I am a noobie, who started playing 2-5 for fun. Arias 2-5NL early position I have A K Diamonds. I raise to $35. I have one caller late position. Solid young player. Seems TAG kind of guy.

Flop comes

3, 6, 10 rainbow.

I continuation bet to $45. He calls.
Turn is
a brick.... 8..

What should I do?? Do I give up the pot? or continue betting? I faced so many of this situation, I just didn't know what to do.... Everybody at the table knew me as a noob... so I know they kind of know I play ABC poker..

Any suggestion is appreciated...

3barrel or chk/fold imo.

i would bet more on the flop, opening for 35 then only betting 45 seems kinda weak i would say 60 but as played i prob just c/f and look for a better spot having AK OOP is ok but having any 2 cards in postion is just way better

Effective stacks please or this is impossible to elaborate. Also, I can already tell you that your opening sizing is too big if you are first one in the pot.

7bb open raise is not usually a very good sizing. c/f is okay. Villain's flatting range contains TT JJ even QQ.

...no

Raise less pf. Check fold the turn. Not a good double barrel card at all.

Is it better to check/call the flop and bet the turn if villain check behind with intention to fold if he bets again on the turn?

BTW we both had around $500.. the reason why $35 was raised pf was because it was a standard raising amount in this game.. i.e. everybody was raising this amount pf.

still learning....

You can c/f the flop too.

Your description is not enough. You have to be more precise in your villain.

Specifically, does he float alot? Does he steal alot? Does he respect double barrels and fold. Does he call down with pockets? How does he perceive you? Can he fold big hands?

Let me give you an example.

Hand #1. V1 is in EP the above villian V2 is on the BTN.

V1 raises preflop, V2 calls. Flop is lowball, V1 bets, V2 calls. Turn is brick, V1 bets 2/3 pot, V2 calls. River brick. V1 bets 2/3 pot, V2 calls.

V1 shows AK air ball, V2 turns over 44 for 1 pair.

Now, based on this hand, is V2 the type of player you want to triple barrel with air?

Take the above situation but instead, lets say V1 triple barrels and V2 tanks on river and then says, "Yeah, I think you got JJ/QQ nice hand" and then he open folds 99.

these are the SPECIFIC types of hand history that you have to have in the back of your head when playing no-limit poker. You use these reads/hand histories in your decision process on whether or not you double/triple barrel.

Hope this helps.

No, check call flop and leading turn is not better than c betting.

you can also just chk/call flop against some.

CLIFFNOTES: Try to remember villain key specific hands and use that info in your decision making process

Your decision to cbet is really dependant on your villain and what he is putting you on.

If your villain is a weak tight fit/fold player, then cbetting this board is insanely profitable.

If your villain is a thinking player who is going to call your cbet to see what you are going to do on the turn, then cbetting this board and then not double barreling if you miss is not profitable.

If your villain is an unknown, the c-betting is profitable...

So I hope you get a sense for how villain dependant this situation is. I noticed in the other thread you mentioned you play 2/5nl 20% of the time and 1/2nl 80% of the time. That is a smart way to slowly transition into the game.

The problem you are going to have is that 1/2nl can be played in a paint-by-numbers sorta way where you take more of a generic approach to the game since the majority of your villains are weak-tight or passive bad.

In 2/5nl the player pool is different. Yes, there are still giant donks and fish, but those players are no longer the majority. There will be more thinking players and aggressive players at the table. So you need to start thinking more Level II and noticing your player tendencies and remembering hand histories.

What I do is I not only label my players as TAG, LAG, Donk, Rec Fish, nit, etc but I also memorize and remember 1-3 hands PER PLAYER at the table.

I'll remember that the 3 seat is a Donk that an hour ago called a 3 barrel all-in OOP with bottom pair because he put the preflop raiser on AK... Or I remember that last orbit the Rec fish called an all-in shove on turn with the bottom end of a 4 to a board straight... Or I remember that the TAG on the BTN made a phenomenal read/play with great sizing and value betting with mid pair...

These are the "reads" I use to make my plays. I focus on remember "key hands" that are indicative of how a player plays. The more basic a player's game, the less hands I have to remember. The better a player's game, the more hands I will strive to remember. Similarly, when I'm targeting a player, (i.e. i'm at 400bb and a donk is at 350bb) then I will key in on the donk and remember more hands so that I can get max value when heads up.

So basically, if you are moving up to 2/5nl, in my opinion, strive to be more than a paint-by-numbers player and try to remember specific hands that are indicative of your villain's play. Because as you can see by my example in the other post, how they played certain hands has direct bearing on what we should do.

i'd just check/fold flop. villain isn't going to have a very wide flatting range because of your 7bb open so we don't have much FE here.


great post by dgiharris itt.

TBH, you really aren't ready for 2/5. Stop playing it completely for now. As dgiharris says more nicely, you are a fish in that game because you don't have the ability to read your opponents.

As for the question, AK is a great hand. You aren't ever folding it pf if no one has entered the pot with the possible exception of an extremely tough and deep game. That said, Phil Galfond pointed out that it is the one hand that the fish always put you on. This sucks because in this one case, they are Daniel Negreanu in terms of hand reading ability. They "know" exactly what you have. Therefore, your stuck with having to at least 2 barrel the hand to get a fold or just c/f the flop. When my reads are weak, I'm more inclined to play more conservatively. This isn't a great cbet flop oop. The cards are low, so people will be more inclined to call things down on the flop and turn with a pair. I'd just c/f and move on.