Full table, I have been there for a few hours. 1-2nl. I have around $600, I have a good winning image. I am in 8th seat. There are two solid players in 1 and 2 seats to my left.

I stood up to make a phone call and when I got back I had to post. I would of had to wait like 2 or 3 hands for my bb. I decided to post. I think its a mistake and I should of just waited.

I post and get AT
I am utg +2 and I check my option. (I think this is also a mistake and I should of raised so that I don't play OOP and passively. But maybe thats wrong).
Seat 1 raises to $10. There are 2 callers and I call. Again, I think I should just fold such a weak hand.
Flop AT5
I bet $20 seat 1 raises to $40 everyone else folds. I think that his min raise is probably AK and I decide to play fast and re-raise to $100 with one black chip

He calls.

Turn: 7
I bet $135
He looks at his cards (he doesn't have a flush) and calls. At this point I am still thinking that he had AK with a K of spades

River: 4
I put him all in for $160

What are thoughts on my play street by street

The 4 on the river was a non-club

Why do you have him on AK with no preflop raise?

I think a5, 55, and combo draws are the bulk of his range after the flop raise.

Turn card sucks, but the physical read is comforting. He isn't checking his hole cards with the combo draw. He might be checking to see if he has the 5c. Betting here continues to charge a5, but value-owns yourself against 55. Same goes for the brick river card.

So it comes down on our read on seat 1/what you mean by "solid." I'm fine with the line against most 1/2 opponents though.

Raising pre is bad imo, u're gonna bloat a pot oop with a mediocre holding. Folding pre is ok.

Also not sure I like leading otf, u pretty much turn ur hand face up. Firing ott is also bad imo, u are obv not happy about the card that hit.

In addition, apart from the line I think ur sizing is bad, doubt u had a plan about it throughout the hand

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I think seat 1 (villain) opened for $10 here, so AK/AQ with a check back to the hole cards for the K or Q of clubs is certainly feasible.

OP - as for your other comments, I think posting in middle position is fine, checking your option is fine, and calling the raise after 2 other callers is fine as well. You're getting 4 to 1 on a call when it is back around to you, and you are closing the action.

Agree with tolis here postflop. Let the preflop aggressor continue, and I probably putting in a nice size cr, especially if there is another caller. If no other caller I may still go that route, and then check the turn, lead the river.

I wouldn't say you did anything "bad" it just makes your hand face up. I would put you on AT/TT/55 if I were villain. I think your read of AK with a club check is prob right most of the time. Maybe don't donk out the flop. As played I would've probably flatted his raise and check raised the turn. Of course then maybe he doesn't bet the turn on the club so who knows. Maybe you could play it better maybe not. I think it's marginal either way.

Taking the momentum from the o.r. is bad here imo.. so is playing this mediocre offsuit holding oop unless table is pretty spewy.

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If it's only a few hands I don't mind waiting until I am the BB but it isn't a big deal. Pre I think raising is better then calling IMO. On the flop I don't hate the lead but I think it is too small. When Villan min raises me I think some Alarm bells should be going off but it could be due to your small donk lead. I actually think you need to be 3 betting larger on the flop. There is 120 in the pot once you raise and it is only 60 more for villan to call. I pre something larger with the plan to stack off. I don't see villans stack mentioned, is he 300 bb deep too? If so I think we should be Flatting flop.

That's wrong. AT-off is a decent hand, not a great hand, but decent. You don't want to pre-flop raise it. You need to keep this pot on the smallsih side since you're OOP here. Folding, especially when you have an option, is too nitty.

You don't want to donk here. Check to the raiser, let him c-bet. Then you pop it. You don't have to bang it so hard to wreck his odds if he's drawing. You also don't want to take him out of the lead in case he's playing TPTK, nor do you want to clue him in in case you get lucky and fill.

I wonder how "solid" he really is if he can't remember two cards for a few minutes if this is a genuine tell and not a faint. If I had: ( A, K ) here, I'd fire that barrel and put Hero to the big decision with an AI. I would play my fold and redraw equity here, and I know where the nuts are.

I don't like the donk lead on the flop, and I think the bet sizing is a bit too ambitious.

Flop is meh. Should probably fold pre, but seems like you are deep enough to call.
Villains raise to $10 with a buncha limpers is pretty weak.

I don't love the reraise on the flop. I'd just call here.

As played, I guess the turn lead and river ship are ok.

Villain should not have a flush here. I expect to see A5 and 55 most of the time. If he has AK, he is a complete drooling monkey. AK should never call that flop bet.

I lol'ed at 'complete drooling monkey'

Disagree with most and think donking the flop is best. This is 1/2. On a table filled with people that read 2+2, the donk could set off alarm bells. Most 1/2 villains aren't thinking the same way as readers of this forum.

Most donk leads at this level are medium strength hands or draws. 1/2 villains are trap happy and as such. They always go for cr line here so of course expect others to think the same way.

