1-2 home game

Hero's image: Nuts player, very tight and nitty.
Button's (V) image: thinking player, says he played in a lot of games and is a winning player overall. just came back from a long break off poker.

7 handed, 2-3 decent players other are sheep.

after losing my first buy in, hero is invested with 150$ and now is breaking even.
straddle is running and sometime doubled.

Hand 1:

limped around to hero (200-300$) on SB, who looks down at pocket 3.
hero decides to limp in (?) and see if BB tries to take it there. BB checks (BB has been trying to raise the blinds and steal with big raises).

Flop: A, 3, 9 rainbow (pot 14$). Hero checks quickly (?)
checks to Button (Effective about 100$) who bets 16$. hero calls. everyone else folds.

Turn (pot 46$): Q completes a rainbow. hero bets 16$ (?), button tanks and calls.

River (pot 78$): Q. Hero says something about if his ace is good and bets 30$ (?). Button tanks and asks if the Q helped Hero and after I respond "no" calls and show AJ against a boat. Button says he would never call a pot sized bet that would put him all in.


Hand 2:

6 handed

Hero's effective: 370~$.
V: effective: 300~$ is a very aggressive player preflop, raising very wide with any Ace and especially with AT+ or pocket pairs. is down already 200$. looks like he's on a semi-tilt.

hand is limped all the way to Hero at BB who looks down at 9T offsuit, checked to the flop.

Flop (Pot: 12$) 8 J Q. hero flopped straight with two diamonds on the board. hero quickly checks (?) and UTG1 bets 10$, MP (Villian) calls.

hero min-raises to 20$ (? maybe I should have raised 30 to charge more from draws and represent a Q. UTG folds and MP (V) calls.

Turn (Pot: 52$) J. hero checks, MP bets 55$, hero re-raises to 110 (? Idk if I can flat here. QJ not on his range but a flush draw and two pairs that could go into a boat are). MP tanks and folds.

how could I have played the hands for better value?

Hand one: bet flop. Someone has an ace and will call or raise. AP, forget the speech, which makes calls much less likely.

Hand two: Bet flop. AP, raise to $40. C/r turn is bad unless you have a lock read on the player. Draws will take the free card, which is a disaster, and if he does bet, what are you getting value from with a c/min-raise on that board?

Stop checking strong hands. Bet/bet/bet.

Hand 1: I definitely agree with your input about someone probably having an ace, but! I'm not sure a bet is good on the flop because what if two people have weak aces and I can just check call myself to value? the ace is going to bet for me anyway and I will just flat. I for sure agree about the speech, very unnecessary...

Hand 2: I thought the jack might have helped him, I think he would have checked a boat. so he either calls with 2pairs or trips, but I like your line better. a bet-bet-bet line (how much on each street?) would've gotten me more value.

If someone is going to bet a weak ace on the flop, they're going to call a bet on the flop most likely.

Just bet your strong hands and hope other people also have strong hands, or draws, or they're donkeys and will call with crap.

Trying to maximize value against wide, weak, crappy ranges isn't the right strategy. You will end up winning more little pots, but fewer big ones also.

Swing for the fences.

1) What if they don't bet their weak aces? They'll still almost always call with them.

2) If they do bet, their bet sizing usually sucks, so you'll be flatting small beys instead of getting calls from larger bets.

As for the.idea that V would check a boat behind in hand 2, I don't even. Just because you are.more prone to being "tricky" than to getting value doesn't mean that your Vs will be.making the same mistake.

Hand one the c/call was ok. But the turn bet should've been bigger.
Hand two I think it was played properly and you got as much as you could.

Hand 1) Bet $15, 35, and 85.

Hand 2) Check-raise bigger, and then bet 3/5 pot on the turn. I go all-in on all blank rivers (no flush or board pairing again).