Different Spots

Question 1.

The opponent is a passive calling station (50/2/0,5/44)

Preflop: Hero is CO with A, 9
MP2 folds, MP3 calls, Hero raises, 3 folds, MP3 calls.

Flop: (5.50 SB) K, J, 6 (2 players)
MP3 checks, Hero bets, MP3 calls.

Turn: (3.75 BB) 2 (1 players)
MP3 checks. You?

Final Pot: 3.75 BB

You are in position on the turn. Pre-flop, you rightfully isolated the fish with A9. You get a check/call on the flop. How do you proceed on the turn?

a) You clearly have to bet for protection and free showdown, as there are a few possible draws which the opponent calls and against which you could bet for value if you improved on the river. At the same time, you want to avoid being bluffed out of the hand by a busted draw on the river. Maybe the opponent even folds a worse hand.

b) You check behind on the turn, as the opponent won't fold a better hand, the pot is small and you profit from a freecard more often than your opponent does. The opponent won't ever bluff on the river, either, so you can easily fold to a river bet from him.

c) You would rather fold right away, as you're always behind anyway. You also want to avoid showing your hand to the opponent at showdown, as he will get information about your game and could later exploit this knowledge with his excellent hand-reading skills.

Question 2.

You're playing against a thinking PokerStrategy TAG

Preflop Hero is SB with A, K
4 folds, Hero raises, BB 3-bets, Hero caps, BB calls.

Flop: (8.00 SB) A, 6, 7 (2 players)
Hero bets, BB calls.

Turn: (5.00 BB) 3
You?

Final Pot: 5.00 BB

You have capped preflop with AK. After you've hit and bet the flop, your opponent calls. What's your plan for the rest of the hand?

a) Naturally, you keep betting for value - your opponent might even raise you with an ace, allowing you to 3-bet. It would also be a bad idea to play check behind against a pocket pair.

b) Betting isn't good in this spot. You rather check/raise the turn, as the opponent is often holding an ace after the 3-bet preflop, meaning he would play bet/calldown. This way, you extract 1 BB more from your opponent.

c) You only check/call the turn, so the opponent thinks that you don't have an ace, leading him to bluff-bet on the turn with hands called loosely on the flop, like KJ or KQ. At the same time, this line allows you to balance your check/calls with pocket pairs and the opponent has a hard time putting you on a hand after the check.

Question 3.

CO is a passive calling station (45/4/0,7/48)

SB is an aggressive LAG (40/26/2,8/43)

Preflop: Hero is BB with K, 8
2 folds, CO calls, BU folds, SB calls, Hero checks.

Flop: (3.00 SB) K, 4, 3 (1 players)
SB bets. You?

Final Pot: 2.00 BB

You're in the BB and only checked with K8. You hit your top pair on a dry board. The LAG from SB donks into you. How do you react?

a) You raise on the flop in order to protect against the calling station. Hands like A-2, A-5 and 5-7 still have quite a few outs against you, after all. You want to stop the CO from seeing the turn by all means. At the same time, you want to extract maximal value from the LAG right on the flop.

b) You will initially just call the flop. The pot is very small and the calling station doesn't have a lot of outs against your high pair. You would rather induce a bad overcall and possibly another bluff-bet by the LAG on the turn. It's better to keep both opponents in the hand on the flop, eventually letting them improve to the second best hand, and keeping the action for the turn.

c) You prefer to fold the flop, as the donk-bet by the LAG shows quite some strength on this board, and your kicker is too bad to continue in this hand.

Question 4.

MP3 is the calling station from Question 3 - (45/4/0,7/48)

CO is a thinking TAG

Preflop: Hero is BU with A, K
MP2 folds, MP3 calls, CO raises, Hero 3-bets, 2 folds, MP3 calls, CO calls.

Flop: (10.40 SB) 8, 7, 6 (3 players)
MP3 checks, CO checks, Hero bets, MP3 calls, CO calls.

Turn: (6.70 BB) Q (2 players)
MP3 checks, CO checks. You?

Final Pot: 6.70 BB

You have placed a reraise (3-bet) preflop with AK, after a limp and a raise. Unfortunately, you miss the flop, but you still make your continuation bet. Both players call you and the turn brings the Q. Both players check to you yet again - what's the optimal line here?

a) You check behind, as you are often behind on this board. The passive opponent could play a simple pair this way and the TAG might be afraid to raise with just a pair. You also try to avoid a check/raise as the TAG has hands like Q-J, K-Q and Q-T in his CO-range. You're behind most times and should go for the freecard.

b) You bet the turn for free showdown, but fold to a check/raise. Odds of 1:11 aren't sufficient in this spot, as you don't have 4 outs but are already drawing dead most of the time.

c) You bet the turn for free showdown and call a check/raise for your outs. The passive fish often calls with just overcards, and the CO being a TAG, would have raised any pair as you would have missed this board frequently. You see yourself ahead often enough and bet the turn to avoid being bluffed on the river and because you could bet the river for value if you happened to improve. The pot is also quite sizeable already.

