Small Stakes Shorthanded NL Poker Forums

Hey guys,

I'm going to be aiming to post one HH a week that I think is reasonably interesting. Usually these hands will be from sessions I've had with my small stakes students. The thread might appear here or in the micro forum. I have my own thoughts on all the hands I post but I would like to encourage discussion amongst the fine minds we have here on the DC forums.

We'll kick things off with a scenario that seems relatively simple, easy and straightforward, but may not be.

UTG is 17/13/2.6, his flop cbet is 82%. CO is 19/7/0.3. BB is 42/19/9.5 No significant reads or history. I can provide other stats if asked for.


Poker Stars $100.00 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: $114.00
BB: $64.35
UTG: $102.65
MP: $111.50
CO: $39.65
Hero (BTN): $252.30

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BTN with J J
UTG raises to $4, 1 fold, CO calls $4, Hero calls $4, 1 fold, BB calls $3

Flop: ($16.50) 5 9 2 (4 players)
BB checks, UTG bets $10.80, CO raises to $35.65, Hero...

shoving is not really +ev if youre trying to make us believe that

I'm not trying to make you believe anything, just foster discussion.

CO has a ridiculously low aggression factor. He raises very tight PFR that is UTG. The only hand I see us beating here is TT. I think I would make the weak tight fold. I don't think CO is raising flush draws with that AF. This is my first post btw so please don't flame

oops didn't see stack size...I would probably call real time but I don't think it is necessarily correct. What happens if we call and UTG shoves? gross

Let's play the range game:

UTG: AA-55, AK-ATs, KQs, KJs
CO: AA-99, 55, 22, A9s, AsKs


Looks like a fold to me.

What happens if we call and UTG shoves? gross

guess the idea inavacuum tries to apply here is shoving to make utg fold and play against COs range by isolating it.. so the first question is wether we are ahead of COs range.. and if yes we need to add the possibility of UTG not folding his strong cbetting range
(and BB might have something to say as well)

Flatting for sure greater than 3betting pre to try and iso the 40bb stack?

shoving is interesting here. if utg is capable of making laydowns, which he probably is cuz he's a nit, then he should be folding a ton of hands to our shove and we can get to isolate the CO and gogogo.

Flatting for sure greater than 3betting pre to try and iso the 40bb stack?

No, I think iso 3betting isn't bad.

I think 3betting to ISO the 40bb stack is fine. There is no way UTG will get involved with a worse hand given how nitty he is and it's obvious we're committing ourselves vs the shorter stack so our range shouldn't contain too many bluffs. I believe Hero in question overcalls because he wants the big fish in the BB to come along also. I think this is fine, though a 40bb stack isn't exactly insignificant and I may be tempted to just go for this lower hanging fruit and deal with the BB later, especially considering the vulnerability of JJ. This can probably be viewed as the best line, but I have considered the hand as played below.

As played, the flop does present a problem. If we call, we can't really overcall again if UTG or BB ship. Shoving can seem attractive to solve the hand right there and then but what does this actually achieve? It simply forces UTG to fold out worse and continue with better, something that he's doing anyway if we overcall CO's shove.

Should we even be getting this in vs CO in the first place? It's the stack size that makes it a difficult spot. A tight and extremely passive fish isn't shoving here with hands that make JJ very attractive. He either has a monster made hand or a monster draw, which means our JJ is drawing to try and overset or it's flipping vs a massive draw. We lose half of the time vs his draws and 80%+ vs his made range, putting our hand well behind his range total. I'd be very surprised if TT was in his range and even if it were it's a very small part. All that is a good reason not to stack off for 100bbs, but as we know the smaller the stack size of villain here the more our hand goes up in value.

Hero folded in this spot and I don't think that's bad. I certainly think it's better than shoving. Calling may be closer, but I'm having a tough time faulting the fold. I haven't done any calcs myself so if anyone thinks that's way off please do show me the light.