Top Top in Squeezed Pot

[Nade]

Villain is playing like 26/21 3bet 9% - I had 3bet him a few times and he was playing very straight forward vs them but maybe getting frustrated? No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (5 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com BB ($77.55) UTG ($108.85) MP ($174.90) Hero (Button) ($143.20) SB ($105.40) Preflop: Hero is Button with K, A UTG bets $3, MP calls $3, Hero raises $13.50, 3 folds, MP calls $10.50 Flop: ($31.50) 6, 3, A (2 players) MP checks, Hero bets $20, MP calls $20 Turn: ($71.50) 5 (2 players) MP checks, Hero ?? So we have the top of our range in a squeezed pot so we could barrel it off. We could check back as we'd give up with air figuring he has good showdown value or a strong draw at least so induce weak bets and bluffs on the river but that gives a free draw to a club but what do we do if c/r all in? What range can we put him on and what could be the best value line vs that range?

[Paul176]

Re: Top Top in Squeezed Pot I'd say villains range is fairly tight here - something like 88-JJ, AJ+ because even if you've been 3betting him a bit I'd assume you 3betting him UTG is getting a little more respect. I doubt he flats hands like suited connectors or smaller pockets OOP UTG here. I think the villain calls with most of this range on the flop - dumping 88, 99 and maybe TT on the flop without a club. I'd bet call. Plenty of value from worse and we're in too much danger of letting a hand with a single club suck out on us in a big pot. I'm calling because I think the villain can ship hands like AdQc.

[averick]

Re: Top Top in Squeezed Pot What's his fold to 3bet%? I would think at 6-max his range could be pretty wide especially if you have been 3-betting quite abit. Paul: Not sure bet calling is the best option here as we're 150BBs deep. As a FR player I would check back most of the time though I might be giving him a free card as I don't see much value in betting here + I have position on him. If he bets out on a river club then we might have a tricky decision to make but I would prefer it to having to face a CRAI on the turn. His aggro factor matters here too.

[Nade]

Re: Top Top in Squeezed Pot His fold to 3bet was 70% and aggro 2.5 overall. I guess my question is, is it better to go: bet bet bet (no 4th club)or bet bet check (4th club) or bet check bet (no 4th club) - I'd probably bet about $40 on the turn so if called making a $147 pot with about half that left to shove on river. Is it more likely we get TT to pay off a bet check bet than a bet bet - i doubt TT calls a bet bet bet. If a 4th club comes on river it's a snap fold if they bet, they're just never turning a showdownable hand into a bluff - if anything they'll bluff catch c/c. FWIW i think people if they have a big club would look to c/r the flop as they have good equity including fold equity if they have something like KcQh and try and fold out TT for example instead of c/r shove the turn where they don't get it in good often as they look either really strong or really weak. So with this in mind i think maybe a cbet of $32-$40 on the turn could be good as it's pretty rare for someone to c/c a huge hand twice in this spot as if they have a big flush a 4th club kills their action and if they have a set/2pair a 4th club kills their action plus they're OOP so have to expect villain to check back most rivers. So then we can 3barrel shove river if it's not a 4th club and they check and hope to get called by single club pairs and single club ace x etc. What do you guys think of this? I'm thinking aloud, the reason i posted the hand is because during the hand i wasn't thinking about what they'd do with certain hands on this board or what the best play was, i just didn't want to get bluffed off it.

[Paul176]

Re: Top Top in Squeezed Pot UTG only has 109bbs behind so I'm still happy to get it in. To be honest I think getting value out of TT is going to be hard whatever we do. I would expect a decent player to read a bet/check/bet line as being nearly always for value and if so nearly always having TT beat. That being said a bet/bet line looks strong too. It may well be that TT isn't calling another bet regardless and if so we'd rather get the villain to fold it now. I'm sticking with a bet/bet/bet line providing no 4th club. Another club is clearly bad for us because we 1) lose value and 2) sometimes we lose to 88 or some hand with a random club in it. I don't feel we gain enough value from hands that will call a river bet but not a turn bet, or fire the river but not call a turn bet to make up for the two negatives. Plus there is value in a bet from AQ, AJ, stubborn PPs with a club etc. We can deal with getting c/r when we get to it but given out odds I'm fairly certain it would be a call. A final point similar to what you said Nade I think the villain will be less inclined to slowplay sets, flushes etc. on the flop because a 4th club kills the action. For that reason I feel we have the villains c/c flop range fairly crushed.

[Paul176]

Re: Top Top in Squeezed Pot A couple more things for discussion. 1) What do we do if villain raises the flop? 2) How does our turn line change if with have AhKc?

[Nade]

Re: Top Top in Squeezed Pot Thanks for all the comments, can't really reply to the latest ones though as my brain has no idea how to play poker anymore. In the hand i ended up checking it down - Villain had AQ no club and i felt like a huge idiot. Related to the hand above though i played vs this villain again yesterday - 3bet him with QQ he called we checked the flop and turn on an A high board then i vbet the river and he c/r me all in - remembered about this hand and realised he thinks i don't vbet rivers as i checked back the AK - so i called his shove and he had Jhigh - so something good did come from it all in the end...

[Paul176]

Re: Top Top in Squeezed Pot Nice on the QQ hand Nade. I always convince myself they're not thinking about that and end up bottling it!

Thanks for all the comments' date=' can't really reply to the latest ones though as my brain has no idea how to play poker anymore.[/quote'] This made me chuckle. What's the problem?

[Nade]

Re: Top Top in Squeezed Pot Looking back on this hand now it's a pretty straightforward double barrel. I think i was concerned because of over-thinking the game at the time i wasn't sure what they could really call with but the bottom line is really if we're beaten we'll find out pretty sharpish not matter how we play it so vbet until we have a good reason not to. I was scared of being bluffed out of a pot where someone would be insane to bluff so if they show big strength they have no reason to try and bluff us so v likely they have us beat.

A couple more things for discussion. 1) What do we do if villain raises the flop? 2) How does our turn line change if with have AhKc?

If villain c/r the flop, looking at his stats it would be v unlikely for them to have a set so would lean towards them having a flopped flush or perhaps if we're lucky Kc Qh or something but generally i'd fold as we're doing pretty bad vs a c/r range on a monotone board in a 3bet pot IMO as people 99% of times play straightforwardly in 3bet pots. If we have AhKc i'm barrelling it into oblivion unless it's like a Q/J river then would be tempted to check back.