Mid/High Stakes Limit Hold'em Poker Forums

Villain is one of the better players on the internet, beats 300/600 hu. If we are trying to play balanced and unexploitable is folding the flop to weak? My instincts tell me I should have just folded the flop but Im not exactly sure. Pocket 5s are actually almost 40% up my range so it seems like folding right away is possibly exploitable? However, if villain continues to barrel im probably going to have to fold just about any turn anyway. Thoughts?

Full Tilt Poker $10/$20 Limit Hold'em - 5 players - View hand 1153099
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

Pre Flop: (1.5 SB) Hero is BTN with 5 5
UTG requests TIME, 2 folds, Hero raises, SB 3-bets, 1 fold, Hero calls

Flop: (7 SB) J A K (2 players)
SB bets, Hero calls

Turn: (4.5 BB) J (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

River: (4.5 BB) 9 (2 players)
SB bets, Hero folds


edit: what else should we be folding? I figure we should fold all 9x and lower and peel with all Tx and continue with all pairs jacks +. I have a capping range in this spot so that leaves out most pocket pairs down to 55 so I guess Im just not sure what to do with those small pairs.

Obv fold, I have you beat.

Non results oriented answer:
It's a very good flop for my range, even more so if you have a capping range pre. (btw this is one of the more important advantages of not capping pre). I don't think there's anything you can do about SB having a profitable cbet with all of his airballs (of which there aren't many anyway). Just muck it.

It's tough to play pocket 5's against a such a tough and crafty opponent. Fold and be thankful that this ugly flop let you off the hook and prevented you from making any costly mistakes.

If I did peel the flop, I'd play it the same as you.

I'd fold flop. FWIW I'd cap preflop vs. most Germans (tend to cap a wider range IP, call a wider range OOP). If you don't have a capping range pre then obv I like just calling his 3b pre though.

Rob

I'd fold flop. FWIW I'd cap preflop vs. most Germans (tend to cap a wider range IP, call a wider range OOP). If you don't have a capping range pre then obv I like just calling his 3b pre though.

Rob

Save the wide caps for the Russians and Scandinavians.

Save the wide caps for the Russians and Scandinavians.

Hey!

Hey!

Heisann!

Stereotypes ITT

I would turbo muck and not think twice.

Yeah lots of RIO even on your good cards. Fist pump fold IMO.

Capping preflop vs not having a capping range is a pretty interesting spot against someone as good as villain though.

I think I'd base it more on recent history than the overall history and having a plan of how you want to approach these situations before you even log into your poker account is a great use of time IMO. Especially if their game is very adjusty/non static and you play against them a lot.

Hmmm actually if you play against them a lot, it's kind of criminal not to analyze their strategy away from the tables. Like you can learn so much that old numbers and/or short term variance might skew a bit at the tables.

Like say they have small leaks where they're too loose or tight 3betting in a position or even something as basic as opening too wide pf in a spot. You'll notice that. If they never 4bet in a position and you didn't notice it before, well now you know that they've never 4bet before and you can adjust your strategy accordingly. Or say it's the opposite and they 4bet like they're king of the oober monkies! etc. etc.

You'll just notice so many more things and have so much more confidence in your game if you just do a little bit of leg work and filter some things in your HEM or Poker Tracker. And if your opponent that you play against isn't noticing these things, then that's worth a ton if you can get in a bunch of volume against them.