NL10 SH: KQo

Hey Acebtfish,

Vs a wide opener this would be a good spot to raise as a bluff with any two cards.

You have KQ however which is likely ahead of the BU opening range. Your best option is usually to flat. If villain is playing very tight to 3bets, 3betting for value is not good either because you won't get called by worse.

I think not cbetting the flop is fine if you suspect villain is responding very tightly to 3bets. Given the limited sample of hands you have I'd be tempted to cbet your gutshot.

So it is actually better to flat and play out of position for the hand?

I would think that 3betting is more +EV, why is that not the case?

He is raising 38% which is not huge for a 6max in my opinion.

Also shouldnt we also look at his aggression on the flop and cbet frequency?

How can we flat and play that profitably without the above?

Not trying to question you w34z3l, just trying to undestand the thought process myself.

Peace.

Originally posted by elchipriota
So it is actually better to flat and play out of position for the hand?

I would say so yes.

Originally posted by elchipriota
I would think that 3betting is more +EV, why is that not the case?

3betting will most definitely be +EV. Flatting may be higher EV.

We don't necessarily know villains fold vs 3bet tendencies with such a small sample. Let's assume the 67% is accurate. (I actually think it could be easily closer to 80%).

Villain opens a 38% range and folds 67% of that to a 3bet leaving him a total range of around 14%. (38 * 0.37)

KQ is actually an underdog vs that range. Vs a tighter range KQ is an even bigger underdog. It means you are basically turning your KQ into a bluff, because the only profit comes from when villain folds.

So why not just use KQ as a profitable bluff? Because vs a wide stealing range KQ is often a favourite and can profitably flat. If you felt calling the hand would not be profitable then 3betting as a bluff is fine. It's only a mistake if you are sacrificing a profitable call in order to bluff.

This is standard strategy vs a wide opener with high Ft3bet. 3betting a polarised range but flatting anything in the middle that is strong enough to call.

Originally posted by elchipriota
Also shouldnt we also look at his aggression on the flop and cbet frequency?

How can we flat and play that profitably without the above?

Simply because we have an equity edge and are getting an ok price preflop. Obviously the more information we have the better the decision we make. But I can only use statistics that OP provides....

Your opponent isn't full-stacked, so I'd flat here 10/10 times. Unless he would fold to 3-bets like 20 %.

Post-flop against shortie, if he is passive post-flop, I'd just ch/f. If villain was a guy that stabs flops (and has full-stack) when you don't cbet, I could see myself ch/raising here.