will get 4-bet with better, called rarely OOP with a hand that has to improve or he folds (which is the same result as ATC raise). So a fold or call is my thinking. I call.

Generally looking for feedback on playing out of the blinds as this is an area where I am often unsure what is the best play.
Flop ($6.00) 5 4 J (3 Players)
Hero checks, BB bets $1, BN folds, Hero raises to $4, BB calls $3
Not a bad flop, but no plan on donking flop. But BB essentially donks and I read this as a worse hand than mine.
Turn ($14.00) 5 4 J 9 (2 Players)
Hero bets $6.52, BB raises to $14, Hero calls $7.48
Can get villain to call with worse, so I bet. The raise confuses me as I was confident he was not strong. So I do what I hate. Call. Villain is fishy 25/4. 0 3-bet, 0 CR. Should have been a clue.
River ($42.00) 5 4 J 9 3 (2 Players)
Hero checks, BB checks
Final Pot
Villain turns over 95o
Unfortunate turn card.

6 Comments

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imSiankO 12 years, 3 months ago
don't give out results next time... to make sure you get unbiased answers

as played, preflop i don't mind calling but i'd very much like knowing villains steal%, if it's low.. i'll 3bet/fold my hand because it will be too hard to play our hand OOP with reverse implied odds, if it's high then calling is fine.

turn i would definitely cbet stronger.. villain looks like a fish and you want to value all of his draws he can have, i would of cbet/folded something like 10.50$.. as played since you made it so small i'm probably calling but definitely check/folding most rivers depending on his bet sizing.
Jet 12 years, 3 months ago
Thanks imSiankO, will remove results for future posts. With regards to your comment on the button's steal% (happened to be 27%). I would like to understand your reasoning. You mention that if it is low you will 3-bet/fold. I understand the fold, but I have to assume the low steal frequency puts him more frequently on a better hand. So why would we 3-bet a better hand? The JTs is only a drawing hand, so wouldn't we want to play that for its potential drawing strength? If I put him on an ok strength hand with high fold to 3-bet, I could 3-bet with air, i.e. polarized 3-bet. Sort of along the lines of calling with 33. Why 3-bet? He is only raising with better, calling with us OOP or folding to our drawing hand.
Jet 12 years, 3 months ago
In re-reading this, perhaps JTs OOP is so unlikely to be +EV that we can 3-bet because it is essentially like having air. ?? You can see why I have blind problems.
imSiankO 12 years, 3 months ago
you want to 3bet JTs to turn your hand into a bluff against someone that doesn't steal that often but folds a lot to 3bets (also worth noting that you need to look at his 4bet% before doing this.) to turn your hand into a bluff to make your range polarized vs these guys for the times you'll have monsters like QQ+ in those positions, if you have 5% 3bet and you 3bet them.. they're just going to expect you to have strong hands everytime and will fold everything worst, however if you start building a dynamic with them and increase your 3bet% using a polarized range (JTs should probably the top end of your hands that you want to turn into a bluff against this specific villain.. actually both calling and 3betting is fine against him, but it really should be the bottom of your calling range with suited connectors OOP, as in i would nearly always 3bet T9s) you just gotta play a bit cautious on board textures, knowing which ones to cbet and when.. if you find out when to do it, you'll be printing money, it's one of the most profitable spots in poker imo.

you want to call JTs against someone that has a high steal% because he can be opening from the BTN a lot of worst Jx/Tx, so playing it postflop becomes more easy and you won't have to worry as much about reverse implied odds (a bit still but not as much)

If you're not sure about which flops to cbet against 3bet calling ranges, just download flopzilla you'll have a 7day free trial, it's fairly simple to use and it should help you a lot, it's a very good program overall too.

27% isn't a high steal from BTN at all.. so i'd guess your opponent is nitty, i'm very surprised to see him with this hand there, sample size could be an explanation/issue tho.


TLDR: JTs should never show a profit playing it OOP against tag/nitty opponents that open steal a strong capped/polarized range, in single raised pots. However it's very easy to play it OOP against LAG opponents or TAGs have have a high steal%, in single raised pots.
While the opposite for both, in 3bet pots.. it becomes very easy to play against nits/tight tags as you narrow down their range even more and cap it to almost strong hands only, which will get paid off when you hit something strong, two pairs, flush, straights etc when they don't expect you to show up with those hands, however you will never want to barrel off if you hit TP against them without specific reads.

kind of a long TLDR :(
Jet 12 years, 3 months ago
Thanks imSiankO. Great stuff. I will be looking to put into practice and I am sure I will come back with more tricky spots.
thedoors 12 years, 3 months ago
great post from imsiank, first i thougt as jet i was better to call (for same reasons) but after your post i agree its better to 3bet

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