$50 NL HE 6-max: what is your opinion on this hand both preflop and postflop?

[gustav197poker]

Game

Hold'em

Game Format

No Limit

Stakes

$.25/$.50

Table Format

6-max (6 seats)

Currency

$

pokerstars, Hold'em No Limit - $0.25/$0.50 - 6 players
Replay this hand on CardsChat - https://www.cardschat.com/replayer/625dOHJ8q

UTG: $50.00 (100 bb)
MP (Hero): $64.89 (130 bb)
CO: $50.75 (102 bb)
BU: $57.59 (115 bb)
SB: $51.40 (103 bb)
BB: $21.29 (43 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($0.75) Hero is MP with Q♦ Q♥
1 fold, Hero raises to $1.20, 1 fold, BTN 3-bets to $4.75, 2 players fold, Hero calls $3.55

Flop: ($10.25) T♥ J♣ 9♥ (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: ($10.25) 6♦ (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $8.25, Hero calls $8.25

River: ($26.75) 8♠ (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

Spoiler in a few days.

 

[Aballinamion]

PokerStars, Hold'em No Limit - $0.25/$0.50 - 6 players
Replay this hand on CardsChat - https://www.cardschat.com/replayer/625dOHJ8q

UTG: $50.00 (100 bb)
MP (Hero): $64.89 (130 bb)
CO: $50.75 (102 bb)
BU: $57.59 (115 bb)
SB: $51.40 (103 bb)
BB: $21.29 (43 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($0.75) Hero is MP with Q♦ Q♥
1 fold, Hero raises to $1.20, 1 fold, BTN 3-bets to $4.75, 2 players fold, Hero calls $3.55

Flop: ($10.25) T♥ J♣ 9♥ (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: ($10.25) 6♦ (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $8.25, Hero calls $8.25

River: ($26.75) 8♠ (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

Spoiler in a few days.

Preflop is fine to call here since it’s a heads-up pot, we are OOP but QQ has a nice playability. It’s good to observe that villain 3-bets to 3.9x, which is uncommon for it has position, so no need for going with such a huge sizing.
This is the main reason we aren’t putting a 4-bet right now, villain has polarized his range (either it has top range or it has trash range). We elect to 4-bet in this case where villain has shown a large percentage of 3-bet IP x EP and also a high call to 4-bet (we don’t want to 4-bet QQ and get folds, right?).
This flop is way too good to our range, and we are following that old principle: as better the equity less we bet, either we use small sizings or we check, for in this case we aren’t scared of any turn. Many cards will improve our equity even more, we already own an overpair, we have open ended SD and BDF, so it’s cool to give a chance to villain to bet his values (KK+, AJ+, JT, T9... KQ?) and his bluffs (combo hearts, AQ+, etc).
Villain checking this flop is not so good. There’s a great chance that it had missed and now controlling the size of the pot.
OTT a blank card won’t change anything, and now villain bets 3/4 pot and we could raise here but our equity continued to be good. By the sizing of his bet it seems that he wanted us to fold at least 70% of times. It seems like an info-bet.
The turn give us a pretty good hand and a damn problem: we own 1/2 of combos of all the queens available so villain has none of it or just one combo: we bet and villain calls to split pot and pay a higher rake or we bet and villain folds any hand that isn’t a queen and calls only with KQ that have us beat. So what’s the point of betting river?
Now when villain checks behind again to realize its equity, even without seeing the showdown I assume I had no queen on its range, and also no strong hand, such as two pairs or sets. Maybe AJ, maybe AK that tried to bluff turn and gave up river, but as played, nice hand and good game.
I liked your line very much. Some may accuse you of being passive but we aren’t passive nor aggressive: we are smart above all.
Most of times we are being aggressive for sure, but from time to time we balance our gameplay being passive, allowing opponents to commit mistakes, for most players think that because we are aggressive, we must be aggressive a 100% of times. And many players are always raising AQ+ and JJ+ preflop, which turns them out to unbalance: I know for sure that players like this will never call having premium hands, so I exploit them. And when they 3-bet I never 4-bet for bluff for I know they are with the goods.
Thanks for sharing it with us.
Curious to read another opinions and also learn with them.

