I am a 1/2 player who took my first shot at 2/5 this past weekend and had a lot of success but found myself in some difficult spots.

I bought in for only 300 and had a very tight but winning image.I have a feeling I overplayed this hand and would like some feedback. I am on the button with 23 and I limp in with 2 limpers in front of me. 5 way to the flop. Effective stacks $500.

Flop (25$) AJ4

UTG (tight solid player) bets out $20, 1 caller, I raise to $100, utg calls.

Turn (265$) Q

UTG checks, I bet $150, UTG raises putting me all in for another $250 more.

Hero?

I would call. If he has a set he plays it the same way. Your only 100bb deep with half your stack in already plus you have a redraw to a sf. odds of two people flopping a flush is very high (but not impossible).

That's a tough spot. As played, I call. When you bet the 150$ you are almost committing to the call.

He could only be ship with A Qc or any sets thinking he has the additional outs to catch a higher flush or boat up. Maybe A Kc but I doubt TPTK is shipping in this spot.

He seems to just be shipping to protect his set or two pair.

As for the line, I am absolutely fine with preflop, betsize is fine on flop, maybe bet a bit more on turn but I am fine with every street. Good play. If he had two clubs can't do much about it.

I think pre is okay as long as you are folding more often here. 23s just has so little equity especially against the average player's limping range (i.e. lots of bigger suited cards, small/mid pocket pairs)... I'd almost rather play it heads up in a raised pot where I have more steal equity / less likely to be overflushed / have a more disguised hand when I bink trips or two pair.

I think the flop raise sizing is a little big. It is a pot-sized raise which is great for getting stacks in by the river in a limped pot, but it's hard to get worse to call on a monotone board. $75-80 should do the trick.

When you get called by a "tight, solid" player, what exactly do you put him on? Wouldn't a tight/solid player raise AA/JJ/AJ pre? Would a tight/solid player really call the huge flop raise and check/shove turn with a set on a monotone board? You have the lowest possible flush and you are up against a bigger flush 100% of the time.

Raise a little smaller flop, bet/fold turn.

I would have checked turn. Your turn bet makes you pot committed IMO and you may have to call.

I think OP has bigger flush

Grunching ...

Think the turn should be smaller vs. a tight, solid player. We can fold and lose less when raised (behind). If ahead, the smaller sizing may get some value.

If opponent is indeed tight/solid I would elim (in the least, underweight) AA/JJ/AQ from his range given his limp pre. AJ on the border, nonetheless he is almost never raising the turn w/AJ.

Could he limp with KcTx from UTG? Definitely could w/44. However, think he is more likely to 3-bet flop for 100 bbs effective w/bottom set.

You have invested 50% of stack, so calling may not be a mistake. Still, I'd lean fold as played, given the opponent image.

Checking turn seems results orientated but I think it's correct.

I am never, ever, ever checking turn 100bb deep. We raised flop so we can get stacks in vs a stubborn AJ or KcJx. As played turn bet sizing is fine imo and it's perfectly fine to fold once it's clear we are beat since V's range is so defined. If V has a large bluffing frequency the call becomes more profitable, but after the strength we have shown, there are almost no bluffs in V's range here.

And shoving with 44 is effectively V turning hand into a bluff imo.

I'd actually just flat the flop here. Raising is going to fold everything smaller than 2 pair or nfd. Our hand is strong but vulnerable, with very little chance to improve.

I want three streets of value with my small flush, and I want to be able to get away from it when the obvious scare card shows up. Easiest way to do that is to call flop, call/bet turn, call/bet river. If a fourth club comes up, we easily fold to any bet. If it doesn't, then we get the max from top pair/two pair-type hands, and lose the min to bigger flushes.

The downside to calling is that it lets opponents draw cheaply, and it may prevent us from stacking flopped sets. But with a small pot preflop, I'd rather keep villains' ranges wide than fold them off of their 9, 10, or Q clubs.

It's OK to buy in short, a lot of people at 2/5 aren't very good short-stack players and if you play it right you can have an advantage over them. But you have to know how the game is played. It's like being short in a tournament: you should be looking for an excuse to get all in, and you aren't going to like suited connectors very much, especially nut-low sc's

For the record, I folded in this spot. My image was just too tight and I could not possibly see my opponent trying to bluff me off of my hand for such a small amount. In my cross examination he seemed super strong, was willing to show me one of his cards but the dealer didn't allow it. After the hand he let me go into the much to see one of his cards, it was a 7, I don't see how he could've been bluffing, thoughts?

If you have to make a thread about this hand then you should just fold pre.