Small Stakes Shorthanded NL Poker Forums

Villain is a huge whale playing 40/10 so far I have only seen him min raising preflop which sends off warning bells when he pots it here. The limper is a fish too and I am not stoked if I 3bet here and get 4bet given stacks. TBH I would be 3bet folding and I am much happier taking a flop. From the flop on I think all I can do is call down and hope he has a whiffed AK or maybe a Jx hand. Anyone play it differently on any street?

Absolute Poker $200.00 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 330054
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: $1181.15
Hero (BB): $427.45
UTG: $291.85
MP: $131.60
CO: $215.40
BTN: $191.60

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is BB with Q Q
1 fold, MP calls $2, 2 folds, SB raises to $11, Hero calls $9, MP calls $9

Flop: ($33.00) 8 J 4 (3 players)
SB bets $36.00, Hero calls $36, MP folds

Turn: ($105.00) 4 (2 players)
SB bets $54.00, Hero calls $54

River: ($213.00) 6 (2 players)
SB bets $108.00, Hero calls $108

What you said about preflop makes sense if you have a very solid read. However, I would argue flatting KK+ or a hand with implied equity here makes more sense as more flops are going to give you trouble with QQ, including those with Axx or Kxx, and low flops as well. If you 3bet you get a much better idea of his range and you still have a strong hand yourself. If this is the first time he's done it I wouldn't automatically start to fear he has you crushed with a single raise pre. If he 4bets you're almost always up against a hand that has u crushed or flipping and I think you can find a fold.

After thinking about it though, you are creating a bloated pot with a hand that is good but not awesome against a potentially strong range as well if he calls a 3bet.

As played, you basically have a bluff catcher on the river as most fish have a hard time value betting a jack for 3 streets unless he has TPTK. I'd fold. The 1/2 pot bets on turn and river are interesting though, as usually if he has KK+ or JJ/sets he wants to get the money in as fast as possible and will bet bigger on later streets with no or over card, but fish do dumb things.

Interested to hear others' thoughts on this as well though. It's a spot I also go back and forth on. Typically against a good player IP deep with a hand like JJ you pretty much flat always, but with QQ against a fish I think the rules change.

After thinking about it though, you are creating a bloated pot with a hand that is good but not awesome against a potentially strong range as well if he calls a 3bet.

I agree. These types are NEVER folding to a 3Bet. So, a 3Bet just bloats the pot.

As played I think if we're behind most of the time when he 3 barrels. This whale sounds passive. Unless he's playing a AJ like this. But, I'm 95% sure he can beat TP. Dumping 100BB with only an over pair without a strong read makes me sick.

Anyone else likes a min-raise on the turn? If he comes over the top I would fold but the idea would be to slowdown him down so that he would check to us on the river therefore saving us money at showdown.

i think your underestimating your hand here. how many hands do you have on villain? as played i fold the river, and would 3 bet pre.

i think your underestimating your hand here. how many hands do you have on villain? as played i fold the river, and would 3 bet pre.

Can we really fold to a half pot bet on the river when there's a possibility he could be doing this with TPTK?

Anyone else likes a min-raise on the turn? If he comes over the top I would fold but the idea would be to slowdown him down so that he would check to us on the river therefore saving us money at showdown.

this would be really awful. you can't be sure he doesn't ever shove worse hands and you are ahead here most of the time so turning your hand into a bluff is silly

I think Villain played the hand perfectly. 3betting pre may be an option but given read, flatting is fine. On a J high flop I dont think you can fold QQ. Giving him exactly KK+ is far too narrow a range, expecially since he seems to be trying to control the size of the pot with the half pot bets.

Raising at any stage postflop is terrible as we just fold out all the hands that we beat and get called by all better hands. Call down is perfect here. (Sorry he has AA)!

I'd likely 3bet pf but if I don't I would play it the same as you did. He can easily be vbetting Jx here