Both hands $250-300 eff

Hand 1: JJ $15 in CO over 1 limper, young rec guy in BB calls

Flop ($35): K84dd
V donks $20, H calls

Turn ($75): 7c
V donks $20, H calls

River ($115): 7s
V donks $25, H calls and loses to KTo



Hand 2: QJo $20 in CO over 2 weak limpers, loose/weak-passive fish in BB calls

Flop ($50): 893dd
V checks, H bets $25, V c/r to $50, H calls

Turn ($100): 7c
V bets $50, H folds and V shows A8o


Don't flame me on reads because I didn't have any. Was trying to LAG it up and failed miserably yet again.

If we can't talk about reads, then I don't know what feedback you're looking for.

Not trying to flame you... Playing LAG is about widening your range in order to take advantage of your strong reads and carve out more profitable spots.

Knowing results...

What about a c/r on the flop or turn. If V is going to call, you'll have to quit LAG and simply drive the bus to valuetown and TAG their a$$ for all it's worth.

I do occasionally try to LAG for profit/fun/excitement online (NL10 or less) or a live home-style quarter-half 40BB buy in game. The player who wants to bet small, pot control and only stick it in with the nuts will fold an awful lots when you begin.

If you are opening a lot of hands for a raise (LAG), you need to put these guys to a test. Let them fold in disgust that you caught again (hehe).

And yes, without reads, you will get punished trying to run over a calling station, or hanging yourself by a thinking opponent.

Hand two: Are u sure your profiling is right?
loose/weak-passiv fish.
He didn't play like it in that hand.

Villian in hand #1 probably didn´t like his kicker. I would profile him as a ''playing his hands face up for our benefit'' type.

Villian in hand #2 doesn´t seem ''weak/passive''

Turn is $150 in hand #2.

Neither hand is bad. With your reads I would play them the same way. Maybe I would have raised the turn in hand #1. It looks like he has a draw or a weak hand that will just check/fold the river UI, so we might as well get value now or let him fold, since we can take a free showdown. Occasionally they fold a better hand.

Hand 2.
I'll mostly leave PF alone, but are you regularly opening 20 over limps? Does table view you as The Spot? If a "weak passive fish" is ck-r middle pair to your line then you need to reassess everything from big to small, from reads on Vs, how Vs view you, and reasons for your actions on every street.

AP - not a good Cbet board and delayed Cbet will work better on brick turns and on TJQ. Make things easier for yourself, and remember it's about winning money, not pots.

Hand 1. I'm not turning JJ into a bluff so best action will be size/player dependent . 1-2 Vs donks are usually either always top pair or always a draw and they tend not to change that approach during a session, so with only a gutter out there, don't worry about feeling too weak to peel one and then fold JJ in this type of game ott if you don't like it .

Hand 1:

Donks are generally weak made hands or draws. Something I like to do is raise donks with my made but non-nutted hands. You are turning your hand into a bluff vs. weak Kx and value raising vs. the draw portion of his range.

In this case, I would be raising his $20 bet to $80 and barreling the turn and shoving the river on favorable run outs if he just check/calls. You need to put max pressure on weak Kx. But this comes down to having reads that V is capable of folding top pair, and you don't have any.

The game is built around fat value from Vs that never fold TP. I think buttoning up his game work better than turning SDV into 3 street bluffs otf. IMO

Hence why I qualified the statement that we need to know V can fold a weak top pair to pressure.

And JJ doesn't have showdown value if villain's donk bets are only top pair. JJ is the same as TT, 99 here.

And I would disagree about the game being built around TPTK vs. TPWK. That is such a small part of my win rate that it is rather meaningless.

But yes, absent reads, OP just needs to fold the flop, although I think that is a big leak. Not acquiring reads is the bigger leak however.

It's okay to just fold the flop in hand one. Usually these donk bets are weak top pairs (more often than draws ime), and sometimes I raise them. But when I'm bluff raising this sort of bet, I prefer to do it with a hand that can suck out. Overs, draws (including back door), and ghost outs are what I look for. An underpair just has 2 outs to suck out to a set so they don't make good hands to do this with. Folding an underpair is a very good strategy in this spot.

Calling flop/turn is okay if we've seen him do this with draws, but then we should fold to his obviously value/blocker river bet.

In the second hand, I'm just checking until I hit a gutshot or pair. Two overs and a gutshot is a decent hand and we can also call small bets.

A good LAG doesn't just bet/raise all the time. A good LAG bets/raises for value whenever he can (never misses a value bet), bets/raises as a bluff in good spots (never misses a good bluff), but -- very importantly -- takes free cards and checks back in the right spots. And folds when he's really weak; hand 1 for example.

