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100nl Should I call here? I'm confused

j0hns0nsj0hns0ns Member Posts: 46
edited May 2013 in The Poker Clinic
Villian is a reg at Sky - i haven't played him much as he tends to play at the next level up but i have seen him about a lot, i figure he is a solid winning player but don't really have reads as i have just sat down, this is my second hand, the hand before I 3bet him from from the small blind so perhaps he thinks I'm super aggro seeing as I'm well in the action the first two hands i play - who knows...

either way I'm confused as why has he check called the turn on such a wet board? 

would love to see some other peoples thoughts here as I was completely lost! would he check the flush draw and then call my turn raise? something tells me not, would he check/ call a made straight on the turn on a wet board and then donk bet the river? i don't think so... would he check two pair on the turn? no way...

perhaps i should've bet bigger on the turn in retrospect...


PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalance
lynx3ffectSmall blind £0.50£0.50£138.56
ritz77711Big blind £1.00£1.50£99.00
 Your hole cards
  • Q
  • A
   
dontazemeFold    
adougal10Fold    
villainRaise £3.00£4.50£163.80
j0hns0nsCall £3.00£7.50£100.00
lynx3ffectFold    
ritz77711Fold    
Flop
  
  • J
  • 6
  • Q
   
villainBet £5.00£12.50£158.80
j0hns0nsCall £5.00£17.50£95.00
Turn
  
  • 8
   
villainCheck    
j0hns0nsBet £8.75£26.25£86.25
villainCall £8.75£35.00£150.05
River
  
  • 5
   
villainBet £26.25£61.25£123.80
j0hns0ns?    
      
«1

Comments

  • j0hns0nsj0hns0ns Member Posts: 46
    edited May 2013
    PS Stacks pre action

    I have £100
    Villain has well over £100
  • gazza127gazza127 Member Posts: 2,156
    edited May 2013
    Im raising the flop here.  Flop is already draw heavy.  He could easily have a PP, and is c-betting.  You dont get any reads or gain any knowledge through a call here.  You may be turning your hand face up but you have top pair top kicker and the board is a bit scary.

    If the club comes out on the turn and he bets out again do you call?

    If you take the line you did I would bet stronger on the turn.... prob 3/4 pot.  But to me the donk bet does look like hes hit a hand beating yours....probably the flush and id have to fold.
  • BorinLonerBorinLoner Member Posts: 3,863
    edited May 2013
    He's definitely only repping the flush on the river. Every better hand than ours either keeps firing on the turn or check-calls both turn and river. I don't think we can tell ourselves that he wouldn't call on the turn with a flush draw because we only bet half-pot. He doesn't need huge implied odds for the call on the turn to be reasonable.

    He might just be taking a stab at the pot but it's much more likely to be a flush than air. His range should not include overpairs, two-pairs, full houses or straights, given the action. So how many air hands does he play this way? Probably not many so it looks like a flush. Seems like it should be a fold. That's all assuming he's not a nutcase.
  • BorinLonerBorinLoner Member Posts: 3,863
    edited May 2013
    In Response to Re: 100nl Should I call here? I'm confused:
    Im raising the flop here.  Flop is already draw heavy.  He could easily have a PP, and is c-betting.  You dont get any reads or gain any knowledge through a call here.  You may be turning your hand face up but you have top pair top kicker and the board is a bit scary. If the club comes out on the turn and he bets out again do you call? If you take the line you did I would bet stronger on the turn.... prob 3/4 pot.  But to me the donk bet does look like hes hit a hand beating yours....probably the flush and id have to fold.
    Posted by gazza127
    I don't agree with this. If we raise and he has a pocket pair below our Queen, he's just going to fold. We lose all value from those hands when we raise.

    Just as importantly, what information do we expect to receive when we raise? Presumably if he 3-bets we fold and if he folds we've forced him to fold a weaker hand. That means that our raise gives our opponent extra value when he has us beat and costs us value when we have him beat.

    The only good thing that can happen is that our opponent calls us with a weaker hand. Given his raise pre-flop and assuming he doesn't call a raise with less than KJ, QT and KQ, we're not getting called by that many worse hands.

    The worst thing that can happen is that our opponent 3-bets and we convince ourselves he can be drawing and call as a big dog. Of course we might fold to that 3-bet when he actually does have a draw, which would also be bad.

