First hand 1/2 blinds $200 starting stack

Hero UTG (AA)

Preflop there is a straddle on the BTN by Villain to $5

Hero raises to $15 only Villain calls.

Flop ($36) Ts3x7s

Hero checks

Villain bets $15

Hero calls

Turn ($66) 4x

Hero bets $30

Villain raises $85


Second hand 1/2 blinds $100 staring stack

Hero has AQ in HJ and raises to $12

UTG calls

Flop ($36) 2AKr

Hero bets $15

Villain calls

Turn ($66) 3

Hero checks

Villain checks back

River ($66) 9

Hero bets $20

Villain shoves for $65 effective

Hero tanks and concludes that based on the way the had played out was AA, KK, AK, and 45s. Hero

Thoughts on these hands?

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Please don't post results in your OP. They bias advice. Wait until converstaion dies out, or at least 24 hours.

Hand one: Bet flop.

Hand 2: Bet turn.

Yeah have definitely shouldn’t have posted results in the OP. @Garick I’m a little on the fence about the last hand because I feel like it’s kind of optimistic to think that he would raise with a worse hand than AQ? In the end though I think calling it off with worse than AQ. Thoughts on this? These hands were especially tilting because they both happened on the same night within 10mins of me taking my seat.

Don't focus on the beats as much as the inflection points

Hand 1: could go a little larger pre, I would bet flop for 20-25

Hand 2: I would bet larger on the flop , at least 20; i don't mind the X on the turn if you think your hand is worth 2 streets of value vs a K or weaker A and you don't need much protection but this means that you have to be able to Bet/fold the river; the price you're getting is pretty good but its just hard to have the best hand in that spot bc this guy shouldn't be bluffing often when it looks like you'll have to call for 45 more

So the reason behind the call on the river was because I didn’t bring a rebuy with me and I didn’t want to sit short. It was poor logic and I should have known that the raise on the river meant I was on bad shape because there really isn’t a single raise he should have that I beat.

While sophisticated players would scoff these days at this advice, at 1/2 if someone raises you while you're betting with top pair on the turn or river, your pair is no good.

I agree....when I think I’m being bluffed at 1/2 most likely I’m beat. Once in a while I catch a bluffer but not enough to be profitable vs folding in that situation

Guys, correct me if I’m wrong. Hand 1 I’m betting flop for value. He has tons of Tx and flush draws. As played, no I’m not folding the turn. If o try to think on another level, what’s he put me on? Ax that delayed the c-bet, stuff like that. We have too much hand to fold here. Hand 2, can probably get away, but those odds are pretty good. I’d probably call and prepare to reload.

Bet the flop in hand 1. Lots of value to be had. From that point on, it's such an odd line that I'm really not sure how to range an unknown V.

What is going on with the positions in hand 2? Preflop we're in the HJ and V is UTG, but we're acting first postflop. Regardless, definitely bet turn. There are plenty of weaker aces to get value from.

Yeah I wasn’t really sure what V had in hand 1. I figured he may have TPTK or something close to it. The river ended coming blank and I felt that I was still good against the hands he might have and shoved for $65ish. He snapped with T4dd for a turned 2 pair.

Hand 2 I messed up on the positions when I wrote the history. He was acting before me the entire time. He ended up snapping calling with 45hh for the turned straight. Looking back I really think calling the all-in was a bad play on this hand because I don’t think he would shove river with anything I beat.

Also @Jay S are you saying V took an odd line or myself? And if your are saying I took an odd line would you please explain why? Thanks!

I'm saying you took an odd line in Hand 1. You opened pre, check/called a small bet on a flop where a cbet for value is pretty standard against a random 1/2 V. Then you led < 1/2 pot on a turn that obviously didn't help you (and could have helped V) with an underrepped but far from nutted hand. I don't see a coherent purpose to the line, neither for your exact hand nor for your UTG opening range. There are better ways both to get value and to get folds.

Also, you are being way results oriented on Hand 2. The correct takeaway is not that you should have folded.

You should focus on your decisions on every street, not whether you could have prevented your losing hands.

+1

Also, don’t play with 50BB. Rake considerations.

Pot odds make it unimportant that you’re mostly beat.

why did you check/call AA on the flop in hand 1? And then why did you decide to lead out on the turn?

Hand 1: make it more preflop because btn can call you with all sorts of stuff profitably for 3x his straddle. I’d make it 4x as a standard in button straddle games.

You played this terribly. I thought flop was bad, but then you managed to do something worse by donking the turn. Why on earth would you feign weakness like an ace high hand on the flop only to face all of his potential airballs with a bet on the turn? I call this the idiot checkraise for a reason: you want more money in the pot, check raise the flop. If you play as a check call on the flop, you should be playing the turn as either a check call or check raise (probably just a check call on this turn).

As for what to do when raised, I don’t know because I’d literally never play AA like this, unless maybe I’m against a MUBSy and incapable of bluffing type opponent after check calling turn on something like QT6-8 and rivering an A or 6. I’d probably call it off because you look like you have some sort of A5 type crap that had the genius idea of donking turn as a bluff.



Hand 2: why are you making it 6 bb with AQo at 50 bb effective, but only 3 bb effective with AA at 40?

This hand is all screwed up. How does UTG check back? I assume he limp called pre (given your sizing) and check called flop.

Checking turn is awful against live 1/2 players. They will have any ace in their range, lots of kings. And they’ll never bluff raise you. On AK2r, this is the perfect flop to take all of your good top pair hands (AT-AQ) and bet them small for value 3x. They’ll just keep calling with A7 because it’s only 25 into 65 and then only 45 into 115.

Fold to the jam. You have a pure bluffcatcher against someone incapable of bluffing.


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The reason for the flop check was because the game was very passive and in my mind the flop wasn’t going to give him much improvement. Therefore he likely wouldn’t call my flop lead of $20. I dinked turn because he called me on the flop which lead me to believe that he had a hand capable of calling a bet and I don’t want to have it check through. I shoved river because the card didn’t change anything so if I was good on the turn I’d be good on the river so I should shove to get the maximum. I agree that I should have raised bigger pre and lead on the turn. As for hand #2 I checked turn because I didn’t see myself getting 3 streets from that hand. However, at 50bbs I think I should have just lead turn and then folded to the jam because like you and others have said that’s never a bluff.

He didn’t call you on the flop. You called him. All he did was bet. He has made hands sure, but some of them beat you, and some of his range is bluffs. If you didn’t want to have it check through, then you should’ve bet or check raised the flop. Your line is truly terrible and you need to stop check call - donking boards like this.

And I’m confused. You said villain raised turn. When did you shove?

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This.

Ed Miller emphasizes this over and over again in his book The Course. From the average 1/2 player, respect big bets/raises on the turn and river. Sure they may be bluffing/semi-bluffing, but they're likely doing it a frequency which is way too infrequent for you to profitably detect.

The flop was Ts3x7s. This is a reasonably wet flop with a variety of draws that will call a bet. Letting them catch up is a good recipe for getting stacked.