So we defend a steal raise with Q10s from the bb against a CO or Button raise, villain is aggressive but plays well and doesnt spew too much, and he should view us the same way. Flop comes A105 rainbow, do you like C/C or C/R here? Villain will often times two barrel turncards with this board texture, so i lean more to C/C. Anyway, turn bring a K,, and given our flop read that he will 2barrel turncards here i feel like we have to call, we might have the best hand, if we dont we`ll almost always have 6 outs to a sure winner, sometimes 9 outs.

On the river comes the tricky spot imo, river`s a Queen, giving us the worst two pair. Is there ever a good arument for donking out here? Villain will always raise with str8s, but he will almost never raise better two pairs or trips, and will probably call with all his one pair of aces hands. Given that we only want one bet to go in on this river, isn`t check-calling the better option? Also gives him the opportunity to bluff if he thinks we hold a single 10 and thinks he can get us to fold.

Mum bum wugga mum bum...
Mugga wugga wum bum wugga...
Uh wugga wuh. Uh wugga wuh.
Uh wugga wugga wugga.
Uh wugga WUH uh wugga wuh.
Uh wugga wugga wugga.

Was kinda hoping for a comment from one of the instructors here, any whihc one LHE guy will do.

Such a tricky spot to play and hard to balance it imo.

First of all as Danza said it matters sick much whether its CO or BTN steal.

I also wanna say that if you dont 3-bet this on vs a BTn steal you shouldt 3-bet AA either. Vs a CO steal ist closer but i think it should also enter the 3-betting range which should be either wide or empty.

/end rant on balance PF.


Postflop is tough as said once. Against weak TAGs and LAGTAGs I will often take a call call fold line. Against tricky and creative players who have elevated past the ABC level I look to showdown and I think about balance. My stad play vs those guys would be to c/r flop and hate life when he raises turn, but showdown a ton obv. But again, its read dependent and image dependent.

I have a suspicion that optimal play in the CO/Button is about 40 percent or more difference in hands, but I don't really play that way myself nor do most people I run into, so I'm fine with lumping the two spots together here.

I would often check-raise this flop, but I like it more when the board is at least 2-toned, making both distributions a good bit wider. And also, I'm fairly certain I cannot kr;b, since the hands that he calls with on the turn probably make me a dog overall.

If you're going to donk the river, you better damn well think about what you can bluff in this spot. It might be counter-intuitive to donk a weak pair on the river (and for all I know you folded some of your's on the turn), but that might be all we have left to bluff. Also, would you lean towards donking a straight on the end or kr?

Great post KPR.