posted this on the theory forum and realized I should have put this in the NL strategy forum so I placed this second post)

I had this hand come up Friday night at a local casino. I wanted to get thoughts on where I went wrong and what maybe I should have done differently.

To set the stage - late at night - about 5am. I am stuck 2 buy-ins from having a couple of tough beats early in the night and then going totally card dead. About 4am my table broke up and got moved to different table with some very deep stacks for this area. 1-2 game with max $200 buy-in. One stack was close to 1k, two stacks of 500-600 and a couple more of 300-400.

When I move I have $150 and go on a heater and run it up to about $450. V1 is a 30 something player - never seen him before. Had stack around $350 - appears aggressive but not crazy. V2 is an older player with a stack about 300 - seems very solid but conservative player.

Hero is on the button with AK suited in hearts. Full tablle and everyone limps for $2 and Hero on button limps as well (first mistake?). Small blind raises to $6. At least 3 call including V1 and V2 when it gets to a small stack that pushes all in and raises to 40.

Fold around to button and Hero flats the $40 - about $110 in the pot now (second mistake?). Small blind calls - V1 calls - V2 calls. About $210 in the pot preflop.

Flop comes 10-6-4 with two hearts. V1 checks - V2 bets 50. Hero raises to $150 (third mistake?). Small blind tanks and folds. V1 pushes all in. V2 tanks for about 1-2 minutes - seems legitimately hard decision and calls. Now there is about 900 in the pot. (V1 stack 350 + V2 stack 300 + small stack push 40 + Hero $200 + small blind 40)

Hero?

The action and stack sizes may be off slightly - given the time of night and how crazy the action in that hand was it was hard to reconstruct - but I think I have it about right.

I will post the results and the hands of V1 and V2 after responses on what others think about how the hand should have been played.

Thanks

Already answered in the other forum but ill repost here:


Wow my head hurts lol Ok heres my take

Yes the limp OTB with AK hearts may be a mistake in hindsight. I'm assuming though that you were trying to disguise your hand and hope you hit a monster flop, right? In that case its not terrible, but I still like a raise to about $20 here.

After the small reraise and the shorty push, the only hands that are gonna stay involved are small/midpairs or strong aces. I wouldnt be surprised if the shorty that pushed had ace king as well or a small pair 22-99.

After the flop I would say from the action, I like your raise, the check raise from V1 screams of either a set (im guessing 6's), or a real passive aggressive way to play an over pair (Jacks?) V2 is on a draw, may have come along with 7-8 suited for sh*ts and giggles and is open ended, possibly with a flush draw as well. Either way, there is too much money in the pot. I'd say you have to call.

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Pre-flop: I really don't like your limp with when there is already 9BB in the pot. This is a must raise for a few reasons. First, you likely have the best hand so you want to get value out of it. Second, you are in a perfect steal position so will get a lot of light action out of hands that you have dominated. I make it $22 to go.

After the small blind makes an annoyance raise and the short-stack pushes in for $40, I really, really, REALLY don't like your flat call. You have the short-stack's range crushed and there is a ton of dead money in the pot. I like shipping it in right there. Nobody has AA or KK and you're more than happy to play for stacks with all of that dead money and no worse than a coin flip.

Flop: There is no way that you're ever, ever, EVAR folding in this spot. You are drawing to the nuts and you're getting a ridiculous price on your money (~4.5:1).

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- Redright88
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I agree with RR88 pre.



I'd like to elaborate a little postflop.

Against 3 other random hands, we have 54 percent equity according to Pokerstove. However, based on the action and the description of the players, I would assume that the flop hit some players' hands hard. Before the shove, there was little action, so I'd not be surprised to see marginal starting hands here. I'd not be surprised to see 64, 53, 78h or even T4 or T6. Even more plausible are 44, 66 and TT. The shorty might be stealing, but is more likely holding AK-AT or a pocket pair.

I would assume that pairing the Ace or King would not win the hand, since at least one player probably has made two pair.

That leaves our heart outs. Heads up, it would be a classic nine outer situation. However, with four players in contention and given the action, I am expecting to see another (straight) flush draw, a two pair hand, an overpair or a set here.

I would therefore count on seven clean outs twice, giving me a little less than 30 percent chance to win the hand.

Still plenty given the pot odds.
So: agreed on the call postflop.

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“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” (Sun Tzu)

This. However, I don't think Hero needs to ship it preflop, since he has $450 and Redright probably thought Hero has $150. Pot currently has $70 in it so Hero needs to make a pot sized raise to $135, with intention of calling any shove after that. The way the hand was played, I can't see anyone having KK or AA