The player in middle position pushes 16 blinds. We have KQs. It's much better to be in the BB in this spot, because it's very frustrating to call and see a shove from one of the blinds, but in our position the decision is close, because we can call with all the hands we want to continue with, including aces.
However, the cutoff calls before us. Don't fool yourself into thinking his range is capped – he doesn't have to re-raise with aces either. And although his call looks like some kind of nines, the range can be much stronger. So we have to fold. Unfortunately. It's disgusting to fold KQs on the button, it rarely happens, but what can you do.
It's a bit scary to get in here right away, but he plays aggressively, 3-bets small, so we raise a lot of value. But what should we do with this hand? Yes, we will go for value.
Hero 4bets 18.6bb. Villain calls.
Flop (38.2bb):
Opponent checks.
Well, this is a dream flop, just perfect. We only lose to 54s and slowplayed aces and kings. Sometimes there will be sixes and 65s. However, he also has sevens, eights, nines, tens and jacks, and With . We often have the best hand and can go for it all.
Hero bets 11.9bb. Villain calls quickly.
Turn (62bb, effective stack 69.5bb):
Opponent checks.
Ten is a fine card. One full house has been added to the opponent's range, otherwise everything is fine for us. I'd like to see another bet, as our hand could be weakened by a check due to overcards, a flush, or a nine on the river.
Hero bets 19.2bb. Villain calls.
River (100.4bb, effective stack 50.3bb):
Not the river we would like to see. Luckily, we're in position: if we don't like something, we can check.
Opponent checks.
So we lose to aces and kings who sometimes slowplay, lose to tens, nines and . We beat , , , . Pretty close. Against a top player, say Linus, our hand needs to be shoved. Against a bunch of nits at the micros, it's okay to check. This player seems recreational to me, his range is a bit looser than it should be, so I tend to shove.
Hero checks.
Well, I love that you understand how close the spot is, and while Villain has a lot of worse hands, it can be tricky to get them to call. A fine check.
We never throw away T9s. I don't mind calling.
Hero calls and the blinds fold.
Flop (5.2bb):
Opponent checks.
Not the worst hand to try and steal the pot as it blocks KTs, K9s and has backdoors, but don't abuse these bets.
Hero checks back.
Turn (5.2bb):
Opponent checks.
Flush draw hit – great! In our range, there may well be .
Hero bets 4.7bb.
I think when Villain checks twice, a strong hand will rarely be in there. It's frustrating to face a check-raise, but the odds are slim.
The opponent folds.
Villain opens with a 4.5bb raise! If we 3-bet around 14bb, I'm a little worried about a possible all-in in return. It's probably not that bad to call here, although we shouldn't usually have a calling range. In 200bb stacks, I would 3bet confidently, of course.
Hero reraises to 16.4bb. The opponent folds.
In the meantime, we checked the flop with K9s and called half the pot on the turn, all right.
Villain bets 4.6bb.
1/3 pot. Maybe he bets with any king, sometimes our kicker plays and we win. Sometimes we win against a bluff, for example, or a flush draw. We have no right to fold against such a sizing.
Hero calls and wins against .
Bad play on his part. He has a lot of natural bluffs. Can turn some and in to a bluff, But not all. And here, it's not very good.
How to exploit regs who play ten tables? Play fast to give them no time to think, and use different lines because they won't be able to come up with a good answer on the fly.
ATs is not the worst hand to call, but it can also be used as a 4-bet bluff. I think you are unbalanced here and are more likely to call. I would really like to see 4-bets sometimes.
Hero reraises to 18.4bb.
Excellent! Taiwanese opponent playing with VPIP 52. I wouldn't be surprised if I see a crazy hand at this showdown.
The opponent folds.
This doesn't surprise me either.
You're going to 3-bet, and that's the right thing to do, but calling here also looks interesting, because the BB is the same guy with VPIP 52, who can push back and squeeze some garbage.
Hero 3bets 9bb and takes the pot.
