Playing today in a live 1/2 NL game ($300 max) at a casino. I was in the following hand and would like to know the correct way to play it. I had $450 behind me.



UTG (hero): As Qh (bet $15)
UTG + 1: fold.
UTG + 2: fold
6: call ($15)
7: call ($15)
8: fold
9: call ($15)
dealer: fold
sb: call ($15)
bb: fold


Pot = $75
Flop = Ah Ad 7h

sb: check
hero: bet $50
6: fold
7: fold
9: fold
sb: call $50

at this pointing im thinking either he has a weaker Ace, is on the flush draw, or potentially (unlikely) has pocket 7s for the boat.

Pot = $175

Turn = 6h

Villian leads out $75 (he has about $160 left behind him).

hero: calls $75. rationale is that I have so many redraws if I am behind. I put him on a low flush

Pot: $325

river: 2s.

Villain Shoves $160

Hero: I think about it for a minute, and then fold my trip aces.


What would be the correct play in this situation. I am not familiar with the play of the other person.

I think without any reads on your opponent this is a fold. Most likely your beat here. Sometimes your folding the best hand, but I think calling is -EV in this spot.

?!?!?!?!?

Fistpump-call this river.


If he's a typical $1/2 villain he's taking this line with any Ace. You beat AJ-A8, A5-A3.
The check OTF is consistent with a FD as well as the A. Leading out on the turn could also be an A with a H kicker.

I doubt that a FH leads the turn on you since most at these stakes get really trappy.


The other thing is that it sounds like you really hated seeing that turn card. Probably so much so that the V noticed. (As oblivious as these guys are, they often detect when the obvious draw comes in and the hero squirms.) This is doubly true when you flat the turn, especially if you take a while to do it. If he thinks you hate it, he may bet turn and river either as a bluff with a missed hand, or even with AJ because he doesn't understand what to do with the information.

So with all that, I'm calling.

OP give us some reads on the villain. If you can't supply any the thread is useless and will probably be closed.

In a vacuum I am shoving the turn here unless you have a read he never bets without a flush or a boat. Once you call turn the odds are such that you basically are committed to the pot.

I realise now that shoving the turn was probably the best move. Calling the turn wasn't too smart. I probably should have called the river at that point as well.

I've been running terribly, sets over sets. Sets cracked aces cracked, kings cracked etc. for the last few days and am down about 8 buy ins. I think around two of those buy ins were the result of bad play (ie stacking off with bottom two pair) but not a single combo, straight flush draw etc has hit which has bled money too.

Gonna take a break for a while and study up.

Yea this.

Villains spazz with trip aces, and they spazz hard. I'm not sure it's a fist pump call though. When a villain donks the river at 1/2 alarm bells should be ringing.

Still, as Angrist noted, villains WAY overvalue trip aces in this spot. It's $160 to call $480, he only needs to be spazzing with a weaker ace 1 in 4 times for this to be a break even call.

I sigh call without some outside factor like a soul read.

X
Thanks for all the feedback guys. The problem is, I couldn't see him from where we were sitting. I was seat 2, he was seat 10 (or is it the other way around) and have never played with him before. After I folded he showed JJ. At that point when everyone at the table (donkeys for the most part) were saying how did you fold that. I thought I was making a big lay down. The problem is, I will make the hero call in a lot more marginal spots when I feel that I am good based on the opponent/betting patterns. I just hope that my losing streak didn't factor into my decision to fold. I realise that it was probably a shove spot on the turn.

What do others think about shoving the turn? You have a very strong hand and your opponent is leading into you. I'm inclined to just flat and let him continue to bet into your strong hand. If he has a weaker ace he's probably not going anywhere anyways (I guess a heart could kill your river action so we should take that into account) and if he's just trying to take the pot from you your shove will cause him to fold and you lose out on another 160 that you may have gotten on the river.

Also if you're running bad maybe take a break? Thread will prolly be locked but I thought I'd get this in.

When I first started playing if I ran bad...it really affected my game, it's a spiraling effect. You keep telling yourself it's run bad but at some point it's bad play. Best improvement to my early game was taking a 1 to 2 week break.

It's hard bc you want to get back in the saddle. But tell yourself if you're a good player you should easily have the patience to take a two week vaycay. When you come back you will be refreshed and just have the backbone of your game to play on.

Nowadays runbad doesn't affect me, but these breaks were needed in my early days of poker.

At 1/2 without reads? Shove turn here 100% and be thrilled to get it in.

Reads would be great. Shoving turn is not so great. Decide in the turn if you believe he has it or not. If e does ten fold. If e doesn't ten call te turn and river.

Hi all,

Thanks for this opportunity to learn. i am constantly reading and trying to watch videos etc in an effort to improve my cash game play.

