Hi everyone,

I’m technically a beginner, so have also posted this in the beginners forum. I took poker seriously from around 2000-2008 and was a winning online player over a couple thousand hours at 6-handed limit hold’em and O/8 up to $2/$4 and making around $15-$20 an hour back then including bonuses and rakebacks. Never got deep into math but felt very comfortable playing 8ish tables at a time with (I think it was called) pokertracker HUD and regularly loved studying the latest strategy literature and lurking on the forums. I mostly quit around 2008 and have played low stakes NLHE a few times a year since then but never took it seriously.

I am now seriously committed to learning again and am halfway through Miller’s The Course, presently focusing on getting comfortable with his starting hands by position and never limping (though I’ll admit to limping several times now in my grand total of 20 hours live since taking it seriously). I have them written out on my phone and will occasionally check it after I played or mucked a questionable starting hand; also have the whole list in front of me while occasionally grinding microlimits on GlobalPoker (I’m in Texas and I think that’s my only online option for real money?).

The Hand

I’d be grateful for any thoughts as I felt fairly lost on each round of betting here. Not sure what else I am supposed to be thinking about on each street, etc.

9 handed 1/3 NLHE. The table is fairly loose and aggressive preflop, not so much after. I’m on the button with QQ and around $300. UTG +1, a LAG with over $3k who recently moved from PLO makes it $10. Gets a caller. Later position player who I don’t know much about but has been playing tight makes it $30, cutoff calls, I call, UTG +1 calls, as does the other caller.

Without knowing much of anything regarding the 3 bettor, is just a call correct here? I’d considered making it $90 but if I did that, I would not have known what do on the flop considering a pot of at least $200 if I’m called by anyone and a remaining stack of $210ish.

5 to the flop of AQTr–pot $150

UTG bets 25, early position caller folds, 3 bettor calls, cutoff calls, I call and now have about $250.
I thought about raising the flop (for value?) but then thought that, with position, if I got a nice card on the turn, I could pop it on the turn. I was confused as to what to do if a K, J, or 9 came on the turn, that was another reason for calling.

Turn was a 3x–pot $250, I have $250ish. Checked to me and I was lost. I was confident I had the best hand but figured that any bet left me pot committed, so I considered pushing. The counter to that was that I was unlikely to get called. If I bet half the pot, I might get a call or two but also giving str8 draws a chance to draw out. I think at least one of my opponents has an A and possibly all of them have str8 draws.

What should I have done and why? Thanks!

All in.

Played fine, although you could have 4bet pre from BTN (I might have depending on vibe from 3bettor) and raised the flop, but I'm OK with your decisions. Now just shove.

I think the right move preflop is to shove. There are a lot of players in the hand, and a reasonable 4-bet size is just about a third of your stack. Do not just flat-call the three-bet. If you never, ever flat-called three-bets, you would be making a mistake very rarely, and this is not that spot.

On the flop, just get it in. The stack-to-pot ratio is too low to get cute.