Poker is difficult. Especially when one does not know what one should do in situations which arise very often. I have gathered here some situations which I have noticed to be the most common (at least the most common difficult situations) in NL Holdem.

What to do in these situations (and some example questions):

When to Cbet with AK/AQ when the flop doesnt hit?
- Small connected cards on flop? Rainbow with a big card?

When to 3bet?
- In position vs out?

How to play small pairs?
- Preflop, 3betting, on flop when doesn't hit/hits.

Big pockets on flop (AA/KK/QQ)
- flop is e.g. 789 with 2 hearts. Turn is 10 of hearts.

Ax suited
- how much to call pre, what to do on flop.

Suited connectors or a similar ok hand
- call or 3bet on the button?

inb4 it depends

If you asked a mathematician equivalent questions about math he would probably recommend about 5 different books on the subjects. You will never get a comprehensive answer on this in this thread, it's just too big.

Instead post a hand history on each subject and I will try. Strategy in those individual hands are often applicable to many others.

Problem 1: I have a tendency to to ask many questions in one thread expecting to get an overarching reply that gives me all the answers.
Problem 2: Poker is very often situation-specific, hence they are hard to answer.
Problem 3: I only play live nowadays and I can not fathom how people remember so many hands so well. So not a big amount of hand histories available.

Solving problem 1+3: I will memorize and post just a couple of specific hands next time.

Solving problem 2 (for this thread): Let's imagine that I do not know any of the players and they do not know me. Let's imagine that the stacks are exactly the same for everyne. Let's imagine that everyone plays in the exaxt same manner.

Hand example for each question in the first post:

1. Hero has AK on the CO and raises 3xBB. Dealer calls. Flop is 456, 2 hearts. Hero?

2. Hero has J10s on the button. UTG raises 3xBB. Hero?
Hero has J10s UTG+2, UTG raises 3xBB. Hero?

3. Hero has 55 on MP3 and 3bets. Original raiser UTG calls. Flop is 210J rainbow and original raiser checks. Hero?

4. Hero raises 3xBB on the button with AA. BB calls. Flop is 789 with two hearts. Hero Cbets, BB calls. Turn is 10 of hearts, hero?

5. Hero has A4 of clubs on the CO. Two limpers before. Hero?

6. Hero has 99 on the button, UTG+1 raises. Hero?

Not sure if this made it easier to answer, but I will try to keep this thread alive

Considering you play live aren't raise sizes generally bigger?

1) Probably the best hand you can cbet having missed that flop, you still have quite some equity against a call and can potentially bluff on J/T/Q turns successfully if needed. I cbet quite small and take it down a lot, fold against a raise obviously.

2) Fold in all spots. JTs looks nice but it you're behind to a raising range and without having money invested it doesn't make sense to play a worse hand without having some big fish in the pot. Call if the PFR literally stacks off with with 1 pair and stacks are big.

3) Easy check on the turn

4) Don't 3bet 55 vs UTG. Fold is probably also better than call. As played absolutely do not bet that flop.

5) If they limp a lot of suited junk, limp behind to cooler them on occasion. Need quite a big stack so don't do this vs shorties. If they play fit or fold on the flop you can raise and cbet a lot of flops when you (they) miss. Fold if you have any decent chance of someone raising after you.

6) Call

This is the beginner's questions forum so it is alright to ask these questions. That said, my answers are going to reflect that you are a beginner and aren't what I'd necessarily do or what I'd suggest to others to do. As you progress in your poker life, you'll find that these answers will change for you. The main reason for considering you are a beginner is that you should have reads on players as soon as you sit at the table. Let's take a man in his late 60's at your table. He's going to play differently than a 20-something guy with a hoodie on and earbuds. So your thought then is, "Venice, well tell me about the late 60's man." Even that is going to depend on the location and time you are playing. The man playing Tuesday at 1 pm with a coffee in front of him is going to be different that the man playing Saturday morning at 1 am with a drink in his hand. When you add in things like how does he stack his chips, how did he look at his cards, is he having to look back at his cards if he is in the hand and you can see lots of information can be obtained during the first hand of play.

So as a beginner, the best advice is to play tight and straight forward. Bet when you have it, check and fold when you don't. So the answers to your questions for you are:

1. Check/fold. A cbet is rarely going to work when virtually all pairs are going to call a bet.

2. Fold. As mentioned above, you won't see a 3BB opening bet live and you aren't getting odds to hit your implied odds hand.

