Two hands below are from a recent live 1/3 cash game session, max buyin is $300, these two hands are the ones I think I butchered the most, I'm sure I played others badly but these are the two that stand out for me.

H1:

$325 effective

Folds around to MP who raises to 12

Hero in Lowjack calls with QcJh

Hijack Calls

BTN raises to 40

Both blinds fold

MP, Hero, and Hijack all call

POT: 160

FLOP: Ad Jd 5d

Everyone Checks

River: Ad Jd 5d (8c)

Checks to BTN who bets 75

MP calls

Hero?

Facing a just over 1/3rd pot bet with a flush on board, seems like a fold to me, the ranges for BTN and MP both hold so much that is beating Hero, will post results after some discussion.

H2: Have a bit of history with this player, been going back and forth, trading small pots.

About 400 effective at this point

Folds around to lowjack who raises to 13

Cutoff Calls

BTN (Hero) raises to 30 with ATs

Blinds fold

Lowjack folds

Cutoff calls

Pot: 77

Flop: 4T4r

Cutoff bets 20

BTN (Hero) raises to 55

Cutoff calls

Pot: 187

Turn: 4T4(Q)r

Cutoff checks

BTN (hero) bets 80

Cutoff jams, putting hero all in

Hero?

I'm really not sure of this hand, I could have potentially sized up to maybe 80 or so on the flop with TPTK, and really put weaker 10's or other hands like AJ+ in a tough spot. On the turn, I've got no clue, I'll post the results after some discussion.

H1 fold to the 3 bet, AINEC.

AP, it's also not close on the turn. Easiest fold ever. Sure the bet is small relative to the pot, but you lose to BTN's entire 3-bet range, assuming it is a normal JJ+/AK and maybe AQ. You could consider bluff-shoving since your Vs are both likely capped at no flush, but the pot is so big you'll likely get called anyway, especially as your line doesn't make much sense for a flopped flush.


H2 either just call, or 3-bet bigger. Frankly, I'm surprised that either of them folded pre.

AP, why on earth are you raising OTF? You are WA/WB on a dry board. Just call his donk bet and pot control.

AP, fold turn. Unless V is just very spewy, the only hand you were ahead of OTF that takes this line is QT. Everything else was already beating you, and it still is.

From these hands it seems like you are playing overly aggressive and overvaluing meh hands. Unless you have an unusual dynamic in your game, you are going to be value owing yourself a lot against live Vs.

<mod note: removed results>

Way too soon for results, OP. Let it go until the discussion dies down or until at least a day after your OP. When people read results, it biases their advice.

H1 - Fold everywhere. To the open, 3 bet, turn bet.

H2 - 3 bet bigger if you do flatting ok too. Just call flop. As played fold turn.

H1:

Trivial fold for me preflop. We have a junky dominated hand in too early position where we'll end up sandwiched postflop between the raiser and those who will have position on us.

And another trivial fold to the 3bet as we're simply putting in far too much money with a junky hand.

I'm also checking (to fold) the flop.

I'm also checking (to fold) the turn. Button probably has a big overpair that doesn't like the Ace but who knows if we're going to be able to get him off of it (or he might simply be slowplaying a monster for whatever reason). Meanwhile one of the other players could easily just passively be slowplaying an A (or better), although admittedly they likely would have bet the turn once the flop checked thru. But with a bet and a call, I think it would be very rare for us to have the best hand here. And with this amount of money in the pot compared to stacks, I don't think getting out-of-line here and shoving is going to work enough.


H2:

I think you could argue for all options preflop, and most of them likely depend a lot on skill level. This could be a trivial fold for some, a trivial 3bet for others, and perhaps a flat for those inbetween.

One of the reasons I don't 3bet as much preflop as others probably do is that I think it starts producing too small of SPRs and puts us in awkward commitment spots, when really we'd rather keep the SPR higher where our position will be of more benefit. My initial reaction was that I don't like the flop raise, as we have a fairly stable and showdownable hand that isn't looking to create a huge bloated pot on a bone dry board. But then I realized that thanks to the preflop 3bet our SPR is < 5, so maybe we're more cool with working towards commitment (with our TP being somewhat vulnerable to some overcards). But in the end I still think I flat. Bottom line for me: what worse hands does he go to the felt with if we as the preflop 3better start playing for stacks?

As played, even though we're certainly getting into commitment territory, I still think I lean to checking back the turn. A bet loses almost all hands we're crushing (what, we're getting called down by 77 here?) and obviously any hand that is crushing us ain't going anywhere. Board is still pretty drawless. At this point I'm looking to get to showdown and at most have only one more bet go in. I've lost track of pot size but I'm probably mostly folding to the check/shove unless this guy has proven he can pull insane moves against someone who looks like they are holding AA.

GcluelessNLnoobG

+1

GnutshellG

:grunch:

Hand 1
I'm folding to the initial raise, I'm folding to the 3!, im folding the turn. I'm also folding the flop if anyone had bet.

Hand 2
I can see arguments for both flatting and squeezing depending on table dynamics. If you're gonna squeeze, it needs to be significantly more though. Probably in the 55-60 range. And understand this is a bluff, NOT value.

Why are we raising flop here? Is the goal to get V to fold any hand we beat and call with any hand you're getting crushed by? Because that's what a raise is going to do. Call to keep V's range wide. AP, the turn is a check behind but given the situation you've now gotten yourself into it's a turbo fold.

Not much that hasn’t been said. Hand 1 fold at every opportunity. You don’t want to be doing much cold calling preflop.

Hand 2 raise pre is fine, but sizing is not. I wouldn’t go less than $45. It’s ok to encourage OOP calls but $30 is just too small. Calling pre is also fine.

I am also raising flop against this sizing but again the size is too small. I would go $70 which is about half pot. If villain had sized larger I would just call but I’m not just calling 1/4 pot. For people arguing not much worse calls, I disagree. Tx should call and 99- should sometimes as well.

I’d check turn looking to call or value bet most rivers. There’s not much to deny equity against.