Hi All!

This is my first post

Background: I have been playing live NL for the past 4 years 'part time' to supplement my income. I usually play 5 nights a week and average 20 hours each week. I just experienced my worst downswing in 4 years of NL live play when I managed to log 7 losing weeks out of 8 in a 2 months time span. I understand I'm probably due for such a downswing but decided to take a break from poker anyway. During this down time a friend recommended that I should try out LHE. I've since had 3 weeks of 4/8 Kill practice and just started playing 8/16. I fell in LOVE with the game! I like the idea that I have 20 or so small decisions to make over a 3-4 hours session as oppose to NL where my 'fate' of the night is generally decided by 1 or 2 huge pots. Somehow I just feel more at ease playing LHE

I hope to learn as much as possible and being a newbie here are some common scenarios and I'd like to know what is the best play (sorry if these questions are way too simple):

1) AK, out of position, multiway, complete missed board, CBET?

This seems to happen quite a lot: Example: I raised from UTG with AKo, picked up 2 cold callers and the blinds call as well. Flop comes T62. Is a CBET here automatic if the blinds checked to me? In my NL experience, most of the time AKo miss is an automatic CBET but of course we seldom face 4 opponents in NL in this spot. What about LHE? I figure even if I bet I'll still pick up 2 or 3 callers and if I don't improve by the turn (which is majority of the time) I probably cannot fire again OOP. Would just check/folding on the flop be best in this scenario?

2) Good flush draw, when to take a free card.

In SSHE, it is recommended to bloat the pot on the flop when we flop a reasonable good draw (say Ah nut flush draw with 1 over but no pair). So, say we are 4 handed in a raised pot, opener CBET on the flop 2 callers and I raise in position to inflate the pot. Turn is a miss and it is checked back to me. I'm still not very sure when should I just take a free card? What should I be thinking in this spot? It seems to me that ALWAYS taking a free card after a flop raise is too simplistic and expose how I play a flush draw. So, if I do bet some of the time, when should I be betting? (a higher card falls on the turn? Certain board texture? any other considerations?)

I'll sure to post more questions. Discovering LHE is the most exciting event in my poker career

Hello and welcome to the forum.

1) I'd check and call for one, but maybe fold for two depending on the price.

2) I'd check and take the free card.

Hello and welcome.

Suggestions to maximize value from this site:

First, read the stickies/FAQs. Next, stalk previous threads. Go back and read 50 old threads. Common themes and strategies will emerge. Bump new threads if you don't understand why posters advocate a certain line. Stalking old threads will also familiar you with good posting styles and bad posting styles. Read more LHE books. SSHE is a good start. The FAQ sticky has more recommendations. Don't forget to also visit the subforums Medium Stakes, Micro Stakes, and Small Stakes Shorthanded. They're all useful and not too different.

Hi. Yes, LHE is a great game. I'm glad you've discovered it.

1) Generally, if I have 2 opponents, I will always c-bet. With 3 opponents - for me it depends on the opponents. If I have 4 opponents, it is often best to check the flop. However, I'm planning a check-call, not a check-fold. You should have raised AK preflop, so with 4 opponents, there are 10 small bets in the pot. If someone bets, you are getting 10-1 to call and you probably have 6 outs.

2) It depends on several factors, including how many opponents are still in the pot and how many outs we have and how they would react to a turn bet. Are all of our flush outs good (we are not again a set or 2 pair)? Do we have overcards that will also add to our outs? Will our opponents fold to a turn bet? Will they fold to a river bet if you keep betting on the turn with your big draw? Or, will they still pay you off on the river if you check the turn and bet the river when you hit your flush card?

These are good questions, but don't necessarily have simple answers because they depend on board texture, opponent tendencies, etc.

Re: #1 - Against observant opponents you become incredibly predictable if you always bet overpairs/top pair here and always check whiffed overcards. In my experience, even relative feebs will immediately put you on something like AK when you check here. I think it's fine to adopt a strategy of checking hands like AK here as long as you are also prepared to check some of your better hands as well.

In some games, you will be so unconcerned with balance that you can go ahead and just check and call here with your misses and bet or check/raise your good hands and do just fine. I will add that as your number of opponents decreases, the likelihood that AK is still the best hand or is drawing to a clean 6 outs is much higher and c-betting becomes more standard.

Re: #2 - I would consider continuing to barrel if: a) enough players are still in and make the bet immediately profitable, b) you surmise that your fold equity is high enough to make up for any lack of hand equity, or c) you pick up top pair. Sometimes betting will also clean up some outs for you if you can fold out some of the other hands.

Again, against observant opposition you will need to check back some stronger hands on the turn in order to cover your draws, but in many games can probably take an immediate equity approach.

Hi! Initially I was a little concerned that I'm getting interested in a game that is "on the decline" judging from some of the posts I read here. It seems that is the case in Vegas. The game is certainly healthy and well where I play (LA), on a Tuesday night at 8pm I saw 15 4/8 Kills, 4 8/16, 5 20/40 and 5 40/80 games. Maybe Commerce is really the mecca of LHE

Thanks I do something like that now as well: 2 opponents I definitely bet but just not sure what to do when there are more. So it seems check-call is better than check-fold if we count 3 outs for each over cards. Hmm, I thought SSHE says assign 1.5 outs to each over cards? I guess it also depends on board texture. We can probably assign 3 outs each if the board is very very dry.

welcome to the forum. LA is certainly one of the last few good places for live LHE. phunkphish's post is a good one.

Glad you like the game, way more exciting than nl. Only advise is be prepared for some sick swings. While you may not think so it's much swingier than nl and he downswings can be uglier and longer. Gl

lhe is way more swingy than nl

ainec