Brian Hamilton

I agree with this. I also believe most of the bots/mass multitablers are playing smaller stakes than 5/10, so having the cap solely at mid/low stakes will still deter them.

I live in the US and sadly won't be able to play, but I do have experience playing on Bovada/Ignition and I think the 4 table cap works really well. I would play more than 4 if i could, but I don't feel like it holds me back at all and think it's probably ideal for sustainability of the game.

Does it change at all if villain has a higher 3b % being so deep here BUvCO? Say 20%?

I wouldn't expect to get bluff-raised here. The 3bettor is handcuffed because he has to worry about SB having a hand, along with the possibility of us having a monster+redraw. It could get really dicey/expensive for SB to try c/r bluff oop here as well. Would you bluff-raise many hands if you were in either of the villain's shoes? I don't see a small bet (when we have the Ah) getting exploited here, especially when we can balance that small bet with the uber nuts.

Interesting hand that I would like to hear opinions about as well. What about the option of c-betting around 1/3 pot and folding to a raise?

Hey Midori, do you have any worries that an opponent like this would get turned off by us limping? We might be taking a risk that he stops 3betting us so much, or worse he quits playing earlier in the session than he would have otherwise. Maybe we could make more subtle changes to our strategy that exploit him, while encouraging him to keep his huge leak of 3betting so frequently oop.

This hand is pretty interesting. Midori I assume you read his hand as AAJ2ds rather than AJJ2ds since you're wanting to 5bet? I would flat this pre.

As played, I'm definitely cbetting this flop. Our read is that we think villain is a bit soft postflop so I wouldn't expect him to be making our life hell. I feel like our hand is just too strong and ahead of villain's range to be checking and giving up a free card. When he does raise the flop, we can definitely peel but our hand isn't close to strong enough to put in a reraise given our read of villain.

I am curious to know what the "GTO" play is on the flop here if we happened to be up against a tough regular at higher stakes. I just feel like since our opponent has so few straights, I don't want to miss the chance to cbet a strong hand like this that could stand a little bit of heat. But position could be so powerful that we just have to always check when the board misses our range.

I think flatting is fine but being almost 300 bbs deep in position, 3betting double paired hands is good as well. I would not fold to a 4bet since we are so deep and have position.

That's kind of a weird comment, because none of the information or statistics you provided tell us that villain never folds a flush. We can only go off what you posted.

We've shown strong aggression and put small flushes in a clear bluffcatching situation if we were to bet big on the river. Since you didn't give significant reads, I would expect a random opponent to fold some flushes on this river that only beat bluffs. Villain can also have strong flopped hands such as KK that didn't raise early (because we rep top set). Therefore, I think we can expect villain to have enough folding hands on the river that we have to be bluffing at least some % of the time. Low SD equity hands with the Jh blocker are some of the best hands to choose. It's important to note that we have SD value with some of our Ah blockers so these Jh blocker bluffs are even more mandatory.

Aren't we getting 3.33 to 1? The pot is $12.50 when we have the option to call the extra $3.75. Does that change anything for you compared to getting 4.33 to 1?

I wonder if you could fold this preflop. I mean you flop top 2 pair on a super dry board and you're not that confident in continuing.

I'd expect a very tight UTG+1 3bet range here given his VPIP/PFR even though he has 3bet you before. It might be important to note whether he had 3b you UTG+1 vs. UTG previously or say BU vs. CO. Also SB should be playing tight vs a raise and 3bet from players in EP.

I think I would pot the turn as opposed to betting 55%. I don't think you want to give that good of pot odds to 789x type hands. You wouldn't want that even if you had 43 so I say pot your betting range (or at least bet more than 55%).

Most of the time I'd be c/c flop and turn but I was saying that leading flop vs. certain opponents could be okay as well. If I were to lead flop, it's hard to say what I'd do on every turn/river run-out because it mostly depends on the dynamic with villain and the specific turns and rivers. In general I would continue leading most turn cards but not board pairs.