This is a wet board, donking doesn't narrow your range in villains eyes that much. I'd take a bet/bet/bet line to maximize value with sizes to deny correct odds from flush draws. You will get value from all kinds of stuff like AK, AQ, club draws, A5 etc.

Donk with correct bet size looks weaker than CR.

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+1

In addition, I would like to add that preflop was badly badly played.

1) With ATo, you really do not want to go into post flop OOP with such a mediocre hand.

2) The reason? Being OOP limits a lot of possible options/lines you can take post flop to either maximise profit or minimise losses.


As played, donking flop is good. Your objective now is to get as much money into the pot as possible.

You may also want to over shove when villain raises your donk bet. At 1/2, few people will fold when they raise post flop. Hence, achieving your objectives.

I think the sizing issue is a good point. I agree that my small 3bet on the flop doesn't provide much information. Its basically a click back. He can call with a big club or AK or A5, AT, TT, 55.

He had around $400 to start the hand.

This was my thinking too. I feel that at 1-2 fast playing is usually better than CR.
If I CR flop I might get a crying call from AK but he will probably shut down after that and I won't get anything else.

I think in this case the best play might of been to CR turn because the flush hit and I can turn my hand into a bluff. It will look believable since I called Flop and now check raising when the flush hit. I am pretty confident he doesn't have a flush the way he checked his cards.

I think I need to be more aware of bet sizing because on the river he only had $160 left and the pot was around $500.

Maybe the sizing should have been:

Call $10 raise pre (pot is $40)
Call $30 flop (i am assuming he would bet around $30 on the flop and everyone folds (pot is $100)
Lead out for $75 on the turn (he will most likely just call since a club came) (pot is $250)
Lead out for $180 on the river

I think this line is stronger and the sizing is better.

Thoughts?

I gotta admit I got close to zero experience in live games so maybe leading can be fine. I still believe it turns ur hand face up tho, which I do not like at all. Facing ur lead/raise a good villain will often fold AK. If he is a station that commits with any tp then the story is obv different but unless I missed sthg this is not the case

In any case turning top 2 into a bluff ott is a really flawed way of thinking imo. By leading out tho, u deny him a free card which I think this is the right play here.

As for sizing, both when u bet for value and when u bluff, try leaving close to a pot sized bet for the river. U dont wanna commit him when u are bluffing, and will also have to at least somewhat balance this and invite him to call when valuebetting.

All in all the line u described here is way better imo, may be best actually. Just make sure u have a plan on how to proceed on any river card.

And one last thought, I guess I fold pre as said before. Were other callers in the blinds or behind u?

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Live 1/2, this is just not true. Amazing how the huge majority of your opponent's are trap happy with 2pair+, and almost all the time donk leads are weakish made hands or draws.

No one is folding AK to a reasonable sized donk lead on this wet board.

Last time I played, I donk lead the flop into pf raiser with bottom set, he raised, I 3! And called his 4! Shove And I won the close to 400bb pot. He never showed, but must have had AK or AQ. And this guy was the best villain at the table by far.

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Not sure what to say, I play online so guess u guys know better. If plrs are indeed that bad then I agree hero should do anthg it takes to commit them early in the hand.

If this is indeed the case he should just make it bigger otf and ship ott maybe, or x/call it off if he senses v will ship himself. But against any semicompetent plr with basic reading skills I don't like the actual line for reasons I explained earlier

Oh, and to make myself clear I did not mean he will fold to a single lead, that would be a joke, but to the lead/raise

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Possible he could fold to the 3! On the flop. Just calling the 3! And then leading turn to set up river shove is a reasonable option. The downside to this is a club on the turn could kill your action. Gotta decide in game if villain is capable of raise/folding the flop or not.

Great things about live low stakes are most aren't capable of thin value bets/raises and don't have raise or 3! Raise/fold ranges. Greatly simplifies hand reading and getting maximum value.

I played exclusively online until black Friday. Live 1/2 players aren't anywhere near as good as online playing for quarters and dimes.


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Guys, thank you for all your replies.

So, when I putt him all in for $160 he thought for a few minutes and called with

TT

so he had a middle set on the flop.

I thought about that possibility but discounted it because I had a T in my hand. So, I think a bit of a cooler in that regard.

Again, thanks for your thoughts and analysis.

AP not really much u can do imo. Cold deck but better to avoid getting there by folding pre

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Against bad, below average players, your play is fine. They will call down with smaller two pairs. I doubt if they will call so much with AK, AQ. But against any decent players, your hands is face up. They know u have better than TPTK with those bet sizes. If they call you down, u r hoping they have smaller two pairs. You know the results, so he has no flush. But it is a mistake to assume he has no flush in his ranges.
Your main mistake is playing against the solid player OOP and bloating the pot.

Almost no villain is good at 1-2 NL. It's far more likely that a villain would be a calling station.

Until you figure out how to deal (or not get involved) with the good villains (few) at 1/2, you will be a break even player at best. You will only be playing a variance game.