Hi all, I'm a new player that's been lurking for a while but I have been studying poker quite extensively the past 3 months or so to start taking my chances at some live low stakes nl. I've saved a roll of $1000 (5 buy ins) and I also work full time. Thanks for any input!

Table is 1/2 nl, 9 seated, a ton of action. I bought in full at $200 and had been playing about 2 and a half hours. Lots of garbage table talk, I had told everyone I was a new player playing with my rent money and to take it easy on me. Some people were blabbering about how they usually play 2/5. I prob should have left this table especially considering stack sizes of some of the players. I had heard loose action is good to exploit however and figured I would give it a shot.

Hero UTG ($235) is a young TAG abc guy with a somewhat conservative image and won a couple large pots, lost a couple large pots, won a few small pots. I've only shown down with KK and Ad8d both winning hands.

LAG Maniac ($1000+) Villian is super loose middle aged man, in 100% of hands with limp/call about 50% of the time and raising about 50% of the time. I've seen him show down losing value hands like top pair good kicker, but also willing to go to river when faced with c bets on a busted flush draw. He got up and left the table for about 15 minutes after showing his busted flush hand. Talked a lot and gave off a drunk stupor kind of image (reverse tell). It appeared that he had been drinking the same beer for quite some time. Wife also came over to check up on him. I put him on LAG but wasn't sure if it was good LAG or donkey LAG.

Fishy? (~$750) Villain 2 is loose passive older man. I had seen him raise only once but limped in about 50% of pots. He had the capability to fold big hands because he would show top pair good kicker when value bet on the river and muck. However, he also called with a broken straight draw and showed his hand which lead me to believe he liked his draws.

Hero UTG gets dealt AK and raises to $15.

Folds to Villain 2 in CO, calls. Villain on BTN calls. BB and SB Fold.

$48 in Pot Flop: K68

Hero C-Bet $50, So my reasoning behind this C-bet was I had been C-betting and checking prior about 50/50 with C-bets in about the 75% pot range. Villains were calling whether I had hit flop or not or even donk leading, so I figured I would go to absolute value town here over betting with TPTK and backdoor flush. I think I'm ahead here but in hindsight my hand might as well be face up.

Villain 2 says he doesn't believe and tanks with an eventual call.

Villain raises to $120 after saying he was getting my rent money back.

Hero I'm completely leveled at this point. I feel behind and I know I should fold but the way this hand has played out since preflop was so that I could get it all in. I tank, look at CO and then to BTN who I think is the one who is stronger here and I ask if he's going to let me leave with my rent money or not. He says no, not this time. Hero???.


I'm not really sure where I stand and whether I'm good enough to be playing in this kind of action. Can anyone help me with what tables I should be looking to play at?

Welcome to the forum, OP. Please don't post results (including your last action) in your threads, as it biases responses. I edited them out.

Table talk followed by putting money in the pot is usually a tell of great strength, especially if it is a raise. I like the large c-bet for fat value, but fold to the raise with talk, imo. This is almost never a semi-bluff, even given that the guy gives "bad LAG" vibes. It is more likely a set from a V who wants calls for value and is bad enough at math that he doesn't realize that he's still offering V1 great odds on his likely draw.

If we were deeper, we could call to see if we pick up equity OTT, but calling commits us here and we don't have either the expressed or implied odds we need, and are basically never good. There are a few chops in V2's range, but almost nothing we beat (a couple of weirdly played semi-bluffs, perhaps).

As for table types, yes these huge action tables are high EV, but also high variance. For a player who is less confident and playing on a smaller roll, I'd avoid them. Once you are mentally and fiscally rolled for them, seek them out like the gold mine they are, but accept that mining is dangerous work.

You're fine, just fold.

Vs always "put you on AK" and here you have a call and a raise. You are no good, and likely drawing dead.

Not only will villains have a good idea what your hand is but they are likely to read your pot sized bet as "I hit this flop but I want to end this hand right now, please don't raise my top pair". Against 1 this could be a tough situation because they could be bluffing, drawing or have you beat. Against 2 you can easily fold, odds are one of them has you beat or is on a big draw.

OP, I wouldn't joke about playing with rent money. It's probably apparent to your opponents that you are scared money, and comments like this just cement it into everyone else's mind that you are an inexperienced/newish player with a low bankroll. If you were at my table, I would have taken your comment at face value and proceeded to try and play as many pots as possible with you in position. Basically, everyone knows that you are playing patient and by the "book" and know you are susceptible to getting stacked with a one pair hand since you are patiently waiting for premium hands.

As played, if you folded the flop, then you made the right fold. Your V put you on your exact hand and was never expecting you to fold.

How do I know when tptk is good enough, especially when villains are stations or bullying with stack sizes? I can't just assume villain has set here every time.

This is a tough spot for me to comprehend. Just because its multiway I have to assume one villain has me beat, I know that much because the more villains in pot the greater the chance one of them has a better hand.

I know I can't call here, and folding seemed correct at first, but i just feel like I may play weaker with tptk from now on.

Is checking with two suited cards on the flop better or maybe a 60% pot c bet?
I felt like I had pretty good reads on these villains for this hand. Villain 1 obviously used his image against me by being a maniac and then getting me to commit my stack when he hit his monster hand. How do I play better against this type of villain for future reference?

The key here is the reads and that comes with practice and experience. Fake drunk is a red flag for this hand. But is main Villain bluffing you and value betting V2? Is he really a maniac? Is he buying a free turn card with the nut flush draw and trying to score big against V2? What does he think of your game? Readless I like a jam here, but there are some warning signs. Tough spot.

