A marginal hand against a loose agro and a tight agro...

[dauler]

I hit a decent hand on the flop for what I started out with, but there was a bet and a raise in front of me. The bet had come from a loose agro who I had a very good chance of being ahead of, and the raise had come from someone who appeared to be tight agro, but I had only seen something like 10 hands from him. It was possible that he knew how loose a raiser the first one was and was raising with a hand that I could beat, how should I approach this? I was thinking that I could 3-bet the flop and be confident that I was up against 2 pair or trips if it was capped. When I was calling the cap I thought I might be up against a low two pair often enough for me to draw to my kicker or trips. Is folding, 3-betting with the plan of eventually folding to a cap, or calling down the best course of action in situations like this?

Party Poker 0.5/1 Hold'em (8 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is Button with J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, MP1 folds, MP2 <font color="#A500AF">(LooseAgro)</font> calls, CO <font color="#A500AF">(TightAgro)</font> calls, Hero calls, SB folds, BB checks.

Flop: (4.50 SB) T[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(4 players)</font>
BB checks, <font color="#CC3333">LooseAgro bets</font>, <font color="#CC3333">TightAgro raises</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero 3-bets</font>, BB folds, LooseAgro calls, <font color="#CC3333">TightAgro caps</font>, Hero calls, LooseAgro calls.

Turn: (8.25 BB) 4[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(3 players)</font>
LooseAgro checks, <font color="#CC3333">TightAgro bets</font>, Hero folds, LooseAgro calls.

River: (10.25 BB) Q[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
LooseAgro checks, <font color="#CC3333">TightAgro bets</font>, LooseAgro calls.

Final Pot: 12.25 BB

[Nick C]

I would fold preflop. If CO hadn't called, I might 3-bet (since you say the loose aggro also has very loose preflop raising standards). Generally, though, I fold when I have KJo and it's raised in front of me preflop.

Postflop, I doubt CO has a low two pair. He could have something like AT or even AJ or AQ, though, so I think your 3-bet is fine. When CO caps, I figure him for at least a better king. I would call, hoping for a jack or queen on the turn. Then I would fold the turn, like you did, when a four fell instead.

Edit: Sorry. For some reason I thought it had been raised in front of you preflop. Given that it wasn't, I think the limp is fine. Actually, that changes much of my thinking postflop too.

Anyway, I think your play in the hand is fine. I'd be sort of temped to call on the turn, hoping for something like K8 (which I have sufficient outs against) or even another KJ. But that's probably pretty optimistic.

[jrz1972]

Good hand. You're ahead of most TP hands on the flop, since AK or KQ probably would have been raised pf. Against aggressive opponents, the three-bet is fine. When CO caps and leads off the turn, I think you can then safely let this one go.

[Nick C]

[ QUOTE ]
Good hand. You're ahead of most TP hands on the flop, since AK or KQ probably would have been raised pf. Against aggressive opponents, the three-bet is fine.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with this. I'm not sure why I thought it had been raised preflop when I wrote my initial response.

[tiltaholic]

[ QUOTE ]
Is folding, 3-betting with the plan of eventually folding to a cap, or calling down the best course of action in situations like this?


[/ QUOTE ]

3-betting the flop and then folding to the cap on the flop is not an option. i assume you meant "eventually fold"?

i think calling the turn is extremely thin, but possibly not horrible. i can't see calling the river.