[Closed] NL200 A4s blind vs BU

and 2nd question - How would you play with 77 here as we probably want to balance it? (Or do we want to play it differently to our A :club:4 :club:?)

Originally posted by jekyll001
I can 3bet pre, but I like calling more as it is really ugly to play 3bet spot OOP with weak ace. You get floated a lot, you are in trouble on Axx board. I think we discussed 3betting here in many threads and calling is imo really viable alternative. (ofc I can fold pre as well but it is too weak).

How exactly is calling supposed to be less trouble than 3betting?
You keep in all dominating Ax (he has A2+), even the offsuited ones whereas by 3betting all Axo up to AT fold, maybe even AJo and also most suited aces will just muck, also up to ATs.
At the same time you can flop nothing but a FD or a GS - with both hands you're still behind (especially with the GS obv).
If you hit Axx boards you're still always bluffcatching but you usually end up folding by the turn.
So to me this is a clear 3bet or fold spot preflop.

As played I think you should make it bigger on the flop.
When you have 77 you want to protect your hand and obv you cannot differ your betsize based on the strength of your hand.
A potsized raise would be $27, so imo $24 would be a nice raisesize.

On the turn you should also make it bigger: You want TP type hands to fold and additionally you want to be able to shove the river if you decide it's a good spot, so $38 would be better.

Originally posted by jekyll001
It´s unclear on river. I wanted to chase out middle pairs and hands like 7 :club:8 :club:.

And still you bet small enough to make 100% sure they call.

I would most likely just c/f. Imo Jx is a big part of his range as he would probably shove overpairs and also AJ on the turn, and even FDs can't call for their odds so he has a raise-or-fold decision on the turn.

If you actually bet as I said you should make it bigger, I just looked at the result and obv you invited a hand like TT to call with the small bet - you want medium hands to fold but you force them to call ;).

Good advice, thx a lot!!

Regarding the call pre, I explained my reasoning e.g. here 200NL - 5bet shove A9s here with "history" I think I 3bet 50% of the time, call 30% and fold like 20% of these spots. (I do it similarly with pocket pairs). Have a lot of success with such approach and could confidently recommend it to any regular on NL200 FR.

Betsizing - your comments are very helpful. It confirms my feeling that I played not enough aggressively.