If flop and turn both went lead/call and the turn was indeed the 4c, I'd have to consider whether I thought the villain would still have 97 in his range. If I didn't think he did, I would bluff most river blanks. I think on a river flush; valuebetting, c/c and c/r are all possibilities. I'd probably c/c a rivered straight with the 7, and either lead or c/r a rivered nut straight with the Jack.

I don't know how useful this is but I thought I'd answer your questions anyway.

I think leading the flop is okay. You want to start putting money in vs. a weaker range. You don't want him to see a free turn with AK type of hands. Basically, you're happy to take it down with queens but you do fine if he continues with your added str8 draws. I still probably c/c vs. an aggressive player who cbets a lot because you don't really want to lead much vs. these types of opponents. I wouldn't consider c/raising at any point here and I'm curious to see why you think it could be a better play than calling.

I feel like you can easily continue calling on the turn with your added flush draw. I think villain can continue barreling with hands, and it's a great hand to have in your continuing turn range that isn't the nuts. You will have SD equity if the river goes check/check. For the times he does have the nut str8, you can make a higher straight, a flush, or draw to a chop.

I wonder how it changes when we add in some combos of A7

No questions are lame :)

I would say most of our flop range here will be checking. This is because we're multiway and the board doesn't hit our range very well. The hands we do bet will be our strongest hands like the hand we have and any sets in our range. We shouldn't try to bluff this very often because it's too easy for 1 of our 3 opponents to continue with us. I would probably check most of my AA/KK hands here and try to see a free turn and possibly get to showdown. If BU pots and the others fold I would get it in with him since he's short. If I had like AA with a gutter and 2 backdoor flush draws I would bet for value/protection and call a raise.

Value-shoving $19 into $22 with Q3 seems pretty thin and tough to expect from a bad player at these stakes imo. I do think the hand could go either way and I wish we had a better read on villain's tendencies after playing so many hands with him. My biggest advice would be to focus on taking more specific notes on players (especially bad ones) so that when these tough spots come up you have that extra reason to make a hero call, or a tough fold. 

I love the "what would Phil Galfond do" note. Who wants to make bracelets with WWPGD on them and send them out to members?

Agreed, once you get to the turn this way you just have to shove. You can't really check/fold with a straight and 2 flush draws (esp. if you expect him to have AA a decent amount) so why not just get your money in now? You won't be comfortable betting or check/calling the river no matter what comes as you can't draw to the nuts.

Yeah. It would be nice to have an idea how much he cbets on flops like this after 3betting. I don't think we can get that from 214 hands and a general cbet % stat. I was just going with OPs assumptions on flop.

I don't think it's an easy spot. It's hard for villain to have 46 and 69 since he 3bet preflop, and since OP thinks he will be cbetting decent straight draws on the flop. OP also thinks villain cbets overpairs so there are less combos of KK64ds type hands.

After 5betting, it's pretty obvious what hand you probably have. I would think your opponent assumes you're not check/folding with AA. If I were in his shoes, I actually might think you'd be slowplaying a hand like AAT9 by not auto-shoving the flop.

Maybe on a flop of JT9ss he might think you're giving up, but I'm not sure I would expect many stabs here from air hands without a significant read. I just think letting him have a chance to see a free turn in a situation where he knows what you have (and can make the best play against it) is a bad idea.

I would call flop for reasons zenfish said. Once I get to the turn this way I think my plan would be to check back and try to show my hand down. I think villain will likely check the river cards that scare us (clubs mostly) and we will get to realize our equity. I would consider bluff catching blank rivers.

If I got to the river the way you did I'd check back. I don't understand why you're betting against this player. Won't he fold most hands you beat and call hands that beat you? I guess you're making this play as a bluff but when the flush draw bricks I think he calls with 2 pair too often here.

Instinctively I was thinking shove, and if he has even a few non AA combos it's the better play. But with the math and your reasoning it makes sense to fold.

