Hi everyone, I'm new here and new to poker also. I've come here looking for a review of my biggest loss tonight, as I've read that that's a good way to learn. (I'm also reading "Crushing the Microstakes" which was suggested on these forums too)

Poker Stars $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em - 7 players
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

SB: $2.05
Hero (BB): $1.67
UTG: $2.08
UTG+1: $0.34
MP: $1.97
CO: $1.34
BTN: $10.33

Pre Flop: ($0.03) Hero is BB with 3 4
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.02, 1 fold, CO calls $0.02, 1 fold, SB calls $0.01, Hero checks

Flop: ($0.08) 4 3 5 (4 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.06, UTG+1 calls $0.06, CO calls $0.06, SB folds

Turn: ($0.26) 8 (3 players)
Hero bets $0.18, UTG+1 calls $0.18, CO raises to $1.26 all in, Hero calls $1.08, UTG+1 folds

River: ($2.96) Q (2 players - 1 is all in)



I registered for the 30 day trial of HEM2. I had ~50 hands played at the table and the CO was playing pretty loose passive. (30/3)
Any tips on how to improve on that or was I just "unlucky"?

Poker Stars $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

SB: $1.33
Hero (BB): $5.11
UTG: $2.54
UTG+1: $0.85
UTG+2: $1.92
MP1: $1.75
MP2: $1.01
CO: $2.51
BTN: $11.10

Pre Flop: ($0.03) Hero is BB with J A
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.02, UTG+2 raises to $0.10, 5 folds, Hero calls $0.08, 1 fold

Flop: ($0.23) J 4 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $0.14, UTG+2 raises to $0.28, Hero calls $0.14

Turn: ($0.79) 2 (2 players)
Hero bets $0.50, UTG+2 calls $0.50

River: ($1.79) Q (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+2 checks



That was my 2nd largest loss. Are overpairs tough to read or was I just playing poorly? I'm glad I didn't bet on the turn, looking back on it, but should I have bet there too? I was scared of the flush draw so decided to check it over.

If he's playing 30/3, he's raising 3% of all hands - that's roughly AA-JJ, AK. All of which dominates AJ => second hand is a clear fold pre. That's why you got in trouble. You shouldn't really donk the flop in that spot either IMO.

First hand I can find a fold OTT. He plays a lot of sets like that and sometimes has A2, 67.

I haven't looked at the results BTW.

The guy playing 30/3 was in the first hand, not the second, sorry. I added the stats as an after thought. He just limped in.

Reasons for folding AJs pre? Because of more limited opening ranges of a UTG+2? (I'm trying to learn, so I'd really appreciate the actual reasons, not just "Don't do it")

We're folding AJs pre in that (now hypothetical) spot because we're way behind his opening range and we're unlikely to be able to outplay him sufficiently postflop to account for the worse hand.

The 34 hand is a bit of a cooler, but you should be very careful when raised on the turn. With 4 players seeing a flop, the strength of your hand needs to be stronger to win. (Top pair would be an insta-fold). I'm not sure if I could fold 2 pair, but straights are a definite possibility on that 345 flop.

With AJ, you should fold pre. Villain's raising range crushes you. When you do see a flop, don't lead out. If you donk bet, villain will throw away his junk so you don't even win a c-bet, and he'll call or raise with a hand that beats you. Notice that villain (min-)raised on the flop. That means "I can beat top pair". So why did you lead out on the turn as well? You're just giving your money away.

2 main pieces of advice to a beginner:
1. CHECK TO THE RAISER and only call if you have a strong hand or strong draw with the odds to chase.
2. FOLD WHEN YOU GET RAISED IF YOU ONLY HAVE ONE PAIR. Villains are rarely bluffing. You wouldn't be making a huge mistake if you folded every time you got raised post-flop. Just dump the hand and wait for a better opportunity to get your stack in the middle.

Alright, thanks for the tips Arty. I got a question about my currently low VPIP. I know that you shouldn't play hands just to meet a certain stat number. I have 300 hands "played" today so far, although my VPIP/PFR is around 6/4. I have just been getting trash the whole time and when I do actually get something playable, everyone either folds pre or on the flop. (I'm not raising 10x pre or anything stupid like that) Hell, even the trash hands I'm folding rarely even make a hand. I realize that only 1/3 of hands actually are made on the flop, but I always feel like I don't have the odds to continue with Ace High.

Is it normal to have long periods of inactivity/trash hands? (I realise 300 hands is very short term, but it seems like a long time when you're single tabling and folding every hand)

Shoving all-in pre is high variance, right? Should I restrict myself to only calling/shoving AA pre? Or even avoid it all together?

You won't have the odds to call a decent bet w/ ace high, so if you only called pre-flop and villain bets, just fold. On the other hand, if you were the pre-flop raiser and have ace high on the flop, you should make a c-bet of 60-70% of the pot. You missed the flop, but it's likely villain did too. You should find you have a c-bet success rate of 40-55% in heads up situations. This is more than enough to make a long term profit if you bet around 2/3 pot. It's also fine to check-fold the turn if you get called and miss that too.

You can often go a few orbits without a playable hand, but in 300 hands you should have something to raise with. You might not get aces or kings very often, but if you have a couple of Broadways in the cutoff or on the button and it's folded to you, raise it up and steal some blinds. You can't wait for the super premiums. Widen your starting hand range when you are in good position.
Shoving pre is not a good strategy. Obviously if you get aces or kings - or even QQ or AK against some opponents - you should raise and re-raise until you're all in if possible, but open-shoving just doesn't get paid off as well. Most of the time, people will just think "Idiot must have aces" and will fold hands like TT and KQs that would have called a standard raise.

Should I only c-bet 60-70% against nits/tight players, as looser players are less likely to fold? (I've got c-bet and fold to c-bet % on my HUD)

Against some players you can cbet 100%, or close to it (obviously there are boards which are going to be horrid to cbet like if you have AQ on 89T two-tone). Against some you should only cbet with strong hands.

Have you read the stickies and the concepts of the week? Good starter material.

Generally speaking, you'd be less inclined to c-bet against a calling station if you missed the flop entirely, but your overall c-bet rate should still be in the 60-75% range. To maximise your chances of success (or to minimise your losses) you have to put villains on a range and decide if the flop connects with that range before making a bet, and then decide how to size it. (If you have air, you want to make the smallest bet that will still cause villain to fold. Often half pot is enough with some players, while some stations won't be put off even by an overbet).

Complete guide to beating the micros: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/78...micros-430637/
CotW on c-betting: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/78...etting-447771/