So let's say a good LAG holds JT and the board is Q35. He cbets heads up (+EV bluff spot that he won't miss) and gets called. Let's say that the turn is a K. I think most LAGs will barrel this card because the top card changed and it improved our hand, and imo this is correct. But let's say the turn is a 9. We improve to a OESD as before, but the top card didn't change. A bad LAG will barrel this because it improved his hand. But a good LAG will often check back here for the free card, since Qx is less likely to fold.

Taking free cards is definitely part of a good LAGs game and makes them scarier and more difficult to play against. Many players adjust to the aggression by slow playing and letting them barrel off, which is often correct. But often a player will be planning a check raise with a set on the turn, and the good LAG, to his surprise and dismay, checks it back, sucks out, and wins loads of money on the river.

Basically the problem with these hands is that you built pots -- even just by calling in hand 1 -- that were too big for our hand strength. A good LAG doesn't build big pots all the time; he's in control of the size of the pots and makes them how big he wants them to be.

FWIW hand 2 is actually played okay I think. He just gave us a good price on the flop and priced us out on the turn. It happens. Also the 7 is a bad card for our hand because now our gutshot puts a 4-straight on the board, killing our IOs.

Grunch:

Unfortunately, reads on players habits and behavior are all that really matter in these spots if we're going to make a really good decision.

My guess, though, is that in hand 1 I would probably have called flop (though I could fold if I knew that V probably doesn't donk his draws or weak pairs), and then raise turn to the weak bet. Since I don't know anything more about V than he likely thinks in terms of absolute dollars and doesn't play that well, my raise could work for value or as a bluff. I expect him to fold a lot, honestly, whatever he has I don't think he's that happy with it, so if he has a K then it works as a bluff. If he has a draw then he may fold incorrectly if you only raise to 70-80 and you protect your equity. Or he could possibly call with worse. This is not ideal, but still better than letting him dictate the action. If he calls, river doesn't bring in any draws and he checks, I'll usually want to bet again to move him off a K in the case he wasn't on a draw. But again, this is just me imagining the kind of V who will bet like this on the turn.

Hand 2, I'm folding to the c/r on the flop. Whether or not I c-bet in the first place though depends on V tendencies and table dynamics, my image, and so on. If you've been lagging it up, as you said, and have this image, I do not think this is a great board for c-betting unless V tells you otherwise.

Playing loose-aggressive is -EV without good reads and great ability to play postflop ... anybody can splash around. Almost by definition, LAG is non-optimal play in a vacuum.

I say that as someone who is constantly having to remind myself to tighten up. You should have seen me last night bluffing away my stack at 1:00 AM.

The good LAGs I play against have some kind of special 6th sense. Actually, it's not really 6th sense. It's just sustained focus and clarity and the gazillions of hours at the table that let them recognize patterns and player types.

I play LAG when the table are tight/passive.
Most of the time, I'm not given an opportunity to play LAG though.
TAG is my standard game.

I can back up what others are saying... good LAG plays are very dependant on reads and knowing your opponent tendencies.

Your opening hands are not good LAG plays.
JJ raise is standard TAG.
QJo raise... is just raising when u are behind and certain to get called. -EV play.

Yes QJo is weaker than most TAG's opening range but that does not mean you are a good LAG.

Examples of successful LAG hands I have played.

Rock who folds an unbelievable amount was in BB. I min raise 94 off late. Went thru uncontested.

Older gent says call in early position (limps) then says no no I want to fold. Call stands.
Action folds to me in BB. I raise 4x with QT suited.
I was not value betting my QT suited. I was bluffing. I would have done the same play if I had 72o.
He folds A4o.

I have Jc9c... I had observed this calling station/sticky type call flop bet then fold to a turn bet fairly often. (read and understanding of player's tendencies)
Somehow we get heads up in a pot... I have position on him.
I bet flop after he checks, double barrelled turn after another check and got a fold. (just like I had observed)

I hope those examples of LAG hands give you some idea how to play LAG.

NEVER play LAG vs a table full of calling stations.
Goodluck on your LAG journey.

Don't try to LAG it up if you're not ready. Just focus on improving your game and as you improve, you'll find more opportunities to make profitable, aggressive plays that will make you look more LAG. A lot of people make the mistake of going LAG too early and it costs them.

I probably just fold the flop in hand 1 and play it the same way you did in hand 2. Not sure why you're so hard on yourself in hand 2.