I am aware that its a mixture of running bad and playing bad. I consider this fold a bad play. But there has also been countless suckouts and coolers. A few week break is definitely in order. I am new to the forum so excuse me for asking, but what do you mean by the thread being locked. I am starting to think that perhaps I should transition to online play in order to help build my roll up again.

I was sitting at around $7000. But now I am down to just over $5000. For 300nl I feel like its pretty well rolled. (I built it up from only $500 a couple months ago playing live and was obviously running really well. I want to have a bigger cushion than 16 buy ins (300 max).

I am unfamiliar with HUDs and how to use them to your advantage, and find myself playing better (generally) live.

What would you recommend to help me build my roll up (as there is no stake to drop down to live).

We are not asking for a live tell... was his hands shaking, ect. We are asking for reads. Is he young? old? does he play every hand? some hands? Is he ABC or tricky trappy?Did he bluff before? When you first sit at a table, it is important to establish some reads on every player based on generalizations and develop from there.
It seems to me that you are not paying too much attention to the table. You are betting $15 pre with no explanation. And it seems like the bet was way too low because you got too many callers.
After the hand, since he showed jacks, you should be thrilled and not tilted. You have discovered a player that will bet into you with 2 aces and a flush on the board with a hand that should be considered maybe good enough to have showdown value. When you find these fish, exploit them to the max. Imagine how he will handle an overpair to a super wet board. Reload enough to cover him and play ABC and you will have your money back very soon.

As played one thing jumps or: why call the turn bet if you aren't calling it betting independent of the river card? Especially in this case when it completes no obvious overdraws.

I would either shove our folds turn as you played.

Imo this is a must call at this point.

Agree on not shoving the turn. If we're ahead we're likely to stay ahead, so there's more value in letting him possibly fire again. This is part of why I fist-pump snap call these rivers, I already made the decision on the turn.

(Break your "h" key?)

You're basically only trying to keep pure air in. He isn't folding Ax and I want to charge him to continue with a flush draw.

Having a lot of 1/2 experience it is simply obvious to me here that the villain is never ahead of your hand here mainly due to the check call, lead line. Its not out of the cards for him to check call a flush draw here or even check call a 7x. His range could be any 2 for the most part being as he was getting such a good price pre flop and oh how those fish love to see flops. The lead on the turn when the flush gets there is the alarm. I forget who mentioned it above but for the most part even the fishiest of fish in 1/2 love to trap. It is close to unheard of for the villain to check call and then lead when his draw gets there. The villain here at this point is A. Making a play due to a detected read or impulse on the flop play or B. Has a weaker A in his hand and is trying to build the pot in an unorthodox way for perceived misconception in the opponents eyes. This is not a rare occurrence for a 1/2 player to play a big pair this way and to a thinking player its going to look completely weird and we shouldnt really be too results oriented here, this hand will not show up often in this spot. The villain is being unintentionally creative and to me it looks like you may have outleveled yourself a bit here. Also your comment about how you have been running seems to have aided you in making an improper fold. Because of how you have been running I think you overthought this situation and are more likely to be putting opponents on the few hands that beat you when you have had a series of run bad. Do not be results oriented. Look at each hand as a new hand and a new session. Each hand is seperate from every other and the same is true for each individual session. If we are calling a bet here on the turn we are never folding any river. A call is to simply keep all of the opponents range in (made hands and bluffs.) If there is any uncertainty at this point I think the correct play is to stick it in on the turn but if we do have a good read we can definitley call twice, figuring he either has a hand we crush or has a bluff that we want the opponent to barrel again.

This has all been very helpful, thank you. I realize that post flop play is an area where I am lacking. I understand concepts of pot control etc, but need to improve my game. What resources would you recommend?

No reads on opponent so for a typical calling station type 1-2 fish-- I would put you ahead the vast majority of the time. the villain's c-call on the flop and bet on the flush card turn doesn't make sense for typical fish having a flush here, they would c-call or c-raise the turn, trying to be deceptive.

He's stacking off with any ace, unlikely that he's playing AK b/c no pfr. Depending on the player, He's probably stacking off with a 7 or pockets 88+. I think you have plenty of value here and are simply getting it in

F my phone.

This one right here. Keep posting hands. Keep reading and start commenting on hands. Expect to be flamed mercilessly until your play improves. 2+2 is the greatest poker resource on earth. It's dynamic, current, and available free of charge.

So your meaning to tell me that if the villain check called the turn and donked the river, or check raised the turn...i should most likely fold?

As much as we like to attribute stationy behaviors to these random players ... they can still fold an Ax to a turn shove. They're not all going to do it all of the time, but when we've got position on them I see no reason to give them an opportunity to fold. They're betting the river themselves a high % of the time anyway.

I think coming up against a flush is more likely, but I still don't think you're ever folding this hand against a typical player because of the value you get from villian holding Ax, 7x, PP's 88+