Fun with middle connectors

[Aaron W.]

Villain has been around for about 40 hands. My read is that he's a little weak-tight preflop (I've stolen a few times and he's folding to others' raises as well). Postflop, he seems pretty loose passive.

Start making plans for the rest of the hand.

0) Would you even play this hand?
1) What range of hands do you think he has after the flop call?
2) Do you bet this turn or take the free card?
3) If he calls the turn bet, what outs do you think you have (second nut low is almost certainly no good)?
4) Do you plan to bet the river if you miss and he checks to you? Does it matter what card falls? If so, which cards do you bet and which do you check behind?

Paradise Poker 1/2 Hold'em (5 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

Preflop: Hero is Button with 6[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 7[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises</font>, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, BB calls.

Flop: (4.50 SB) 4[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 3[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 2[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
BB checks, <font color="#CC3333">Hero bets</font>, BB calls.

Turn: (3.25 BB) 9[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
BB checks, <font color="#CC3333">Hero bets...</font>

[bottomset]

its borderline preflop, but fine with a weak tight BB

I'd check the turn here, he's been too loose postflop, you don't have SD value, and prob little fold equity ..

I'll post my estimations on handranges and river plans in a little bit

[Mathieu]

0) yes I would play this hand because I expect to steal the blinds often enought that I won't have to win that often after the flop in order to show profit. Plus he plays badly post flop, so when I get a good flop I can value bet the sh*t out of him. When I get a weak draw I can often get free cards.

1)I think he calls the flop bet with Big cards, A flush draw. A medium overpair.

2) I bet if he is much tighter on the turn. If he still calls with overs, I check.

3)Any non diamond 6 or 7 could be an out. A non diamond 5 gives us the nuts. The diamond outs can be counted as partial.

4)I don't bet any A or diamond. Since we've been betting all the way, I bluff given ~5-1 with the nut low. I'm more confident if he is what I call a "LOOSE chaser", someone who will call liberally trying to improve but who will be reluctant to call on the river. This type of player could fold enough Q and K highs and perhaps some A high to justify my bluff. I would be more reluctant to bet a Q or K but I think I still bet it if I think villain folds A high. Actually if he folds A high on the river, but calls the turn with overs, I would bet every card but the A of diamond.

0) No chance. Fold this on the button, its worthless. I would prefer to steal with Q2o which at least has some high card value.

1) Any 2 cards, but if i had to stab at one, i would guess a 5

2) Take the free card, but consider bluffing the river if you miss

3) Possibly: 5s, 6s, 7s?

4) I think you have to....

[Aaron W.]

[ QUOTE ]
0) No chance. Fold this on the button, its worthless. I would prefer to steal with Q2o which at least has some high card value.

[/ QUOTE ]

Q2o is exactly the type of hand I don't like to steal with. The reason is that if I get called, I could easily be dominated. I don't like to steal with K6s or lower (K8 and lower for offsuit kings). I'm much happier with hands that can hit a wide range of flops with pretty clean outs (or powerful hands that are likely to be best). The preflop equity number doesn't bother me because blind stealing is mostly about postflop play. And since I've got position, it increases the strength of most hands that I play.

[Mathieu]

One more thing, as stated in HPFAP, when the blinds are tight we should be stealing with many hands since we take down the pot without a fight so often. I agree that 76s is a MUCH better candidate to increase our raising range than something like Q2.

Since we know that we are going to be an underdog when called, might as well have a playable hand that is very live. The high card strength of a hand like Q2 has little importance if we are going to see a flop mostly against hands that are better.

[SlantNGo]

0) OR from Button seems relatively straightforward. This hand has many ways to connect after the flop, and given that he's appeared weak-tight so far, you can count on a steal quite often.

1) Most likely an Ace with another overcard but I wouldn't rule out the possibility of a medium pocket pair or diamond draw, or just two overcards without an Ace.

2) This is a tough one for me because I think an Ace won't fold this turn. A mid PP or diamond draw definitely won't, so the only hand that would fold is a non-Ace high card hand. I think I'll check behind.

3) 5s are obvious. The 6s and 7s are possibilities, as is a non-Ace face card.

4) Bet a non-Ace, non-diamond.

[adsman]

He probably has a hand like A8 or QT that whiffed but he wants to take one off. If you've seen him calling the flop and folding to a turn bet before then bet away. He's passive though so there aren't any problems with checking the turn as he probably won't bet into you on the river. This pot is very small. There's not a lot of point in throwing more money at it with the second nut low if this guy is going to call you down.

[Vote4Pedro]

Bet turn, Bet river...

I check behind on the turn.

I'm only willing to put one more BB into bluffing at this pot. Since I have outs, I'd rather see the river and the passive player is unlikely to bet into us on the river as a bluff.

I think it is likely to be +EV betting ANY river card if checked to. I don't think even a passive player lets a made hand get checked through.