OOP decisions in a crowded field

[jfk]

15/30, live nine handed. Probably not my finest work.

Very loose game with a lot of weird lines. I'm playing tighter than the rest of the table and am seen as being needlessly aggressive. I recently five bet with TT against a loose isolator who had earlier limp reraised pocket sevens and tried to unsuccessfully run it through to the end.

MP+1 cold calls a ton but doesn't three bet often. He'll generally call down with nearly any piece.

MP+2 is a 60ish while male. He will cold call too much but is not the type to cold call a three bet light. He should have a pretty tight range here relative to someone who'll cold call. Should be easily AJs+ AQo+ TT+. He may not four bet QQ here and may elect to be tricky with KK or AA. There's a five bet cap in this game.

MP+3 (for the Bay Area 2+2ers this is Abel, 60ish probably Italian regular at Garden City and AJs) could have any two cards. He almost never folds to a raise preflop. He won't fold post flop if he has any chance whatsoever to win the hand. Price seems not to be a consideration. He has shown some reasonable skill post flop but that's partially because he could have ATC and he gets paid off on strange holdings. He does seem to mix in a decent bluff frequency. He favors big street check raises.

I raise AKo UTG.
MP1 three bets
MP2 cold calls
MP3 cold calls
folded to the BB who calls.
I call (because I think some of my cards are out and I'm tied or trailing MP1. I raise a suited AK here).

Flop comes A:spade J offsuit J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. I have the K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

I decide to check. MP1 bets. Everyone calls and I raise. MP1 looks peeved and calls as do MP2 and MP3. BB folds. (I'm not thrilled about this either).

Turn offsuit non spade 8.

I check and its checked around.

River non spade 9.

I bet out. MP1 raises. Two folds and I call due to pot size and the 9 shouldn't have helped him.

Comments welcomed.

[RobbyD]

I think you need to bet the turn! Him checking behind once you check the turn is screwy also. He might have Aces Full or 4 Jacks and is trying to pull of the huge check raise.

I like a turn bet so you can evaluate where you stand.

[AragornX151]

I bet the turn for sure. Bet/call on the river seems OK, though after checking the turn, I'd probably check the river again. You might get a bet and a call from other aces.

[bovine_boat]

Are you trying to C/R the turn? Seems like a big pot and a coordinated board to give a free card on. Bet/call river seems fine.

[jfk]

[ QUOTE ]
Are you trying to C/R the turn? Seems like a big pot and a coordinated board to give a free card on. Bet/call river seems fine.

[/ QUOTE ]

I had no idea what to do on the turn with all the overcalls. The flush draw didn't worry me to the same degree as the two jacks. The flop overcalls behind MP1 made me think a J was out so it didn't seem to make a lot of sense to bet. I figured MP1 (the original three bettor) would bet out with an A and I could evaluate where I stood. I was surprised by the check through.

This is probably a classic case of "bet with few/no outs", but a free showdown raise may have come from another A so it was going to be tough to interpret a turn raise.

[Garland]

Pre-flop is close. I would probably 4-bet it because I think there's a great overlay vs. the other opponents MP2, MP3 and BB. But since it's a 5-bet cap, I would quickly regret it if MP1 caps. It's a risk, but I would probably still 4-bet it. An ancillary benefit of this is on more than one occasion when I've 4-bet with AK and Axx flops, I get called down by one or two underpairs to the A.

As played, bet the turn. You have a hand. Don't give free cards. You're going against broadway drawers (make them pay), worse As (extract), flush draws (make them pay), and stubborn pocket pairs that want to peel the majority of the time. The river, flip a coin, read the vein in MP1's neck, I dunno. Look him up. I predict MP1 has 99 specifically.

Garland

[ssmallz]

PF: Standard, no reason to bloat the pot w/a vulnerable hand when you have zero chance of eliminating others

Flop: Donk into the pf 3 bettor. You likely have the best hand and him raising to fold out hands like QT and other gutters is a good thing. On top of that you can face the field w/2 bets eliminating a lot of hands that are correct to call for 1 bet but can't for 2. Hands like 77 or TT. Another nice thing is that you can b/3b or c/r the turn

Turn: For the love of all that is holy, bet the turn. Your flop and turn lines make zero sense. you c/r the flop and check the turn when a brick comes off? Not good poker. If you want to keep the pot small cc the flop and c/r or donk the turn.

River: Well you've gotten yourself into a tough spot b/c you played the other streets poorly. You gotta call and hope he's getting overaggro w/AQ.

[bovine_boat]

Hmm... but MP1 doesn't look like a J, and you figure MP3 will call with almost anything anyway. So you are really worried about the cold call from MP2, right? And his playing range means you *can't* give him a free card, plus you get the overlay from MP1 and MP3 who can't get away from their hands to make up for when he has a J.

[jfk]

There was some hopefulness that MP1 would bet after I checked, the J would raise and I'd get away cheap -or- MP1 would bet, there'd be overcalls from the two drawing hands and/or weak aces at which point I could consider another check raise.

The overcalls had me reading J.

[ QUOTE ]
I predict MP1 has 99 specifically

[/ QUOTE ]

...and so he did, which I regretfully paid off. Lord knows what the other two held.

[Garland]

[ QUOTE ]
There was some hopefulness that MP1 would bet after I checked,

[/ QUOTE ]

Did you note MP1's body language on the flop? If he's flustered (or as you said peeved), he's almost always has a pocket pair that was outflopped, but he has to call the raise due to the pot size to see if he can turn his boat. However, he's never betting the turn (unless he gets there). The others are probably just as happy to get a free card.

You need to bet the turn. 99 has to fold as he no longer has odds. If you're raised from one of the other opponents other than MP1, you can be pretty sure the J is out there and you can fold. With the flush draw, it's actually more likely the J would pop his head before the flop action ends.

Garland