How should you play a weak showdown value hand, when you are out of position, against a loose-passive opponent?
If you don’t have the lead on the flop, you should usually check and fold to a bet. If you have the lead on the flop, the best line is to check on the flop. Whether you call any bets in the hand depends on your reads on your opponent. For example, does this player bet just because you checked? Does this player bluff on the river?
Hero is Out of Position/With or Without the Lead/Wet Board
In this hand, hero is out of position with 9♥9♠ against a loose-passive player. The board is wet and the flop came up K♥8♠7♥.
I will cover both the situation where hero has the lead and where he doesn’t have the lead in this lesson. There are big differences between the 2 situations that I will point out.
However, you really shouldn’t find yourself out of position and without the lead in a heads-up pot with a pair of 9s. You would either have had to limp and called a raise or called a 3-bet to end up in this situation. Neither of these plays are recommended.
This is always a bad position to be in. This is why a lot of players say that they hate being dealt JJ. Against a passive player, you have a few options on how to play this hand.
1. Check the Hand to Showdown
You need a co-operative opponent to be able to do this. If your opponent will bet just because you checked, you won’t be able to check the hand to showdown. Although I am calling the opponent “loose-passive”, the term is relative. Passive players seldom raise as a bluff. However, many will bet just because you checked.
When you use this line, you always have a problem when your opponent bets on the flop.
The line will usually go:
FLOP
Hero: Checks
Villain: Bets ¾ pot
TURN
Hero: Checks
Villain: Checks
RIVER
Hero: Checks
Villain: Bets ¾ pot
It’s the last bet that is a problem. Villain could be bluffing. He could have been on a draw that failed to complete. Villain is unlikely to have a king because he checked the turn. Very few players would pot control on the turn when there is a wet board and their opponent doesn’t seem to want to put money into the pot. Villain might have QQ or JJ. The problem is that, when you play the hand like this, it is obvious to most players that you haven’t got a king. Therefore, your hand is vulnerable to getting bluffed.
Let’s look at the situation where the flush draw doesn’t complete first.
The Turn and River Cards are not Hearts
If you have a read that your opponent bluffs rivers with busted draws and the draws haven’t completed, can you call on the river?
This is where the importance of whether you have the lead or not comes in.
Hero has the Lead on the Flop
If you have the lead, this means that you raised pre-flop and villain called. This makes it more likely that villain has a suited hand. If he had QQ, he would probably 3-bet. This isn’t always the case with loose-passive players. Many of them just call a pre-flop raise with QQ. Many call pre-flop raises with AQ as well, which you are beating.
If the turn or river cards were low, you have to worry about open-ended straight draws completing. If the turn or river cards paired the board, you also have to be concerned that villain has trips or a full house. If the turn or river cards were high cards, you have to be concerned that these cards hit villain’s broadway range.
In other words, when you have the lead against a loose-passive player and you just check-call, you don’t have a clue where you are in the hand. Basically, villain’s range, when he bets on the river, is polarised. He has a group of hands that have you well and truly beaten. Then, he has a group of hands that missed the board completely.
Most passive players would check on the river if they had a weak made hand. The river bet is a tough decision if you don’t know anything about this player, apart from that he is loose-passive. Some of these players bluff rivers with busted draws, while others only bet when they have made a strong hand. If you have this read, you know when to call and when to fold. In addition, many of these players size their river bets differently when they are betting a value hand and when they are bluffing.
Hero doesn’t have the Lead on the Flop
If you don’t have the lead, it means that you limped pre-flop and the passive player raised. A typical passive player with a suited hand, would just limp behind a limper pre-flop. Therefore, when you don’t have the lead on the flop, villain is more likely to have a stronger showdown value hand than 9♥9♠.
This isn’t a normal raising range. Hero limped into this pot and villain had a chance to limp behind. Most loose-passive players have learnt that open limping often gets attacked by isolation bets. Therefore, they will usually open raise pre-flop.
However, if they get a chance to limp behind another player, they will almost always the limping option to raising.
Range 1: A Loose-Passive Villain’s Estimated Range when he Raises a Limper
In this situation, villain’s range could be as tight as Range 1. Villain’s equity on the river is 84.785%. You can’t call a flop c-bet against this range.
The Turn or River Card is a Heart
As we know that villain’s raising range is too strong to call a c-bet, we are now only discussing the situation where hero has the lead. If the turn card is a heart, I would expect villain to bet. If he doesn’t, he probably hasn’t got the flush. He may slowplay the nut flush, although that is unlikely. Therefore, if he bets on the river, his hand is polarised. He either has the flush or nothing at all. If he had a hand, such as QQ, he would just check on the river. I would call in this situation. If he has slowplayed the flush, I will remember that for the future.
If the river card is a heart, you would probably still have to call. Because you haven’t bet on any of the post-flop streets, villain’s whole range is still in play. As this player is loose, he will have a lot of junk that he might bluff on the river.
I would only use this betting line against a passive player if I had a read on his river bluffing behaviour. If I didn’t have this read, I would try the min-bet.
2. Min-bet the hand to showdown
Yes, I know the gurus would have a fit at this idea. This play is exploitable! Shock, horror.
However, If your opponent doesn’t exploit this play, this is a good betting line. I’ve used this line against passive players, and many will co-operate and just call the min-bets. As I have said, passive players seldom raise as a bluff. When you min-bet, it means that the passive player has to raise if he wants to bluff.
Usually, when I use this line against a passive player, they show up with middle pair or a low pocket pair.
This means that you are usually ahead when your min-bets get called. In other words, you get thin value on all 3 post-flop streets.
Another advantage of using this line is that other players will think you are a fish.
Theoretically, you are getting the pot odds to use this line against villain’s pre-flop raising range (see Range 1). He has 16 combos of AQ out of a range of 55 combos. Villain’s equity on the river is 84.785%. A min-bet into a pot of 7.5BB needs 11.76% equity to break even. However, I wouldn’t bother min-betting in this situation, unless you are sure that this particular villain isn’t going to raise the min-bet with AQ.
3. Bet ¾ of the Pot on the Flop
It makes a difference whether you have the lead or not. So, let’s look at how this works when you have the lead.
Hero has the Lead
C-betting should be profitable if you have the lead in the hand. I’ve shown in previous articles (such as Hand 12) in this series that, you will get over 50% folds against a pre-flop range that includes 30% or more combos.
If your bet is called, villain’s range will be narrowed to top pair, stronger showdown value hands than 9♥9♠, and draws. When you check the turn, villain could bluff with his draws. Let’s say that he just calls on the flop with his strong hands and draws.
Range 2: Villain’s 30% Range after he Calls a Flop Bet
Range 2 shows that, once villain calls a bet on the flop, the range is winning by a long way. Even if the draws miss on the turn, villain’s equity will still be around 70%. If villain bets on the turn, you will probably have to fold.
The advantage of this betting line is that you should get 65.3% folds on the flop. The disadvantage is that, if your bet is called, you will usually have to fold later in the hand.
Hero doesn’t have the Lead
When villain has the lead, his range is strong. Therefore, you can’t bet into this range.
Conclusion
There is a difference between the passive player open raising and raising a limper. When a loose-passive player raises a limper pre-flop, his range is almost always very strong. In fact, it is stronger than the NIT range.
There are 3 ways of playing this hand. The best line is to check a showdown value hand on the flop. The main reads that you need to look for, is villain’s river bluffing behaviour. These types of players don’t change their strategy a lot. Therefore, when you see a loose-passive villain bluff a river, he probably bluffs it every time he misses a draw and his opponent shows weakness.
If you don’t have a read on villain, you could try min-betting or c-betting on the flop.