I normally play 1-2nl. Usually only able to get to local casino about 2 or 3 times a month. Casino was very crowded so I took a seat at 2-5nl table. Been playing about 45 min. Ute+1 opens for $20. She has played very few hands. Seems like a good player. I feel like she is very strong. 3 others call. I'm on the button with AdQd. LB calls. Flop is 2c4d5d. LB leads out for $100 and it folds to me. I feel like he has a made hand of some kind and I am only getting 2 to 1 to call so I fold. I can't stop thinking that I played this hand poorly but I'm not sure of all the reasons I played it poorly.

Yeah hate to break it to you but it's a bad fold. You're almost always ahead here against both narrow medium and wide ranges. You also had a gutshot thrown in there too but even without it you're still good to go

Yeah, it's almost never a mistake to get your money in in this spot. Sometimes you'll be up against a set, but then again sometimes you'll be up against a draw you have dominated like 76. The one time you might be able to find a fold is if you're up against an Old Man Coffee type who absolutely will not stack off in this spot without at least a set. Even still, by the time you figure out that's what he has, you might be stuck having to call it off because of pot odds (you basically need 2:1 in this case, because of the extra equity from your straight draw).

Then again, since you were playing a level above your normal game, your bankroll might not be able to handle the variance of getting all your money in at basically a coinflip, so under those circumstances a fold seems reasonable. But it also means you should get out of this game ASAP and play the game you're rolled for.

Stack size? Raise/gii imo

It feels uncomfortable pursuing an unmade hand but in some cases the made hand is the underdog.

Looks like a really bad fold. And you also had a gut shot straight draw if your recollection of the flop is correct.

What are the stack sizes?

Correct action could either be raise or call. And actually the chances are that either would be fine.

If u describe a hand, always add the stacksizes of the involved players and possibly reads you have of them.
who or what is LB? (is is low blind?)

With AQd on that board, i wouldnt bother calling....i would raise it instead. As i understand the blind donks in the pot and gets everyone to fold. The strong player (the lady) already folded and you are headsup with the small blind....he might be bluffing, he might fold to a raise

stack sizes are vitally important here in order to know exactly what to do...

but in most cases, yeah, this is a pretty nitty bad fold and you definitely should not be playing 2/5nl if you are folding in this spot and unsure what to do.

I don't mean that as a slam or anything, just saying. If you were at my table and I key in on the fact that you fold a lot, I'm pushing you off everything...

IN general though, you need to be selectively aggressive with your hands that have decent equity. I'm constantly thinking of the phrase "selectively aggressive". TAG means "tight" "aggressive" and is the staple of beating LLSNL. It's okay to fold 70, 80, even 85% of the time preflop. Fine. But when you are in a hand, and when you have decent equity in a hand (40% or greater), then by golly be in it to win it!!! Unleash the dogs of war and have at it.

When we combine equity with image and aggression we then add fold equity to our equity. Equity + Fold Equity = seriously +EV

Not to say we want to always push our villains off their hands, there are times when we will want to milk them like cows and squeeze every drop of +EV out of them...

What I am saying is that a crucial component to beating LLSNL (especially 2/5nl) is being selectively aggressive in the right spots and the hand you outline is one of them. This also rolls into our "overall game" ensuring that we get paid off on other hands as well as making us hard to play against.

So if I'm reading this right, pre flop action made the pot $125. UTG+1, 3 callers, you and the SB.

UTG+1 has been playing tight - so is she betting 4x the BB with A3? a Small Pair? Not impossible but more likely she's bet with a strong ace or a high pair.

Her near pot bet suggests she sees the draws and is betting to protect her hand, reinforcing my thinking that she's probably on a pair. $100 into a $125 pot - but you've got the FD, the SD and the over draw with a good kicker if the ace hits. If you figure her for a high pair you're probably fading some of your overpair outs but still - flush draw for 9, gutshot for 4, and maybe 3 instead of 6 over pair outs? That's in the 16 neighborhood, which is giving you 32% or almost perfectly 1:2.

Calling 100 to win 225? You're in the perfect spot.

So now what? If you call here you're almost certainly advertising your draw. A call is mathematically justified but if you call the pots now $325 and you'll still be 1:2 for the river if the turn doesn't hit you, and if the turn hits your action dries up.

However if you know you'll call the turn if the turn misses, then you want to start thinking about the rest of the hand. If you'll be calling the turn anyway then you now start thinking in terms of seeing the next two cards - which means now your 16 outs put you at 64% equity. Heck, just your flush draw and gutshot alone put you at +50% for the next 2 cards.

And while the turn hitting the flush or the straight will kill the action, if the villain has an overpair here you've got a decent chance of getting a call.

So get it in! You're the favorite if you can see the river - raise it.


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Edit - I just realized it was the LB not UTG who led out with a donk bet. That doesn't change the math IMO - but a weak ace is definitely a possibility if the LB is looser, or a smaller pair.

LB showed pocket jacks. Eff stacks were 500. The LB was playing loose but was showing up with a winner every time. I felt like if I called or raised all the money was going in. I was wrong in first post the preflop pot was 100 with 5 players.

So 100 + 100 = 200, and you would have called 100 to win 200, still the right odds. Even if you lose that time, its about making the right calls over the long play.

you cant put anyone on a hand here except that it is good for whatever that means in the persons mind. i would raise allin even if pretty deep.
i can even win with one of the overcards many times if i hit one and even may have the best hand.

this is a dream spot to play.
sorry but you arent ready for moving up yet. keep reading the forums and thinking about the game.

What DGI said and not to be mean/rude/hash about it...

IMO that spot is call ... she is likely to continue with her entire range in that spot, you have a draw to a nut-type hand, a lot of cards will slow her down and might get a turn check.

Thanks for all the replies. I didn't realize how far ahead I was until I ran the numbers. At lest if I am in that spot again I will know were I am at. Even tho I am just a beginner I still enjoy improving.

As long as you're improving, we all make mistakes and have gaps in our knowledge. The fact that you run the numbers puts you in a better place than many looking to improve.

One of the best things you can do if you want to improve fast is to start keeping a poker journal with each session. Record 3 - 7 key hands per session, hands that were problematic or tricky or big money. Then later when at home, run some PokerStove or Flopzilla on those hands and do some EV calculations on different lines you could have took. And you will discover some amazing things, like in one case you think you are behind but are ahead and in another case you think you have great odds but you don't...

The above is by far one of the best things you can do to drastically improve your game in an amazingly short period of time. Once you run enough poker stove you will start to develop an almost intuitive feel for odds and equity and be able to do decent "rough guesses" at the table real time...

GL and keep at it

dm, what dgiharris said.

and we all made way too many mistakes when we were learning the game. and the best way to get better is to play and work out the hands in your mind and study. also when learning play extremely tight as then when you do get in a tougher spot it will be with a much better hand and easier to guess what to do.