Thinking about c-beting in the blinds. Lately I've been working a lot on the blinds. with a flush draw is one of the textures that I have studied, and now I feel very comfortable on it. Unfortunately, the solver's conclusions are not very helpful, because he plays almost all hands in a mixed strategy. Here you can not bet the entire range or always start with a check. Everything is very confusing.
We mostly want to check our hand. The backdoor straight is rather weak, we do not block anything important, the opponent should not overfold. Check is standard. If desired, sometimes you can bet.
Hero checks. Villain thinks and bets 2.2bb.
Unpleasant sizing, just over a third of the pot, especially alarming I think.
Hero folds.
Good pass.
On this texture, various approaches are possible. You can bet large with a polar range, and you can bet small with a linear range. You can even combine! Personally, I like to bet big.
Hero bets 1.5bb.
It looks like you prefer to bet the whole range. That's okay too, but I think a big bet is a little better. Unless, of course, you use one sizing.
Villain calls.
Turn (7.8bb):
Opponent checks.
It's standard for us to check behind. There are a lot of hands in our range that are weaker than A-high and want to bluff, and with A-high we beat a pretty decent part of the flop calling range.
Hero checks next.
River (7.8bb):
Opponent checks.
Basically, he can't have . Actually no, it's not like that, still in 200bb stacks there can be calls with . But the likelihood of this is very low. Our range has a huge lead and I would like to see a bigger bet. Of course, you can bet 3/4, but a larger sizing also makes sense.
Hero bets 12.2bb. Opponent gives up.
An interesting point: after raising preflop and getting called by three, you decide not to c-bet this hand, even though the hand is very suitable for a bet. This tells me that you want to play the whole range as a check. Well, I don't mind that. And when a guy with VPIP of 16 bets in a three way pot where everyone can have sets and strong draws, it scares me. It is unlikely that he thinks about his range, most likely he looks at his cards, sees ATs and makes a bet.
We have a deep effective stack against him, if we get there, we can win more. Of course, I don't want to check-raise, the best solution is to call.
BB folds, Hero calls, player 4 folds.
Turn (28bb):
Both check.
River (28bb):
It's a bit odd that Villain checked the turn. If he has Is he afraid of straights? Well, and are possible, but unlikely. Although, lol, how are they possible, we opened from UTG, I forgot! These hands are not included in the standard opening range.
If villain was happy to bet on the flop, why did his mood change on the turn? It's not a bad card for him!
All in all, all things considered, I'd be bluffing. We don't have diamonds, our opponent didn't show much strength, and it would be a complete disaster to check, see him check and lose to .
Come on! We are all rooting for you to bet. Bluff! Bluff!
Hero bets 21.3bb. Opponent gives up.
Yes! Excellent. The fact that the opponent folded so quickly tells me about he had a missed draw. For example, . Letting him win with K high is a nightmare. Or with a bluff vs our check – because we, of course, cannot call.
Bad situation. Funny, right? These big multi-way bets are too obviously skewed towards strong made hands in my opinion. Plus, Totti has very little money left behind. If we call and catch our six, how much can we get – 15 blinds? It's pretty much nothing. Pushing for us is the most losing line, since fold equity is low and we will rarely be in good shape. Perhaps you can just fold? In my opinion, the fold is the right choice. Now, if both opponents had 100bb each, calling or check-raising would look better.
Hero calls.
Turn (29.3bb, effective stack 15.6bb):
Okay, your call wasn't such a big mistake. His problem is that Totti will now go all-in probably 80% of the time, and obviously you can't call.
Totti raises all-in, the second player calls.
Yes, we must give up. Easy fold. After all, even if we improve to a straight, we can lose to an bigger straight.
Hero calls.
Well, no, no! This is clearly a mistake.
River:
We've made our hand, but we still don't have the nuts. However, all the chips, of course, must go in the middle.
The call is still wrong. Be very careful when calling with dominated draws. And remember that our opponent's hands often cut our outs.
Hero checks all-in and the small blind folds. All-in player .
That's what I said: when betting big in a multiway pot, he's practically playing with open cards. It is always good value, the reverse is very unlikely. And if he had , for example, he would take one out away from us.
