Notice that I begin this hand with about 21 BBs. I’d often 3-bet larger than this from out of position, but here I’m not that worried about pricing something in. There aren’t many hands that can take advantage of those odds to play perfectly against me. At least as often, he’s going to end up getting himself into trouble. Even if he calls with Ax, he’s going to hit the X nearly as often as he hits the A, and he probably won’t get away from it.
This is a rare flop where I don’t feel committed to my hand. If he calls a small bet, I’ll hope to check it down but fold if he bets the turn. I have plenty of Aces in my range, so it’s not like he can just float me with abandon planning to bluff turns.
His raise makes no sense. He’s probably jamming his best Aces pre-flop, and there’s just no reason to raise this flop with an Ace, especially a weak one. Stacks are short enough that pot building isn’t going to be a concern no matter how strong his hand is. If I have an Ace, I’m never folding it, and if I don’t, he shouldn’t be trying to scare me out.
This is what I mean when I say that I can afford to give him good odds pre-flop.
PokerStars – $200+$15|800/1600 Ante 200 NL – Holdem – 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4: http://www.pokertracker.com
MP: 58.84 BB
MP+1: 119.87 BB
CO: 34.29 BB
BTN: 135.91 BB
Hero (SB): 20.96 BB
BB: 20.3 BB
UTG: 26.45 BB
UTG+1: 37.7 BB
UTG+2: 28.02 BB
9 players post ante of 0.13 BB, Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB
Pre Flop: (pot: 2.63 BB) Hero has Qc Qh
fold, fold, fold, MP raises to 2 BB, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 4.86 BB, fold, MP calls 2.86 BB
Flop : (11.85 BB, 2 players) 6c 5h Ad
Hero bets 3.47 BB, MP raises to 7 BB, Hero calls 3.53 BB
Turn : (25.85 BB, 2 players) 8s
Hero checks, MP bets 5 BB, Hero raises to 8.97 BB and is all-in, MP calls 3.97 BB
River : (43.8 BB, 2 players) Th
Hero shows Qc Qh (One Pair, Queens) (Pre 83%, Flop 90%, Turn 95%)
MP shows 2h 2c (One Pair, Twos) (Pre 17%, Flop 10%, Turn 5%)
Hero wins 43.8 BB
$215 WCOOP event or $3 SNG? Judging from the villain’s actions I wouldn’t be able to tell. I guess he figures you could take the entire line that you did with Kx or Qx…. Probably a bit optimistic I’d think.
The pre-flop raise size seems too small – not because we can be exploited but because we can bet larger without getting very many more folds. I think you are wasting value.
I would prefer to bet something like 7 BB so we can go all-in on the flop or a bit smaller so small flop and turn bets get us all in. It does look like your 3b size is in the ballpark of getting all in with two smallish bets but then…
When you bet the flop so small IMO you are going to get a weird and highly varied response from Villain. Sometimes you will induce bluffs. Sometimes you will get calls with very weak hands (at least that’s good). Sometimes Villain will do something weird in return (as played). This is going to make the hand unnecessarily hard to play IMO. At least in the online cash games I frequent you need to approach half pot unless you don’t mind having a tough time reading Villain’s range.
As played I would prefer to click it back on the flop. It will be very hard for Villain to fold and we’ll get the same benefit when we go all in on the turn. When we just call the flop and check the turn I think we’re letting Villain play his range too well.
The 3bet was about 2.5x. Doesn’t seem small to me. I use that size from OOP when I am this short.
I probably check call the flop (doing so with an A as well) and check re-evaluate on the turn. Like you said, he doesn’t have many aces in his flatting range. I think leading gets folds from non ace hands (because he cant float with abandon), but a check may inspire him to bluff. Your tiny c-bet may actually be better than my check in that regard. I think a half pot c-bet doesn’t accomplish much.
Hand of mixed messages. PF V flats raise when he could choose to get it in easily. Flop now he chooses to raise, using the Ace as a scare card? Hero calls and this should shut down the V, right?
Wrong, Hero confuses V by checking Turn so V opens for 20% of pot but over 50% of Hero’s stack looking for a fold that will NEVER come, right? Why not just go all in there, did V think small bets might prompt a fold?
Could be V wasnt really paying attention to Hero’s stack size until Turn?