Basically, you can get better quality feedback if you posted a full prior hand history where Main Villain showed aggression and the hand went to showdown. We need a better handle on Main Villain's skill and overall aggression level.

Quite a major note is that you can't be "bullied" with stack sizes in a cash game. This isn't a tournament, there is no threat of elimination, you are always playing the effective stack whether that's $5 or $5,000.

Just because someone has built up a big stack doesn't mean they can "push around" smaller stacks or anything.

How is this true? If Villian has 5,000 and hero buys in for 200 each time, couldn't Villian bet 200 against hero every single time to attempt to farm bad decisions? Especially against someone who has been read as scared money?

I understand it's not tournament and that is where I have most of my experience so far playing free rolls and low stakes buy ins.

However, villain still has more leeway to play more speculative hands and check raise semi-bluff more often than not right?

Each confrontation in this scenario someone goes up $200 and someone goes down $200. That fact that one player has an additional $4800 on the table and the other player has $4800 in his wallet doesn't change the result. The difference is only psychological (which can be everything, depending on the players)

Right but he can bet $200 each time if he has $201 or $5000. Makes no difference to hero you're still playing the $200 effective stack.

If hero is scared money then he can be bullied no matter how big villain's stack is. This is a cash game not a tournament, optimal decisions come from making the most +EV decision in terms of $, survival has nothing to do with it.

Only if someone else has a deep stack too, you're always playing the effective (smallest) stack.

The stack sizes make sense now as to why the hand played out the way it did.

Ok, I'm a terrible player but I enjoy math and anything that requires critical thinking, which is why I like the game so much. I want to make correct decisions which I why I came to this forum for insight.

Here's prior hand history and showdown with main villain or the lag maniac as I described in the prior hand. This hand is god awful and I horribly misplayed, I might as well be the fish and I don't think I really had any credibility after showing this hand down which is about one full orbit before the AK was dealt.

Truthfully this is the worst opening I made all night the only other hand I went to showdown with was KK.

Hero ($105) SB

"LAG" Villian ($1000+) HJ

Button straddles to $5

Hero dealt A8 raises to $20. Folds to villain who reraises to $40 and stumbles with chips a bit. (Licking his chops in hindsight)

(Mistake #1 if not counting the open as a mistake lol)
Action folds back to me, this SHOULD be a fold from me. I call.

Pot $82 Flop: 994

Hero checks, Villain c bet $40, Hero " I have flush draw lulz" snap call with no odds facing a paired board! "Mistake 2 or 3, good god I should fold"

Pot $162 Turn 9

Hero checks blind. "The worst card I could see lol" flush draw no good if opponent has PP. Villain checks behind!!! Wtf?

Pot $162 River A

Hero checks blind. "The best card I could see lol" in hindsight should have bet here. Villain checks behind again and shows a boat with pocket Kings. I flip over my busted flush nut Ace boat to win the pot.

I have no idea how villain checks behind on the turn here.

Makes some sense, you're folding all non-pair hands to a bet and he's only really scared of 5 cards in the deck

Some players might disagree with me on this but I believe a good way to play the low stakes against random players is to not delve too deep into their images. Play tight and get in the money good as often as you can. There is the problem of playing with only 5 bis and you can easily get it in good 4-5 times and not win a single pot. By creating an image for x Villain, you need to have a huge history with said player. At 1/2 tables I rarely put a super specific image on a player other than nit/reg/rec/lag or certain situations like playing multiple hours with a certain player and all of a sudden they 3bet for the first time ever, etc etc.

ok, from the hand history you've posted, the first thing to recognize is that you are very short stacked. with a $5 straddle out, $105 is 21 straddles. this makes for a much different game than if you are playing $200 at 1/2 (100 BB). With 21 straddles, the only playable hands are the medium poker pairs and up, and some of the big aces. There are no implied odds availabe to play anything else.

So, first to enter the pot with A8s is just a fold. There are too many people who haven't been able to reveal if they have a great hand yet, and you'll be out of position if you do see a flop. The hand is playable as a limp and then jam preflop over a raise depending on who raised. However, this is a high variance play and sounds like you're not ready for that kind of poker yet.

Once you do enter the pot and get min-raised, you should probably fold, which illustrates the problem with putting $20 in there in the first place. With KK against your stack size, Villain play is reasonable and doesn't give us much insight into his play. Fumbling chips is a strength tell, so if he was genuinely excited about his KK, the fumble could suggest that he is a novice.

Once you see this flop, I would shove on the flop. You are betting $60 into a pot of $80. It is a great result if this move gets Villain to fold. If he calls, you almost always win with another diamond and possibly with an Ace and you are likely near 50/50 to win while risking $60 to win $140. The paired board isn't much of a concern here. You making a flush, but losing to a boat is possible, but not that likely in this situation. It is a bigger deal when there is significant chips behind, as then it is more likely that you may only get action when you are beat.

He should bet the turn. You only have $25 left and the pot is $160. Him not betting the turn suggests a weaker player, although it isn't the worst error ever.

As far as insight into the main hand, I could see this Villain thinking KQ is super against hero, so I don't think I'd fold. But it is hard to say. We don't know if Villain is good enough to recognize that you played the A8 poorly.

Only the player on my immediate right was straddling quite frequently, there was also a straddle coming on the button from a few other players here and there too.

Thanks for all the great insight.

Shoving all day with your stack size against a "super loose" villains raise on a fairly wet flop. Also... not paying too much attention to the speech play.