    I think calling the flop bet is best. On the turn we reassess.
  • RobIlesRobIles Member Posts: 32
    edited May 2013
    Can only beat a weird AK in my opinion
  • gazza127gazza127 Member Posts: 2,156
    edited May 2013
    In Response to Re: 100nl Should I call here? I'm confused:
    In Response to Re: 100nl Should I call here? I'm confused : I don't agree with this. If we raise and he has a pocket pair below our Queen, he's just going to fold. We lose all value from those hands when we raise. Just as importantly, what information do we expect to receive when we raise? Presumably if he 3-bets we fold and if he folds we've forced him to fold a weaker hand. That means that our raise gives our opponent extra value when he has us beat and costs us value when we have him beat. The only good thing that can happen is that our opponent calls us with a weaker hand. Given his raise pre-flop and assuming he doesn't call a raise with less than KJ, QT and KQ, we're not getting called by that many worse hands. The worst thing that can happen is that our opponent 3-bets and we convince ourselves he can be drawing and call as a big dog. Of course we might fold to that 3-bet when he actually does have a draw, which would also be bad. I think calling the flop bet is best. On the turn we reassess.
    Posted by BorinLoner


    Yes he should fold a lesser pocket pair, but many hands like KQ, Q10, AJ, KJ, K10, A10, 910, flush draw will still have a go at the pot.... and we should be making them pay to see the next card.

    Get paid on the flop.  Probably take down the pot on the turn on a blank card.... win the hand.  But the line that we've taken has led to this tricky situation where we literally dont know where we stand in the pot and have to fold with top pair top kicker on the final card because we think we have let him hit his draw.

    Theres no problem with being a bit more aggressive in hands when flops are this wet imo
  • BorinLonerBorinLoner Member Posts: 3,863
    edited May 2013
    You can raise the flop but you have to think you're getting called by worse hands. I don't think we're getting called by gut shots too often.

    We don't want to "take down the pot" if we have the best hand unless we think our opponent has really good equity against us. If we can get our opponent to fold a flush draw with a straight draw on the flop, that's good (although it won't happen because he's not folding that). Getting him to fold that hand on the turn is bad if we're way ahead of it by then. We want him to put the rest in when he's only got the river to hit his draw. In the long-run that's much more profitable for us.

    Since we're in position, I think calling the flop bet is much better than raising. Sometimes our opponents are going to get there with their draws but we can't be afraid of that. Position is the key here. We know that we're unlikely to get our opponent to fold on the flop by raising, so see a turn and reassess. If the turn's a club, we get to see what our opponent does first. If it's not a club, we get to see what our opponent does first.

    When we raise the flop we know that we only get continued action from hands with good equity against us and fold out the hands that don't have good equity against us. We don't want to narrow our opponent's range like that, especially when there's a good chance he'll 3-bet and we won't know what it means. We also significantly reduce the advantage we have of being in position.

    (As it happens, I'd probably prefer check-calling this flop if we were out of position, too. Although obviously that's a theoretical situation lacking in specifics.)
  • gazza127gazza127 Member Posts: 2,156
    edited May 2013
    We cant reassess if we cant put the opposition on any hand.  Bottom line is we dont have a clue what the villain is holding.

    With top pair top kicker we have to assume we are ahead.  A raise on the flop gives us value if hes calling a drawing hand.  It also allows us to determine if we are actually ahead.  If he 3 bets we can assume we are behind and fold on the flop.  It also means that the draw on the turn becomes too expensive for him so we can take it down there and we can win the pot.

    Maybe its just how Id play the hand.  Each to their own i guess.
  • BorinLonerBorinLoner Member Posts: 3,863
    edited May 2013
    Knowing if we have the best hand or not doesn't have much value for us. If we can only gain that information by forcing our opponent to fold lots of worse hands and continue with hands either comparable to ours or better than ours, then we should prefer to remain uncertain.

    We do actually gain information from calling and being in position means we see that information first. If we call the flop and the turn is a club (or not), we should be able to interpret what a bet or check from our opponent may mean. So we do gain some idea of what our opponent has by calling the flop bet and taking advantage of being in position on the turn.

    It seems unlikely that I'm going to convince you. Hopefully others will post in the next few hours or tomorrow and we can see what they think. If the consensus is going to be against me, I want to know it.
  • grantorinograntorino Member Posts: 4,710
    edited May 2013
    Don't ever raise/fold  that flop readless. I like calling, if you 3bet be prepared to get it in

    River sucks, think we have to fold readless but its a weird line can see why you are posting it


  • gazza127gazza127 Member Posts: 2,156
    edited May 2013
    I think a lot of players would have a second barrel on the turn even if they are drawing.  IMO we gain no information if this happens.  In that scenario we havent a clue whether we should be calling, raising or folding and many people go out this way as they havent been able to put someone on QQ, AK,22 or on a flush draw.

