I have fun playing 2/5 a couple hours a year. I’m very recreational but I’ve been to 2+2 so not a maniac or calling machine. Two hands last night felt wrongly played. I know I should have raise the KJ hand preflop.

About $600 effective
Hero BB K♣️J♣️
MP, HJ, SB limp Hero checks

Pot: ~18
Flop J♦️9♣️ 5♣️
Check, Hero Bets 20, everyone calls

Pot: ~93
Turn 7♦️ Check, Hero bets $60, only button calls

~213
River T♦️
Hero check, button bets 125, hero calls


Second hand
About $400 effective
Hero Button with A♠️2♠️
CO opens for $20, Hero Calls, BB calls

Pot ~58
Flop 3♦️4♥️ 5♣️
CO bets $20, Hero Calls, BB Calls

Pot: ~115
Turn 4♠️
BB leads $20,CO Raises $80, Hero Jams ($325).

1) Positions are screwed up in hand 2. Are you SB or BTN? If you are BTN, as indicated, is V CO or???

2) Reads would really help here.

Hand 1 seems fine. The flop overbet (because of rake) seems ambitious, but everyone called, so bonus. I like river c/c with TPGK to give the NFD a chance to stab at it. Sorry if he had a random 8.

Hand 2, the positions are screwed up enough that it's tough for me to comment, but even if you are BTN, I'd rather 3-bet A2s pre than call an open with it, and calling as SB is horrendous. AP, I need to know positions, but flop seems OK with the flopped second nuts on a low board. Turning your straight into a bluff once the board pairs is really odd to me.

Sorry. Villain was CO in hand 2 and I was button.

Definitely thought I had the best hand in hand 2. The donk was so erratic that the $20 lead is a 4 or an overpair way more often than a set, IMO.

Wasn’t trying to turn my hand into a bluff on the second hand. Thought I had best hand, and raiding made more sense than leaving a mini bet behind. But hey I’m not very good at this game so looking for feedback!!

With the board pairing, you went from losing only to 67 (and technically 26, but that seems really unlikely in a raised pot), to losing to 67, 44, 33, 55, 34, and 45. And by re-raising, you are never getting called by worse here unless BB is truly horrible and will take a raise and re-raise jam to the face with trips. The jam basically never gets value from CO, whose range is mostly overpairs, unless he is even worse.

So what your raise does here is let your Vs correctly fold hands that would probably feel like they had to crying call OTR if you just called turn, and to easily snap you off with boats. The only better hand that might fold is the higher straights, and that's not very likely either.

Thank you. Do you call down with the straight then?

With that turn, and that action, I probably call turn, but fold if BB re-raises, though if either of them give nitty vibes I might fold now. River I probably call on a blank and a reasonable bet, but could def fold if it goes bet/raise in front of us again. Def folding if board pairs again, ldo.

Thank you. I posted it on Reddit, and you’d have thought I needed to be institutionalized.

They all say the c/c on River in first hand is spewing, and betting flop and turn with TPGK, second but FD was “bloating pot with marginal holding.” Shrug.

Greatly appreciate your feedback.

Preflop is OK, but maybe raise hand 1. Hand 2, I would 3! or fold this weak a hand.

IMO, not raising the flop in hand 2 is a mistake. It is a 3-wheel-card flop, a connected board, which hits low cards, but any pp has something and aces have a straight draw and overcards. I am not sure what to do on the turn, but don't have pushing now that sets have boated up.

Thanks. Hand 1 had back door diamonds with no pair. Hand 2 button had 6,7o.

Too soon for results, OP. Please leave it up for at least 24 hours before posting them, especially if you post on a weekend, as lots of folks only check the board on weekdays.

I deleted them. Please wait until discussion dies down, or at least this evening (US time, if you are posting from abroad) after the "I check 2+2 at work" crowd has a chance to weigh in.

Welp, apparently none of the weekday crowd had comments, so I undeleted the results.

H1 is just a cooler OTR, imo, though Vs flop call is really bad.

H2 is an illustration of the concept of relative hand strength. A straight is usually a strong hand, but not on that board and facing that action. Instead of just thinking "I have a straight," you need to think about what Vs likely have in this context and, if contemplating a raise, what calls it.

You played the KJ fine til you called river, you’re not beating much. You could raise pre but check is fine.

Hand 2 call the 80 and evaluate river.

Hand 1 is a fold on the river without reads. Checking KJs in the BB after 3 limpers is OK in my opinion, raising may be better but isn't mandatory.

Hand 2, raise the flop. The turn is a bad card for you, and there aren't too many bad rivers now that the board is already paired. I just call and try to keep worse hands in play. Depending on future action folding isn't out of the question.