Question 5.

The opponent has the following stats: (41/13/1.7/43)

Preflop: Hero is BB with T, 9
2 folds, CO raises, 2 folds, Hero calls.

Flop: (4.40 SB) A, J, 7 (1 players)
You Check, CO bets. You?

You decided to defend your big blind with T9 and hit a gutshot on the flop. You check and the opponent makes his continuation bet. What's your course of action?

a) You only check/call the flop. The pot is small and you only have a marginal draw. The opponent has a high WTS and would only fold few better hands right on the flop. You possibly even get a freecard on the turn.

b) You check/fold the flop, as you only get 1:5.4 and only have 4 outs. You would need 1:11 in order to profitably call with the gutshot.

c) You check/raise the flop, as the opponent can fold a lot of Q-high and K-high hands right on the flop. You only have to invest one additional SB and you have a good fold equity right on the flop. A gutshot has to fold at the turn the latest, and even a small pocket pair might fold on the flop.

Question 6.

The opponent is unknown.

Preflop: Hero is SB with K, Q
4 folds, Hero raises, BB calls.

Flop: (4.00 SB) K, 8, 6 (2 players)
Hero bets, BB raises.

Final Pot: 3.50 BB

You have open-raised with KQo from the SB. As you fire your continuation bet on the flop, the opponent raises.

a) You 3-bet right on the flop, so he doesn't take a free card on the turn. You also want to be paid off by an 8 or a 6 and if you improve on the turn you can even play bet/3-bet there. You want to put the pressure on the opponent right away, so he folds a small pair with 5 outs against you on the turn.

b) You diversify your play and switch between making a 3-bet on the flop and just calling to place a check/raise on the turn. This allows you to get maximal value from an 8 or a 6 and also from pure bluffs. The opponent also has a hard time recognizing which hand you're on in a specific game.

c) You only call the flop and also just check/call the turn. The opponent now thinks you have a weak hand like ace high and tries his luck anew with a bluff on the river. If you raise at some point, he will fold his bluff-hands. On the river, you will play a very tricky check/raise against his third bet. This way, your opponent might think that you're only on an ace high on the turn, even though you have a strong hand.

Question 7.

The opponent is a thinking TAG

Preflop: Hero is BB with 8, 7
4 folds, SB raises, Hero calls.

Flop: (4.00 SB) A, 6, 3 (2 players)
SB bets, Hero calls.

Turn: (3.00 BB) J (1 players)
SB bets.

Final Pot: 4.00 BB

You have 87 in the big blind and defended against the open-raise from SB. The opponent bets again on the flop, and you decide to just call. The turn brings the J and the opponent bets again. What plan do you rely on in order to win the pot?

a) You always raise the turn here. The opponent could think you've floated him and might have made a bet with a worse hand. You definitely have to raise here in all cases, as he could even fold some better hands, like small pairs.

b) You always just call the turn, as the opponent mostly puts you on a pair after the flop-call and plays check/fold unimproved. If he bets, he plays bet/call most of the time, so you don't expect any fold equity.

c) You sometimes raise and sometimes call the turn. If you just call, you do it in the hope that the opponent checks the river, as he thinks you have a hand with showdown value after two calls, which you would call again on the river. This allows you to balance your calldowns with made hands.

Question 8.

Opponent is unknown

Preflop: Hero is BB with A, 2
3 folds, BU raises, SB folds, Hero calls.

Flop: (4.40 SB) 5, 4, K (2 players)
Hero checks, BU bets.

Final Pot: 2.70 BB

You have defended A2 against a button-raise. The flop gives you a gutshot with the 3 needed. How do you react to his continuation bet?

a) You check/fold on the flop, as your equity is never enough for you to keep playing here. The outs for the gutshot are not sufficient for you to stay in the hand and your ace is often dominated.

b) You check/raise the flop, as better ace-high hands could fold. You are also ahead often enough and want to protect in order to avoid giving a freecard to a weaker hand on the turn. Even if a worse hand folds, it's not that bad.

c) You check/call the flop, as there isn't a better hand that would fold and the pot is small. Against unknown, you also want to avoid folding the better hand against a 3-bet bluff on the flop or a bluff-raise on the turn. You choose a passive and showdown-bound line.