    In this scenario, luckily in my opinion, the villain checks to us on the turn and that shouts to me that he's drawing.  A stronger turn bet is needed for value.  If he folds we've gained a small pot.  If he calls and hits we lose.  If he misses then we take a slightly larger pot.  If he raises we are most likely behind. Why can we not do this on the flop a street ahead?  We gain more information from raising here and have the opportunity to get more value on the turn if he decides he still wants to pursue his draw.  Potential winnings is much greater and we have a better read of where we are in the hand.
    If he bets out on the turn again are we calling again to reassess on the river?
    If the river isnt a club and they bet out again do we call again?  We don't know if they have us beat or not as we have not forced the opponent at any point to give any indication of hand strength relative to the board.

    Im not saying that youre wrong by any means and must confess that I've played similar hands your way, but its a wet flop.  What are we doing on the flop?  Trapping?
  • BorinLonerBorinLoner Member Posts: 3,863
    edited May 2013

    This will be my last post on this hand for a while because I want others to have a chance to agree or disagree with me and I don't want to end up putting people off.

    When we call the flop, we're calling thinking there's a good chance we have the best hand and there's a good chance that our opponent is betting with much weaker ones. It's important to realise that a hand such as 9cTc or KcTc is actually a considerable favourite against us at this stage, so raising against that isn't charging a draw, it's paying off a better hand.

    You're also assuming that our opponent only 3-bets better made hands against us. That's not an assumption we should make because lots of players will look to get it in on a draw when their equity is at it's highest, semi-bluffing hoping we can fold some better hands.

    When we raise the flop we have to be thinking not only that we have the best hand alot of the time but that this is the best way to get value from the hand. If we're raising thinking that we can't stand a 3-bet, we're just raising hoping to be called by those KQ, KJ hands and draws. If draws are going to 3-bet some of the time, we have to be willing to call however this means getting it in on the flop only against hands that either have good equity against us or are already beating us.

    *If we know that he only ever calls with draws, calls with weaker Queens, folds weaker hands than that and only 3-bets better made hands, then this is the best opponent to raise against. He calls with those draws, which we can charge again on the turn when we will be a big favourite with one card to come. However, I think this still isn't the best option for value. Alot of value is going to be lost when those weaker made hands fold and against the range that calls we're not huge favourites at this point. It's not bad to raise agaisnt this type of opponent assuming we don't pay him anymore if the club comes down, but I don't think it's better than calling.

    You're right, if we call the flop alot of players will continue when a club comes whether they have it or not. That's why it's important to know which opponents will do that. In the absence of those specific reads we need to think about the bet-size and how the hand has played when deciding whether to call down. It may be that our opponent bets turn and river and we think it only makes sense for a nutted range. It may be that he just checks the turn, or bets small and gives up on the river. Some of the time we will end up folding the best hand on the turn or river if our opponent keeps betting but when we do fold, we're only folding top-pair. It's not a monster and we're rarely going to be a very long way ahead, anyway.

    Raising the flop, I think, forces us to play a big pot against hands with good equity against us, removes any chance of getting value from hands that have very little equity against us and (if we're intending to fold to a 3-bet) means we risk being bluffed out of the pot having put extra money in, if our opponent 3-bets his drawing hands.

    I'm never raise-folding this flop because I'm never raising top-pair as a bluff and I'm not raising top-pair for information. So if we're raising this flop I agree with grantorino that we must be intending to raise-call (unless we have specific reads that our opponent plays all non-nutted hands passively to a raise, as in the * example above). For that to be the case, we have to think that our opponent is 3-betting lots of draws. Even in that case, it seems very likely that calling the flop is the better value line because our opponent can continue with worse hands and we can get away without stacking off when the draws come in, rather than getting it in on the flop as either a flip or an underdog.

    I think, in the end, you can't trust the information you'd get from a flop raise in the way you think you can. Even if you could trust it, it's not the best route for value, in my eyes, because we fold out all the hands that don't have a good chance to beat us and just put more money into the pot when we're not a favourite.


    As I say, I hope others will post and won't be put off by the length of this.

  • gazza127gazza127 Member Posts: 2,156
    edited May 2013
    Argument well put forward and I do agree to a certain extent with a lot of what you said.  However I feel most draws will 3 bet shove on the flop if we raise.  We can call this (with reads) if we are willing to take a gamble on the last two cards missing their draw.  Villain is unlikely to 3 bet (not shove) with hands worse than ours and we can get out the hand much cheaper than calling down the board with no knowledge of what the villain is repping.

