Hi everyone. This is me on one more Highlight hand, this one more focused on basic range estimation and gameplaning. Hope that a lot of you find this useful. I think it is a very important concept. The hand was posted on Basic Hand Discussion by the member DallasC89, link: AQ Three of a kind. Thanks to Dallas for posting and everyone for participating.
So, here's the hand:
Originally posted by DallasC89
Hey guys, I think I played this hand terribly. What would of been the best play on each of these streets?Should I be betting around 0.45-60 on that sort of flop? more/less?
Turn?
River?IPoker, $0.02/$0.05 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.SB: $4.95 (99 bb)
BB: $1.58 (31.6 bb)
Hero (UTG): $6.86 (137.2 bb)
MP: $2.73 (54.6 bb)
CO: $14.48 (289.6 bb)
BTN: $9.50 (190 bb)Preflop: Hero is UTG with A
Q
Hero raises to $0.15, MP calls $0.15, CO folds, BTN calls $0.15, 2 foldsFlop: ($0.52) 4
A
6
Hero bets $0.30, MP calls $0.30, BTN foldsTurn: ($1.12) A
(2 players)
Hero bets $0.55, MP calls $0.55River: ($2.22) 9
Hero checks, MP bets $1.73 and is all-in, Hero calls $1.73Will post results later
My opinion:
So, let's go through the hand step by step. First things first, we need to know who are the villains we are playing against. We should assume MP is a recreational player, this is the case most of the time (given his stack size of course) and assuming anything else (including that he is a total unknown) is a mistake in my opinion. And BU we can say that he is indeed an unknown (assuming Dallas didn't have any info on him, it's important to put this type of info, even if it's only to say he is an unknown).
So flop, we already have some decisions to make. My opinion on the options:
About Cbet flop:
- We clearly have a lot of value against MP, we are way ahead of his continuing range on the flop, which will be someting like a lot of :Ax:s (maybe all of them, we don't know), some :Ax:o (maybe A9o-AQo, maybe wider), 55-JJ and the ocasional 
or 
(65s, 54s, etc). We are of course behind 44, 66, A4s and A6s. Still, our value in cbetting is undeniable:
Board: 4♣A♠6♦
Equity Vencer Empate
MP2 76.04% 71.94% 4.10% { AdQs }
MP3 23.96% 19.86% 4.10% { JJ-44, AQs-A2s, 76s, AQo-A9o }
I remind you that we need more than 50% equity to be able to value bet, and in this case we have more than plenty.
Against BU's range, we have a lot less equity, he will probably not have hands like A♣:2♣: or A♣:9♥:, and will not call with hands like 7♣:7♠:. But still, it doesn't prevent us from begin able to value bet, even if we don't love when MP folds and BU calls.
Regarding bet sizing, on this type of boards there's no reason to make big bets. Unless we are against a weak player and we have a very strong hand trying to get max value from a fish. This is not the case, given that even if we bet smallish and MP calls we still have room to get all his stack since he only has 50bbs stacks.
About checking flop:
- Not a great idea at all, and the reason is simple: people don't like to bluff in multi way pots. So if the chance either of villains bluffing is very slim that will only result in us giving the opponents free equity, and at the same time preventing us from possibly get all MP stack.
So, when decing between valuebetting or checking you have to ask to questions:
1- Do I have a value bet (>50% equity)? If not then we should just check most of the time, even if we know villains will not be bluffing. A good example would be us having K♥:K♠: in this exact spot.
2- Will villain bet very often when I check? Will he bluff a lot? Will he value bet thin? These are okay arguments for checking instead of betting. The obvious example is when villain is a maniac and you know he will triple barrel you every chance he gets, so no point for us to deny him that opportunity.
The flop develops in the best way for us, the fish calls and possible reg folds.
The turn card is an okay card for us, although it reduces villain's combos of Ax, it's certainlty a lot better than cards like 6♥:, J♠:, T♥: or even 5♣:.
So what do we do? We just do the exact same exercise we just did for the flop. Do we have a value bet? Yes, for sure, not close. Does villain have a lot of bluffs for him to bet if we check? Not at all. Villain's range that calls our flop bet, as we've seen earlier has pretty much zero "air", so our check would only give villain the chance to check back hands that he might call a second bet, like 88 and similar hands. Villain does not have hands like Q♣:T♣: to bluff us on the turn.
Betsizing, we should think like this in this spot: "how much do I have to bet turn to put him all in river comfortably?" . The answer would be someting like ~0.70$.
Dallas was kind enough to ilustrate the common mistake microstakes players make:
Originally posted by DallasC89
The only thing I could go by was his stack size looked a bit fishworthy and was hoping he'd have nothing and try and bluff me on the river.
River is more of the same song, but I'll repeat it because it's that importante to understand:
Does villain have any potential bluffs on the River? NO, NO and NO. And that's the reason why check/calling is an awful plan, terrible. Reason: hands that villain will bet river would be calling a shove anyway, but weaker hands that villain might have called a shove river (76s, TT-JJ, even an A2) are now checking back river happily. So our equity against a shove is worse than against a range that calls our shove. Did I make myself clear?
So the only reason to be checking river would be if we did not have more 50% equity against the range that calls our shove. But we do! Let's see:
Board: 4♣A♠6♦ A♥ 9♠
Equity Vencer Empate
MP2 64.63% 60.98% 3.66% { AdQs }
MP3 35.37% 31.71% 3.66% { JJ-99, 66, 44, AQs-A2s, AQo-A9o }
So, if we did not have the necessary equity to value bet, then the correct decision would be to check/fold, given the assumptions I've made before, villain does not have bluffs and his betting range will be stronger than the range he would call a bet. In this hand, since we checked the river and faced a bet, we are actually in an ugly spot, we have to call given the so many hands that villain will value bet that are worse than ours, but it's a lot closer.
So, what have we learned from this hand?
[*] Visualizing villain's range is very helpful when deciding if we want to check/call. More to the point on the river, ask yourself: "Does villain has any bluffs to make?" "What hands does he call flop and turn and bluff river?"
[*] On dry boards, bluffs on the river will be extremely rare
[*] On the flop in multi way pots, only check if you don't have a value bet. If you do have enough equity to value bet just do it, villains will not bluff enough most of the time
[*] Against a recreational player we must not forget that villain has a wider range and for that reason we can value bet weaker hands that we would not value bet against a regular.
VS