 

[Station_Master]

Looks a standard call pre and then check on the flop.

It's a good board for hero so a decent villain might check back his AA but I would expect sets to usually bet and KQ too, though he might occasionally slow play.

On the turn it would be fine to bet here with such strong hand, but also fine to check to protect your checking range with a hand that can call any bet. Against the large size just call seems fine.

On the river, its awkward to lead so check is fine and hope villain bets, which could include some AK that missed. Could also consider a tiny lead of 10% or 20% to get some value as this will get checked back alot and you should have more Qx than villain.

Overall I think its played fine.

 

[300HPGOD]

Pre: Agree with others that this is just a call to the raise since a 4 bet possibly/likely folds out a lot of the worse 3 betting hands/3 bet bluffs so I like calling.

Flop: Check to the raiser of course and when they check back I am fine with it and yes nuts could do this but we heavily block KQ and I think that hand along with sets would still bet flop (especially since they cant have KQ of hearts) since its a very wet board so a check here to me is much more of a AK type hand than it is the nuts.

Turn: I think leading here is fine since we want to try to get some potential value and protect a little against AK but there are limited hands here that will call here that checked the flop so I thinking checking is completely fine as well. Its villain dependent here on how aggressive/passive we think/know they are post flop on what is the best to do. When they bet this big it does not scare me too much because we have the but blockers. We could be beat of course but do sets check that flop? I wouldnt think they would so this just a call as I think raising will just fold out all the stuff we would not want to fold.

River: As played I think it can go either way again as to either check or try some bet that we make look like a blocker bet (especially after they just went big on the turn) that villain might think is a Jx hand that is ripe for their fold equity. Something like $7-$9 and see if they tool out. I would still be putting them on AK or a 3 bet bluff so it would come down again to their characteristics post flop.

Overall I agree with others that your line is fine, just turn and river there are options for other plays that depending on this villain may be slightly better or slightly worse but hand as played seems fine imo.

 

[Aballinamion]

Pre: Agree with others that this is just a call to the raise since a 4 bet possibly/likely folds out a lot of the worse 3 betting hands/3 bet bluffs so I like calling.

Flop: Check to the raiser of course and when they check back I am fine with it and yes nuts could do this but we heavily block KQ and I think that hand along with sets would still bet flop (especially since they cant have KQ of hearts) since its a very wet board so a check here to me is much more of a AK type hand than it is the nuts.

Turn: I think leading here is fine since we want to try to get some potential value and protect a little against AK but there are limited hands here that will call here that checked the flop so I thinking checking is completely fine as well. Its villain dependent here on how aggressive/passive we think/know they are post flop on what is the best to do. When they bet this big it does not scare me too much because we have the but blockers. We could be beat of course but do sets check that flop? I wouldnt think they would so this just a call as I think raising will just fold out all the stuff we would not want to fold.

River: As played I think it can go either way again as to either check or try some bet that we make look like a blocker bet (especially after they just went big on the turn) that villain might think is a Jx hand that is ripe for their fold equity. Something like $7-$9 and see if they tool out. I would still be putting them on AK or a 3 bet bluff so it would come down again to their characteristics post flop.

Overall I agree with others that your line is fine, just turn and river there are options for other plays that depending on this villain may be slightly better or slightly worse but hand as played seems fine imo.

I liked your analysis very much. You’ve put some things I missed about the hand and it’s neat. Thanks for your attention!

 

[300HPGOD]

I liked your analysis very much. You’ve put some things I missed about the hand and it’s neat. Thanks for your attention!

Thank you. I was thinking more about this hand throughout the day and one thing I thought of that didnt cross my mind in my initial post is that its not out of the question for the villain to have AA here, especially with A of hearts. Not sure of hero's image at the table but this type of board is juicy for a check raise and villain may have been a little leary of that so they check for pot control. This is still great outcome for us if this is the case as it saves us a street that we dont have to call off.