    I'll leave it to others to put in their opinions now.  But IMO its one of those scenarios you can happily play it either way.
  • percival09percival09 Member Posts: 3,804
    edited May 2013
    I'm calling

    his line makes little sense. wouldn't be surprised to see spades. can't see much parsley in his range
  • percival09percival09 Member Posts: 3,804
    edited May 2013
     love raising otf too if we do it enough with draws to balance, if we flat pre and get this flop I think we have to raise. plus with it being co vs btn but w/out relevant dynamic/info on each other maybe just flat
  • j0hns0nsj0hns0ns Member Posts: 46
    edited May 2013

    Wow, so much to read here this is really interesting… My hand analysis is fairly basic compared to you guys and it's really interesting to see all of your comments and difficult for me to take it all in to be honest

     

    re: raising the flop,  think I agree with Borin where he says ' Since we're in position, I think calling the flop bet is much better than raising. Sometimes our opponents are going to get there with their draws but we can't be afraid of that. Position is the key here. We know that we're unlikely to get our opponent to fold on the flop by raising, so see a turn and reassess. If the turn's a club, we get to see what our opponent does first. If it's not a club, we get to see what our opponent does first.'

     

     if the club came out on the turn I can either fold to bet, call small bet and control pot size, bet for information, or check to control pot size again…

     

    and gazza: " "...but its a wet flop.  What are we doing on the flop?  Trapping?"

     

    I guess I'm not really trapping at this stage - I'm looking to re-**** on the turn and his check just left me confused… i got the feeling he was checking to gain information from my move, and perhaps get a free card - i.e flush, or straight drawing…. his check looks very weak, i think he's drawing… so therefore:-

     

    I think my mistake here was not betting the turn big enough… I feel that the turn card hasn't helped and i am ahead, my mistake was giving him equity to call my bet and see the last card…

     

     

    *I FOLDED*

     

    thanks so much for all of this analysis, I'l  be reviewing it a few more times to really get my head around it…!

     

     

     

  • percival09percival09 Member Posts: 3,804
    edited May 2013
    So otf what are you raising? Just draws + sets/JQ? We need to increase our value range on a flop like this when we're going to be bluffing quite a bit, especially btn vs co. We're getting called by so much worse and we can just fire turn & river for value depending on what comes obv.

    Calling ip and not ever getting out of that easy predictable line will make you very easy to play against

    and also, even more reason to raise, we've under-repped our hand so much. In villains eyes, if he assumes we're 3betting AQ otb like we should be doing most times, then our value range is literally limited to JQ/66 and then a whole bunch of draws
  • j0hns0nsj0hns0ns Member Posts: 46
    edited May 2013
    Thanks Percival...  a while back I was playing super aggresive post flop and would always have 3-betthe flop in this position, i felt like i was shutting down a lot of pots early... I have recently adjusted = perhaps now I play too passive post flop! .. and my line here is definitely passive on the flop, 

    however, what percentage of time would villain fold and what percentage would villain call my 3-bet on the flop - think he would call most of time (unless i put in a massive overbet to loose the staright and flush draws...)    meaning if he hits, the pot is getting very big--- and not really a situation i want to be in with only top pair, which alot of the time in big pots is a loosing hand imo

    i still think calling the flop is fine but my mistake was on the turn...



  • LnarinOOLnarinOO Member Posts: 545
    edited May 2013
    havnt read all posts as quite long but sure borin has some decent content..
    jus skimming
    thrru some of it i can see theres alot of  discussion on the flop play..

    i think the flop play is close but seeing as op hasnt played much with villian (being only 2nd hand) i doubt he has the dynamic to r/call it off with toptop
    . in this case i think its more a call and play down the streets.
    once u have decent reads on villan and a dynamic has been formed, it does depend on villan but at 100nl vs most regs id probally prefer raising callin as it keeps air in our range also.

    as played im 100% calling the river
    if were ever confused by someone then calling is probally best- take a note and move on-
    in this hand villlan only really repping a flush, given we have to be good 42% of the time to BE  and given your weak turn bet IMO we have to call
  • rancidrancid Member Posts: 5,945
    edited May 2013
    raise and get value from draws, worse Qx and prs with draws etc.. plus gives you some balance
    Whos afirad of the big bad club you or you opponent ?

    Worse case scenrio is when oppo comes over the top of your 3 bet, so only 3 bet if your happy getting it in otherwise just call.
    If you do call then bet bigger on turn

    river - sigh - no shame in folding readless but would be tempted to call


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