AlphaLackey

Lacking any individual player tendencies, when I see a donk bet I tend to categorize it as being a bit better than average holding for that flop but nowhere near good enough to go for a check raise. Weak top pairs and mediocre draws. A hand like 98 of clubs would be too good a draw to see from a donk bet IMO.

I think calling the flop is fine with the understanding that villain's turn action will be MUCH more indicative of the true strength of their holding. The purpose of the donk bet is to confuse, so there's something to be said on hands you're unsure of to take a turn card and then see his true intentions.

As played I'd dump on the river for sure. you're ahead of a busted 89 or someone having a stroke at the start of the hand, that's about it.

I'm not sure which number represents my equity against this range: am I the 60% equity or the 40% equity? But your assessment of his hands looks okay, maybe not the K8s or the Ax suited, as I can see the K8 being folded and the Ax suiteds being bluff-3bet preflop (that's a pretty standard hand to 3 bet bluff with, no?)

My thought process was that there would be a lot of pair+draws in his value range, as there's just the nine set combos and the three 87s combos (he did flat a raise) but lots of 76s and 54s and "overcards + FD" with or without a gutshot.

Basically, putting myself in his situation, I know there's a lot of hands that are long-term favorites against top pair (but aren't 'ahead' currently) that I'd play as fast as I'd play a set, and assumed him being a TAG meant he'd be thinking the same.

Before I get into the results, how do you feel about that thought process? It sounds like you think the 3 bet effectively eliminates those hands from his range.

oh shit, I had a brain cramp. Yeah it's Dispo, I see that now (for the record, a dipsomaniac is someone who has a real strong attraction to alcohol :P).

From The Ground Up isn't even a year old, so that's not a concern.

And if you're wondering which ones to look up, when in doubt, I like to look at the biggest pots, and ones where I was faced with an all-in bet. Usually something went down in those that has food for thought.

Short answer: no
Long answer: nooooooooooooo

I know that the ace is only the second nut flush in this case, and the 6 is actually the nut flush, but think about how much easier it is to get to the river with the dry ace of spades on a two-spade board versus the dry 6 of spades on that two-spade board. And since you have the ace of spades, the number of ways he can have the 6 of spades where he cold overcalls in a multi-way pot is even more limited since A6 suited is out of the picture. Pocket 6s with the 6 of spades after a bet and a call? Almost certainly not. So I'm thinking it has to be a two-spade hand that both overcalls the raise out of position and overcalls the flop out of position.

So, what.. 76 of spades, maybe 86, maybe K6? Three combos. Even if the only other possible hand he gets there with with KJo with the king of spades, you're 50-50 to be crushing him and getting far more than 1:1 on your money once faced with the raise.

Hello Dipso, I love the name, assuming I'm reading it correctly I can relate as I'm kind of one myself :P

Regarding your questions, I found myself in kind of the same boat, I used to have no problem playing live at about the stakes you would play at, for a long time, but of course a lot of this was back when live games were much softer. Predictably I'm getting the stuffing beaten out of me when I play online even at the 4€ NL on Run It Once Poker. Here's the things I've incorporated into my game plan that I might recommend:

#1) I've found the "From The Ground Up" course is a fantastic value, especially when it gets into the meatier part about GTO and ways to incorporate that into your game.

#2) I've found already that I'm showing up at the showdown a LOT with second best hands, certainly more so than I ever did playing live. Since I'm also playing much more aggressively (as is correct, in a tough 6 max game versus the very soft live games at low limits) I think this may be related. One of the videos in the above series suggested players underbluff significantly at micros, and I'm starting to see some wisdom in that.

#3) When I play I clip out interesting hands to post and share for review, just a few, making sure to have a selection of some where I won and some where I lost so I don't fall prey to the words of old Norm down at the club: "of course he lost the hand; if he won the hand, he wouldn't have a story". :P. I think direct hand study is far more valuable than trying to cannonball into the GTO ocean.

#4) Related, if something comes up that I'm muddled about the concepts of, or something doesn't seem right on a principled level, I make a note and immediately refresh viewing a video or watch some new ones on that content. While it's still in my mind, yanno?

#5) Forgive yourself for making mistakes. While the actual dollar amount of the mistake doesn't rightly factor into strategic thinking, at some point you still need to remember that $1 in lost EV is like a candy bar. As long as you're trying and you're working, it'll come around. There's a reason we're starting out at micros, right?

That's all I got for now. Good luck out there, except against me. Well, you can have good luck if you're out of position ;)