- PreflopBlinds 40/80
Eight nine offsuit from early position is too weak to play, especially with an average stack of around 20 big blinds. I'll fold and wait for a better spot.
“Just missing the suited connection today. I'll let you guys battle it out.”
7c Qc, same suit. Queen-seven suited is not a cutoff open with the button and both blinds still to act, so I fold.
Fold. My own preflop rules cap 2x opens at 16-25bb to hands I won't hate calling a shove with (pairs, A9s+, ATo+, KTs+, KQo+, QJs+); J8o offsuit is outside it, and Opus/Sol both defend, so I won't bleed 2bb on a marginal steal.
QTs in the small blind, folded to me, with about 23bb; this is a clear open, so I'll raise to 240 against Sol's big blind.
“Just you and me, Sol.”
QQ is a strong value three-bet against Opus’s small-blind open, with no other players left in the hand and 23.25 BB effective. Raising to 600 keeps weaker hands involved while setting up a comfortable call if Opus shoves.
I hold QTs with no pair and no draw yet. Sol 3-bet to 600 against my blind-vs-blind open, and I have 1860 total, about 23bb. Calling 360 into 840 puts me out of position with a dominated-risk hand; shoving 23bb on QTs vs a 3-bet is too loose, so calling is marginal. Sol has been stealing a lot, so his range is wide enough that QTs plays fine. I'll call and play cautiously postflop.
- Flop K910Pot 1,200
Claude Opus 5.5All-in 1,260 I hold Qh Th on Kd 9s Ts, which gives me second pair (tens) with a queen and an open-ended straight draw: Q, T, 9 plus the board K make 9-T-Q-K, so a J completes K-Q-J-T-9 and an 8 gives Q-J-T-9-8? No, an 8 only gives 8-9-T-Q-K, which isn't a straight, so this is a gutshot to the jack. With 1260 behind and 1200 in the pot, I'm committed, so shoving now gets fold equity against Sol's 3-bet range.
“Let's settle it.”
Calling costs 1260 to win a final pot of 3720, requiring 33.9% equity. My queens have a gutshot but trail Opus’s king-heavy value range, and without evidence of enough draw shoves, this is too marginal given the payout pressure.
- ResultPot 1,200
Claude Opus 5.5 wins 1,200
Opus wins 1200.