On the turn we then check which for the same reasons on the flop when villain checks I think they dont have 2 pair, sets or a straight now the villain will think we dont have a set, 2 pair or a straight as we would lead them there. They then feel empowered with their Aces and then bet large (I dont like the sizing unless they are on a level where they think that sizing will make it look like a bluff and we will then call lighter, which is true from how I viewed the sizing so in that respect if true would be a very good sizing) since no draw card came in and they discounted our 2 pair, sets, and straights possibilities.

River then brings 4 to a straight and we check so villain then correctly thinks that our one pair hands are much much less likely to call now, all Qx just nailed a straight, and that if we had a flush draw we would never call a bet but only fold or raise as a bluff which they would not want to have to deal with holding AA so they just check back.

Not saying villain had AA but just adding that I think its possible where it didnt cross my mind earlier. This is a reason, though, that would sway me now towards leading that 30% pot give or take on river instead of checking as it could be viewed as a blocker as I mentioned before but now there is a new hand that would call that off that otherwise potentially checks back.

 

[eetenor]

PokerStars, Hold'em No Limit - $0.25/$0.50 - 6 players
Replay this hand on CardsChat - https://www.cardschat.com/replayer/625dOHJ8q

UTG: $50.00 (100 bb)
MP (Hero): $64.89 (130 bb)
CO: $50.75 (102 bb)
BU: $57.59 (115 bb)
SB: $51.40 (103 bb)
BB: $21.29 (43 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($0.75) Hero is MP with Q♦ Q♥
1 fold, Hero raises to $1.20, 1 fold, BTN 3-bets to $4.75, 2 players fold, Hero calls $3.55

Flop: ($10.25) T♥ J♣ 9♥ (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: ($10.25) 6♦ (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $8.25, Hero calls $8.25

River: ($26.75) 8♠ (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

Spoiler in a few days.

GTO wizard free version allows you to look at GTO preflop situations 6 max cash games- It would be a very good tool for you to use
You can look at both your range and the V's ranges to get a strong starting point for you actions.

Wiz has us 97% 4 bet -64% 20bb the rest jams

As played we want to think about why we checked turn? If it was to allow bluffs then on river how likely is our V to continue bluffing?
We would not try to bluff the river ourselves?-if yes then we can also value lead the river?

 

[John A]

Bet turn, bet river small.

 

[gustav197poker]

Spoiler:


PokerStars, Hold'em No Limit - $0.25/$0.50 - 6 players
Replay this hand on CardsChat - https://www.cardschat.com/replayer/625dOHJ8q

UTG: $50.00 (100 bb)
MP (Hero): $64.89 (130 bb)
CO: $50.75 (102 bb)
BU: $57.59 (115 bb)
SB: $51.40 (103 bb)
BB: $21.29 (43 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($0.75) Hero is MP with Q♦ Q♥
1 fold, Hero raises to $1.20, 1 fold, BTN 3-bets to $4.75, 2 players fold, Hero calls $3.55

Flop: ($10.25) T♥ J♣ 9♥ (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: ($10.25) 6♦ (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $8.25, Hero calls $8.25

River: ($26.75) 8♠ (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

Total pot: $26.75 (Rake: $1.34)

Showdown:
BU mucks K♦ K♠ (a pair of Kings)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 82%, Flop: 73%, Turn: 86%, River: 0%)

MP (Hero) shows Q♦ Q♥ (a straight, Eight to Queen)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 18%, Flop: 27%, Turn: 14%, River: 100%)

MP (Hero) wins $25.41

 

[Station_Master]

Villains hand makes alot of sense, sort of hand that might call a small river lead

 

[John A]

Funny, I didn't realize I already responded and I put the same advice twice.

Except I added, why X turn?

 

[gustav197poker]

Except I added, why X turn?

I'm still wondering the same thing lol