If we're not bluffraising this hand on the river then I guess we're never bluffraising. Certainly villain can be betting non-straights here as we have a read that he can show up with a weak hand after 3barreling. He could have some one pair hands that beat us but that he didn't want to check/give up. Or maybe he could be valuebetting 2pair that's folding to a decent sized raise. I guess if we have so few QT combos in our range like logifr implies, then we can't bluffraise much, but this seems like the hand to do it with.

As far as earlier streets, I would definitely fold the turn because we're just not getting the odds to improve and I don't think we have much implied odds on the river.

With $173 in the pot and $124 effective, I think I'd shove here. He has to put you on sets/top 2/KQxx after you c/r flop. When turn completes the straight, you're range is so good that he has to be pretty strong to continue. Since he probably reraises sets on the flop, I think he actually does have KQxx a ton here OTT. The question is whether or not he will call with dry KQxx on the river. I think he will call it off getting such good odds, so I think a shove for value is the best play. Yes he can have some higher flushes, but unless you have a strong read he will fold KQ, just put it in.

I would play this differently on almost every street. Preflop is just a fold. Original raiser is decent and I doubt you get the pot HU often enough to make this good. Flop is pretty good for you and unlikely to hit your opponent, so I'd lean toward a cbet. On the turn, you have the nuts, but a ton of hands have good equity against you. It doesn't seem like a good spot to slowplay and be deceptive, as a ton of cards change the nuts on the river and you likely won't be able to bet/raise. Just pot him for value. OTR, Im not sure but I'd lean toward a check. I think you're most likely ahead, but doubt you're going to get called by worse > 50% when called.

Thanks for posting Maikel and you have good points. On the flop I think I want to include QTxx in my betting range. I also think Q7xx may be too weak to valuebet on the river. That leaves us with straights/flushes for our valuerange otr and villain can't have a better hand than us.

Here's what I think villains range is on the river: AAxx, KKxx, Qxxx, high wraps/gutter hands possibly that paired the flop (like AQJ9, KJT8, JT97 etc.), 2 pair, sets (discounted a bit cuz he might bet turn with them). Keep in mind he 3bet preflop so he doesn't have all combos that contain Qxxx, sets, 2 pair.

The river can give him some more 2 pair hands, but I think a lot of the time he has 1 pair. I think that both bet sizes will get him to fold those 1 pair hands so a smaller bet does have value. I'm less sure about his calling frequencies when he has 2 pair and he may call a smaller bet a decent % of the time.

I'm not sure that betting pot is the best play with our range but it definitely has merit. It puts a ton of pressure on him when his range is capped while I can have flushes (and more straights than him). He doesn't have much to fight us with, and he will end up folding a ton. This is what we want, because our range is still weighted toward weak hands since we bet the turn wide.

I think both bet sizes will show a profit. I could be convinced that he folds enough to a smaller sizing that we don't need to be betting pot. If he's ever stubborn enough to call the pot bet on river, it might cost us more when we bluff to make it worth it. I still like the concept of putting max pressure on him with his capped range, but your thoughts have made me think more about it, so thank you.

I bet pot on the river because I think it is the best sizing for my range. I have a lot bad draws/weak pairs/air in my checking range on the flop. My plan was to pot all my hands on the turn after he checks a second time since his range was very weak. I didn't think he'd necessarily realize I'd have a high % of bluffs, or at least not be able to do anything about it since his range was capped (while mine wasn't). When he does call, I expect him to fold many rivers, especially to a pot size bet. He can't have flushes while I can (I do in this case). I feel that betting pot is best with my range instead of betting small and inducing more calls.

I feel like it's better to have a plan for my entire range to make the most $$ in this spot vs. this opponent, instead of trying to be cute with my particular hand.

I'd agree that betting flop/turn with flushes is the best play in a vacuum, but shouldn't I have some flushes in my check back range? This seemed like an okay time to mix it up.

I was really wondering on how to construct ranges on flops like these (locked down boards) when villain 3bets pre and checks flop, given my reads (that he cbets a polarized range on flop). I'm also curious about sizing with my betting range on flop and sizing for continuing on turn/river bricks.