3. You should never be 3betting 55 in MP. Call to set mine or fold.

4. Check/fold. Just about every draw that called got there.

5. Fold. Nobody is going to pay off your flush or pair of aces if they are good. You're more likely to lose money to a better ace.

6. Call to set mine. Check/fold if you don't hit a set or better.

I seemed to have mixed up #3 and #4.

@venice, would you checkfold in 1 because of the sheer amount of hands that make pairs against you or because OP won't play the turn properly? Also are you folding 5 because of reversed implied odds if OP overplays top pair or do you think overflushing limpers won't happen often enough?

Thanks for the thoughts guys.

I forgot to mention that I play Pot limit Texas Holdem (and pot limit Omaha) so the raise amounts (simplified) come from there. I mistakenly wrote NL Holdem in the first post.

1. I tend to check this as small cards probably are not in my range. I also tend to call when the villain bets this board though, as he would do it with anything if I dont Cbet it. Then I find myself in trouble on turn if I still dont get a J/Q/K/A on board. I should probably either Cbet or check/fold.

2. I call here normally. Lots of people on flop live normally if no one 3bets. When someone does 3bet though, I am again in trouble.

3. Yea I should definitely not 3bet this.

4. I too tend to think that the draws got there when it looks like it. Probably thats a good way to think then.

5. I call way too much with Ax suited. I even call a preflop raises with it. Should probably stop that.

6. Yea, I tend to just call too but then I get tricky on the flop when I dont hit. Should probably stop the trickyness too.

Basically I should try to simplify my game. Should try to, like you said, bet when I have it and fold when I dont.

I have played online (on and off) from 2005, but only tournaments until this year. I moved to live cash around the same time just this year. Cant really seem to have (at least yet) any skills in reading the other players. I hope I get some the more I play. Have played various card games "live" with mates and family for around 20 years and can read them like a book in most of them, BUT, I do not seem to possess that skill in Holdem and Omaha. Any more tips (or which site/book to read) on reading people live? The games where I can read people are much more simple so maybe its that.

u have asked sooo many questions - I am going to focus on what I think is of paramount import.

Becoming a kick ass poker player does not happen by accident. You need a rock solid foundation to build off of. It starts right here. I can tell you the precise action of every hand that I play on a given night. If you can not - then you are not even close to playing your potential "A" game.

It never ceases to amaze me when I am at the table and other players are discussing hands with their tablemates how clueless they are about the action (who raised, how much, who called, etc etc)

So step 1 for you is to know exactly what is going on around you weather you are in a hand or not. It takes a little time to get good at this but with practice it becomes automatic

I think you make a great point here squid. I have indeed noticed that I am one of those who can not 100 % follow the action (that is, remember exactly who raised and when, for how much etc). That is a big weakness of mine for sure. I will try to concentrate on that more from now on and try to practice it.

More the OP wouldn't play the turn properly. Double barrelling successfully requires knowing how the villains will react to certain board play outs. When you start off with saying you don't know anything about the villain, you're better off folding as a default.

With A4s, it is both. If Hero sees 5 cards, he has about a 5-6% chance of hitting his flush. He's going to have to pay a lot of money to chase the flush because in a MW pot, someone will have a hand they want to defend against the FD. If someone bets on an ace high board, a beginner player is going to call the flop, then the turn and fold on the river to the third bet when they realize they can't be ahead.

right on my man! I don't say this often but you are clearly on the right path. I seldom see people humbling up and admitting publicly big weaknesses in poker.

The great news is when you fix this one everything will start to make more sense...and the puzzle gets easier to solve.

Its funny - a couple of months ago I stacked a "pro" for 200 bigs in a spot he should have been easily able to fold. Around 30 minutes after the hand he walked over to me and quietly asked me the action of the hand. I almost fell out of my seat. I assumed that someone who considered himself to be a pro would know that perfectly - no wonder why he he couldnt find a fold...he had zero hope of putting the puzzle together

Thanks for the support man! That is probably it, having all the pieces to put the puzzle together. The more pieces that are missing, the more difficult it is to see the picture.

I could just think that Im really good but just unlucky and this and that, but I would be doing that after 10 more years too, while still being a losing player. I think that if I have major weaknesses but can still do ok, then I will probably have a chance to do really well at some point, after locating and fixing the weaknesses.