I'm unsure if we discussed it, but my typical play in the SB is to open to 4xbb and only play a tight range (a bit looser than my UTG range though). Keep this in mind if you are constantly getting harassed by competent BBs, who will 3bet you pre a lot or float/raise your cbet a lot postflop.

Flop is fine, turn is fine, and my thoughts on the river:

1. Against a bad player:
This bet is fine, maybe even bigger, he'll call a lot of JT, KJ, AJ. You can also c/f if you think he'll check back all one pairs and only bet the best hands (and since nothing really missed, you can't bluff catch either)

2. Against a 50nl reg:
Almost the same idea with vs. a bad player - it depends on how aggressive he is. Usually a lot of regs won't mind checking back one pair here so you can SD easily. In that case, c/f is a really good option as a lot of passive regs will just check back and only bet hands that beat you. You can bet like 12 still and that might be very slightly +EV when he bluffcatches a bunch of Jx. I typically wouldn't worry about getting bluff-raised on the river at this limit unless the games have really changed that much.

3. Against a great player (like 200nl+ winning reg):
This is a poor bet because it usually telegraphs your hand strength and induces a lot of bluff jams from 1 pairs turned into bluffs. That's the single WORST thing that can happen because we fold this river a lot. Obviously this small bet is better when we have the flush but 95% of the time we should bet a standard amount.

In my opinion, the only two plays you have against a good player is to bet 15 or to c/f. Betting 15 here leaves the impression that you're polarizing your range, you either have a monster or you don't, but on this board it's really really easy for you to have a monster and very hard for you to have absolutely nothing (maybe a pair that's bluffing at best like 87dd or 98 etc). Why this aspect is very important is because of how villain must now play with his range, which is almost always favorable for you. Generally it breaks down into, sometimes you get him to spaz-call with worse, and you can fold without ever worrying about being bluff-raised. Here's why:

a. With bluff-catcher type hands, he can't bluff-raise since he has a bluff-catcher, but he's also more enticed to call than if you were to bet 11. If you bet 11, that's more indicative of a made hand and likely one that beats his bluffcatcher (JT or KJ etc)
b. With non-nutted, but strong hands, he can't raise, because you can have a flush in your range a high % of the time. Hands like QJ, KTdd, etc. don't stand to win a lot if they raise but stand to lose a lot if they raise and get snapped by the flush.
c. With nutted hands, he'll raise, but then that means his raising range is really narrow and only for value, so you can fold easily.

So in fact the hand plays out easier for you if you bet large that represents a polarized range simply because he's so hamstrung by the fact that you can have a nutted hand in your range.


You're not going to play really strong players usually but this is still a really helpful tactic to use OOP to make our lives a lot easier (So we never level ourselves into calling the jam because we're afraid of getting bluffed, and we also make the most $ possible from one pair, and it keeps our ranges hidden most of the time when he folds and really creates a lot of pressure on our opponents when they know we can pot pot pot postflop like this).