Big Hand vs Big Draw

Scenario One

You are playing in a live £1/£1 cash game and have a stack of £200. You are on the button with As-Ac and there is a solid player with £150 in the small blind. An early position calling station limps and after two more limps you raise to £9. The small blind calls as does the early position calling station. Everyone else folds. The flop is 3h-6h-6c. The small blind leads out for £22, the early position player calls and you decide to just call. On the 10h turn the small blind once again leads out, this time for £35 and the early position player calls.

Pre-Flop
I like the £9 pre-flop raise. It seems big at first, but this is live poker and so it might even be small. A bet of £12 could be reasonable given that you’re 200 big blinds deep with the first limper. This would depend on table dynamics, where even a random large amount could be totally standard.

I’m a little confused as to what the small blind could really have, given the description. I’m guessing the only hands that make sense are 8-8 to J-J and A-10 suited to A-Q suited or maybe J-10 suited for a solid player. Most people don’t want to call nine big blinds cold when 150 big blinds deep and out of position. They should probably three-bet most of their strong range and fold everything else. I wouldn’t think that I see small pairs in his range, but at this level of live play solid players definitely go too wide here, so I’d be thinking pocket twos to pocket Queens and A-10 suited and above plus some of his premium suited connectors. The early position player’s range is very wide but I assume it is not Q-Q+.

Flop
I don’t mind raising here. I think the small blind has 3-3/6-6/7-7/Q-Q when he leads out on this board, as it’s very tough to have much else. Given the description, I think the early position player could have next to anything, considering that I think he slow-plays pocket threes or pocket sixes and could have many random flush draw hands. He could also just have A-x with Ah or a random 5-5. To raise and get all-in here seems kind of scary, given that you could very often be dead. But at the same time I feel like A-A is the best hand a lot of the time, so it might be fine depending on the players in the hand. ?As this is a live game, I feel that this would regularly ?be down to a specific read. I don’t mind either ?option, however.

Turn
Raising isn’t an option on this turn without some crazy reads. Folding is fine but seems a little hasty. The small blind is representing either a pair in his hand or a flush, but the £35 bet is small relative to the pot and means the hero should continue. There’s still not enough information about the early position player to narrow his hand range. This being live, there’s additional information available that should be used to sway decisions here – how much does the early position player like his hand?

You can also get a feel as to whether either could potentially have (what they feel to be) the nuts. I would call the turn and see what happens on the river. Being all-in on a blank river seems gross, and I would be happy folding to a big bet although somehow bluffing the small blind off a flush on the river would put you in durrrrland. If both villains continue on the river, it’s a ?very strong case for folding, unless live reads make you feel otherwise.

Scenario Two

You are playing in a six-handed $0.25/$0.50 game online and have built
up a $95 stack. There is another very aggressive and pretty bad player
who has got a stack of just over $100 thanks to winning a pre-flop
all-in race earlier with A-Q against Kings. You are on the button and
after a limp from the cut-off raise to $2 with 7c-8c. The bad player in
the big blind re-raises to $5.50. The cut-off folds and you call. The
flop is 5c-10s-4s and he leads out for $5, which you call. On the 6c
turn he leads out for $9.50. You raise to $26 and he calls. The river
is the As and he instantly moves all-in. Should you call here?

Pre-Flop
Pre-flop seems pretty standard. You are in position isolating a weak player, and then calling a very small three-bet 200 big blinds deep. I would probably try and defend pretty wide here, and my four-betting ranges would depend on my history with the villain. But with this hand in position and for such a cheap amount, I like to call.

Flop
Peeling (calling to see another card) here is fine. We have a gutshot and back-door club draws. A lot of turns can provide a lot of outs and bluffing spots for us. The continuation bet is fairly weak given the bet size relative to his pre-flop bet size. It’s a little unusual for him to have any kind of nut hand here (apart from maybe pocket tens) seeing that he bets smaller than he made it pre-flop. I would definitely consider raising here, depending on the villain involved. I’d expect to get to see a river a decent amount of the time and possibly to win the pot right there. The reasoning behind calling would be with the intention of trying to take away the pot on nice turn cards. I probably wouldn’t fold because there are enough reasons to do other things.

Turn
Raising here is fine. Slow-playing is fine, but the board is looking super draw heavy, and this particular villain is likely to stack-off (call for his stack) with all overpairs almost everytime. It would be really nice to get 200 big blinds in right now. After calling the flop, there’s around $20 in the pot, and the villain leads into you again. After the $9.50 bet the villain has $80 behind and the pot is around $40 if you call. If you raise to $26 and he calls the pot is around $70 and villain has $65 behind. You had the option on the turn to raise bigger, and to miss this chance is pretty bad given that he’s leaving a pot-sized bet on the river, on a ridiculously draw heavy board. Oh and we’re pot-committed with the current nuts!

It’s still a massive under-raise if you made it $33 to $40 and if he had a weak hand he’d call the turn or raise big. A bigger raise by $8 would have made an $86 pot and leave the villain $57 behind. This is a much better pot size to stack size management when you have the nuts. None of your drawing range plays the turn like this, and you have the nuts against a maniac who’s going to go all-in with a large portion of his non-bluff range. It’s still really hard to narrow the villain’s range down as played, but the small raise against a good villain could be setting off alarm bells for reasons already stated. Or he could have a multitude of draws and be calling with great odds.

River
I would call instantly here. The turn raise size was with the intention of never folding. At least I hope it was. The turn raise should have been bigger, to make the villain be pot-committed as reasoned earlier.

Scenario Three

You are playing in a six-handed online $0.50/$1 game and have slightly
over your starting stack with $120. You pick up Ac-Ks in the cut-off
and raise to $4. The button and small blind folds and the big blind,
who has been playing fairly tight-aggressive re-raises to $12. You
elect to call. The flop comes Ad-9c-6h. The big blind leads out for $15
into the $24.50 pot. You decide to call. The turn comes Qs and the big
blind checks. You bet $35 into the $54.50 pot and he moves all-in.

Pre-flop
Mixing it up is fine. If I call with A-K, it’s to disguise when I hit. However, I’m planning to continue in the hand reasonably often even without hitting. Against regular players, four-betting or calling with A-K is normally perfectly fine unless they’re super nits. I don’t really have enough information to know the villain’s hand range right now. I’d guess it’s probably pretty strong for his value range but it’s uncertain.

Flop
I’d expect the villain to lead into this board almost every time – this is the hero’s perfect board! Generally the three-better has the lead on this kind of texture, so when one has the nuts, any kind of raise ?is fine at this point. Whatever you think makes him go all-in the most is the best, and I’m a big fan on min-raising or virtually min-raising in this spot as the pot is so big.

The only real option is min-raise or ?shove, as anything in between is essentially a shove. In terms of the big blind’s range, nothing has changed. If you call, it’s to induce a shove on the turn. However, calling could slow the villain down and the pot is so big here, that if I raise he may think I’m trying to push ?him off JJ-KK. Both options are perfectly ?acceptable still.

Turn
This is the worst card in the deck for you, but as played I would snap-call now. I don’t think he’s bluffing frequently, but after betting you have no other options. If you didn’t want to be all-in, try checking. After betting the turn, the pot is so big there’s no point in folding with top pair top kicker. If the turn is such a bad card for you, check for pot-control and call a river bet, or make a small value bet on the river if you are checked to again.