€400 NL HE Full Ring: Pocket pair vs. 3Bet with low cards on Flop

[kdmeteor]

Game

Hold'em

Game Format

No Limit

Stakes

$2/$4

Table Format

Full (8-10 seats)

Currency

€

This was a pretty high-stakes hand played in a Casino. Even though it worked out for me, it could have gone very wrong and I'm not at all sure that I've played it correctly.

Hero is UTG+1 with . UTG folds, Hero bets 12€ (3BB) with a stack of around 200€. UTG+2 folds, Villain at Lojack 3bets 36€ (9BB) with a larger stack, everyone else folds, Hero calls.

The Villain is an Asian guy and a regular. I don't think he's a super strong player (e.g., he cold-called 5BB with KTo on the SB) but probably above average. There's nothing that particularly stands out about him even though I've seen him play a lot, not excessively aggressive, passive, tight, or loose. My notes include "calls wide" and "called T8o from BN".

Flop comes . (Pot=78€.) Hero checks. Villain bets 36€. Hero calls.

Turn comes . (Pot=150€.) Hero checks. Villain bets 40€. Hero strongly considers folding but ultimately decides to call.

River comes . (Pot=230€.) Hero checks. Villain checks and shows ; Hero wins.

So obviously I didn't hit a set here, but T high card is a little thin for the Villain to represent a strong hand, and I thought I was probably ahead against most of his range on the Flop, hence didn't want to fold.

I was going to fold to a second bet on the turn, but then the second T came, which made AT less likely and convinced me to call. I don't know what I would have done vs. another bet on the River. Then again, my opponent probably can't bet overcards profitably there since I look strong after two calls. (I'd guess Villain doesn't think in terms of ranges, though idk.)

Overall I sort of can justify each indviidual call, but overall I played in a way where vs. an overpair or AT, I would have probably gotten stacked. And even against AJ or AQ or AK or KQ, there was still a significant risk of losing by the River. So I'm just really unsure whether calling twice was worth it. Would it have made more sense to just fold oin the Flop? And if Villain bets on the River, up to what bet sizing should I call?

 

[fundiver199]

Preflop
You only started this hand with 50BB, and being this short I am not sure, 88 is always a defend to his 3-bet. Folding might seem very tight, but you are probably not opening all pairs from UTG+1, so 88 could be pretty close to the bottom of your range, and you are not getting great implied odds to setmine. Not saying that calling here is terrible, but just want to open the idea, that folding might actually be reasonable as well.

Postflop
I think, you played postflop exactly correct, and the result was of course good for you. But it also illustrate, why I might just fold preflop. Because even with his small sizing you got yourself kind of pot stuck and would have faced a difficult decision, if he had put you all-in on the river. But luckily he was bluffing and gave up.

 

[kdmeteor]

Good point. You're right about my range; in fact wrt pairs it's usually 99+ from UTG and 88+ from UTG+1. I tend to be short-stacked bc I don't yet have the bankroll for higher buy-ins.

 

[gustav197poker]

Good line, I think I would have played it the same. You can also donk bet OTT since you have good blockers to call a raise or jamming if you perceive V a little wider.

 

[Station_Master]

I think folding preflop is the best bet here (88 is probably a mix pre to open anyway and then is bottom of range facing a 3bet). Postflop seems fine as played

 

[kdmeteor]

Thanks; next time I'll fold preflop in that situation. For some reason I had it in my head that "it's a pair so I can't fold" but arguably middle pairs with a low-ish stack play particularly poorly postflop and are exactly the part of my range that I should fold to a 3bet.

 

[fundiver199]

but arguably middle pairs with a low-ish stack play particularly poorly postflop and are exactly the part of my range that I should fold to a 3bet.

Yes exactly. I would rather defend a hand like QJs, where either I flop a draw or a decent pair, or I miss completely and have an easy fold. A hand like 88 is just tough on so many runouts. Like say the turn was a K or Q, and he jammed for 128 into a pot of 150 instead of making this weak bet of just 40. Then most likely you fold the best hand, which mean, your overall equity realisation is poor. Of course you can also call, but when he is jamming for value, you have 5% equity, so thats not exactly great either.

 

[S3mper]

. You can also donk bet OTT since you have good blockers to call a raise or jamming if you perceive V a little wider.

Keep in mind when reading any of my post in this section that I really (Really) suck at poker.

Is the Ten a good card for us to lead on the turn? I would think we should only have 2 combo's of JT (Maybeee 2x 9T) and our AT I would think are mostly X/R the flop at this stack depth. We also don't have 44, 55,

 

[gustav197poker]

Keep in mind when reading any of my post in this section that I really (Really) suck at poker.

Is the Ten a good card for us to lead on the turn? I would think we should only have 2 combo's of JT (Maybeee 2x 9T) and our AT I would think are mostly X/R the flop at this stack depth. We also don't have 44, 55,

I would have played as OP did, wouldn't have played donk bet OTT, unless I think V plays wide. In that case I would be blocking bluffs trying to represent a decent hand.