This was about 6 months ago, but was thinking about it recently.

1-2 - some casino in Alberquerque

Little Old Lady raises to 10 in EP (~$200 stack), hero calls on button with A9hh (~$200 stack). Blinds fold

LoL is one of those you see in poker rooms made up to the nines with lots of jewelry and looks like she's been through about 3 husbands who are either divorced or dead. Play has been nothing out of line. Seems loose passive.

hero MAWG playing TAG

Flop As7h4h. LoL bets $15. Call or Raise?

Call.

I don't really see much point in raising here.

Without any specific reads, I would guess that facing an UTG open from LoL, we are typically going to be up against something along the lines of AT+ and JJ+. So what do we accomplish when we raise? We are only getting action from hands which we are losing to/are on the bad side of a coinflip against, and folding out the hands which we crush.

Just call, hit your 9 and take her to valuetown. Otherwise, without improving, just try to get to showdown and pat yourself on the back when you lose the minimum vs. AK because LoL sure as hell didn't sit down to raise UTG and then bet/fold TPTK with 100 bb's effective.

We've all seen it hundreds of times. The EP raise, cbet TP/overpair, check when the draw gets there and then "f*** it I call". Who's to say that you don't get paid when the ultimate scarecard hits?

Like seriously, there will be plenty of spots where you can float and bluff, capitalize on scarecards vs. nits, herocall with K-hi, semi-bluff with combo draws, fire total air balls etc successfully. But the overwhelming majority of your winrate at these stakes will come from pure valuebetting. Once you begin to understand that 98.27% of your winnings @ $1/2 come from value betting your win rate will inevitably imrove. Until then, you will raise and commit yourself on the bad side of coinflip situations and your win rate and bankroll will stagnate and eventually bust to the rake.

This is a definite 'fold pre.'

Really? You fold pre OTB w/ TT against a $10 open? Why?

OP had Ah 9h, not 10s. So, yeah, I'm folding pre.

Sorry totally misread that, must have been another thread.

Flat the flop bet. Against a loose-passive old lady, this is a classic spot where it's hard to get better to fold and it's hard to get worse to call. I assume she has basically no worse Ax hands in her pre-flop raising range. We're getting good IOs to call and bink two pair or a flush.