Hand 8 Relevant

Stack Sizes and Initial Reads: BB ($100.00) is playing 20/16/6 over 1.1K hands. Action: I open

to $3.00 from early position and the Big Blind calls. The flop comes

and the villain leads $3.50 into $6.50. I call and the

comes on the turn. Villain bets again - $9.00 into $13.50 and I flat again.

The river brings the

Villain fires a third barrel of $20.50, I call, and he shows

Analysis: Given the draw-heavy nature of the board, I decide to call his flop donk-bet and see a turn card. Villain could be betting this flop with all sorts of straight and flush draws as well as sets and potential two-pairs. If I raise and he three-bets, I would not feel comfortable playing for stacks and would be forced to fold. Folding is out of the question and that leaves calling as the best option. When he leads the turn, there are merits to raising. This charges him for draws, but folds out his air. He could also have a weaker king which I could get value from. If he has a draw, its likely that the turn is the main street that I could get value at and he is unlikely to bet/three-bet his draws on the turn. He is much more likely to call and try to hit. The downside to raising is that it folds out his complete air. At the time, I decided to under-represent the strength of my hand and still keep the pot small. The 8 is a major blank and I called the river very quickly.