I've dropped down to 2/3 because I've played so little the past year ish and I'm not sure I'm beating the game anymore. But I need to adjust to the 2/3 player pool.

Interested in thoughts on two hands I played with AA on the weekend.

Hand 1

utg and utg+1 both limp, I raise to 25 with red AA from MP. Cut Off, BB and both limpers call.

Flop (127) is 854cc, checks to me, I check and cut off bets 40. (cut off is 30ish white guy who is loose passive pre and quite bluffy post...but only 1 hour of play with him)

UTG+1 (middle aged Asian lady who is playing approx 80/15 with 400 ish) calls, I....call? (should I have c bet 5 ways?)

Turn (247) is an offsuit 4. 8544cc, +1 checks, I check, Cut off bets 25 (???), +1 calls. I have no idea what he's doing here.

Thoughts on Flop and turn play?


Hand 2

two limps, Cutoff opens to 20 (he's doing this probably 40% of the time in un-raised pots), Button who is MAAW from hand above, 3 bets to 50, I go 165 with AA from SB, Button calls

Button started the hand with 450, I cover. She's been really loose passive pre (as above..probably 80/15 in the time I've played with her...less than 90 mins) but I've seen her overvalue top pair hands at showdown twice...once calling a bet and once leading...both times with an A on a board that was 4 to a flush.

Flop (345) is K 10 4r. Before I can act, Button bets 100. Rule in our casino is that if I check, she has to check behind. I do that

Turn (345) is another 10, I check, she bets 200 with 90ish behind.

i don't think she has many 10s in her range, so my decision is whether she gets here with AK (or maybe KQss or sth). If we assume her 90 is in play too then it's 290 for me to win an additional 635.

I'm never folding this at 5/10 because they're mainly shoving KK pre and they're playing this way with AK too often but here....not so sure?

thoughts on flop check and turn decision?

For Hand 1, I like the flop x/c. Too many opponents to lead on a connected board. Pretty much, if there is a straight possible against 3+ opponents, I don't like betting overpairs. On the turn, you are getting better than 10:1 to call. I don't see why he would bet 1/10 pot with a boat or a straight, seems like he could have a lot of 8x with a gutter or FD here. If you are against a straight, you are getting direct odds to fill up on the River.

For Hand 2, not sure anything really matters. Seems like the money is going in. I would probably bet the $100 on the flop. What happens if you check turn and she checks back? You might be losing value by not getting all of the money in by the river. 4-bet pot with AA and a 1.2 SPR. Don't overthink it.

I shove the turn in hand 1 (assuming you’re 100 BB deep). Checking flop is ok.

Why did you check the flop in hand 2? I bet and call it off. AP I just shove the turn.

Hand 1:
Preflop - Finding a good size for raises at low stakes is a difficult skill and doesn't always work no matter what. But if your getting 4 callers then $25 probably isn't enough at that table.
Flop - Mostly I like a big bet on the flop and shove turn. Facing that many opponents isn't good but this isn't a flop that should have helped anybody either. If your deep or think somebody wants to get their stack in then cautious play is fine also.
Turn - With some villains you can read the two small bets as a near nut hand just sucking some money in. That isn't a sure thing though it can also be a villain that doesn't understand bet sizes or a now scared middle value hand. No matter what now that you have a draw to a boat calling a bet that small is obvious. This is a situation where you can make some seemingly absurd tight folds with a strong read on villain but against an unknown you just have to pay them off.

Hand 2: Villain has less then a pot sized stack on the flop. Without some really strong read on villain all the money is going in. You will be losing to KK sometimes but facing AK enough that you can't fold for less then the pot. The only reason to check flop is if your afraid that aggression might scare villain off a bluff or weak hand.

Hand 1 played fine. Five people, worst board ever, im never raising until we spike an ace on the river.

Hand 2 shove after she bets $200. You cant fold. You also cant let her check river with her kings but bet her 10s

Effective stacks in HH#1?

HH#2:

At these stacks I just go a typical 3x to $150 preflop, which is offering horrendous IO of 4.5:1.

SPR is < 1 so obviously committed. I'd have no problem checking this flop and hoping underpairs overvalue, and any Kx is obviously going to commit either way. I would have just let Button's bet stand.

As played, I don't have any issue checking again with only a 3/4 PSB left on a fairly drawless board to again induce overvalue. If she checks behind one more time then we can still shove the river and she'll overvalue underpairs enough at that point to call it off. Once she puts in the $200 then easy peasy ship of the rest of it, our tarp worked out just as we wanted, imo.

Are we actually considering folding with just a 3/4 PSB left postflop? Man, you must be running extremely bad because that should never be a consideration here. The only question here is how to get all the money into the pot (and overall I'm fine with a passive inducing line on this board, although super sucky lol small bets are fine too, imo).

GcluelessNLnoobG

Pre: IME $25 is larger end of standard here. Table seems sticky so maybe we can go a bit bigger but w/e. This is not important.

Flop: seems good. I like checking AA here. 90% of the player pool will auto cbet this, but it's a bad flop for our range, we're 5 ways and we're probably capped.

Turn: I'm tempted to raise to ~$125 and ship most rivers if called, assuming we're ~$400 effective. Seems like he's either trying to set a price with a draw or has top pair/weak overpair though of course I don't rule out something infuriating like T4ss.

EDIT

One specific hand that might behave in this bizarre manner is 85ss: flops two pair and then gets counterfeited OTT.

This hand I play very straight forward. We have 345 in the middle, 300 effective. Flop is bone dry and unless she has a set of Kings we are almost certainly good. I cbet one black chip and then ship the turn.

AP I think she has Kings quite often but w/e she can easily have AK and I'm never folding so probably just stick it all in now.

IME 4 bets get a ton of respect so I think her range when she calls preflop is very narrow and her actions remove QQ which is a typical 3bet/call hand.

Hand 1 is played fine, you could potentially cbet if opponents are bad, but it will look like an overpair to low stakes players and they won't make many errors other than not trying to bluff you off your hand ever. If they were sticky it would've been fine to bet but there are many ugly runouts and you need to fold to any aggression. I prefer checking overpairs especially AA. AP turn is xr, hard to tell how big without stack sizes. I would be very surprised if anyone had you beat after this action. CO probably always has 8x/7x, asian lady has the same but also gutters. You are huge favourite and they like seeing cards so charge them.

Hand 2 is played perfectly, you look like you missed, I wouldn't be shocked if she was piling with JJ/QQ just because you look weak. Now obviously all in, if she has a random ten nh. I don't understand why you posted this, you have less then a pot behind with AA on K hi board in a 4b pot against loose asian lady. The only thing on your mind should be how to get it all in and she even does it instead of you lol.

Hand 2 is never a fold, just do whatever is best to get all the money in. You can just c/r the turn.

Hand 1 I like the flop play, now I want to raise the turn (assuming $300 stacks). The $25 bet is odd and might suggest a boat, but you can tell us more about vil's postflop bluffing style. I think the bloated pot usually makes it worth the risk of falling into a trap and either charging or blowing out draws to a straight. With a 2/3 pb back, cards 2,3,4,5,6,7,8 could be trouble

Hand 1: I would cbet by default OTF…b/f for me. But I understand why you checked. AP, I would treat the $25 turn bet as very weak and would raise at this point. Dunno what sizing makes sense (stack sizes would help?).

Hand 2: I would cbet flop 100%, don’t see rationale for pot-controlling at 1SPR. Money is going in either way. AP check-raise for the last $90, can’t risk not getting the last $90 of her stack on the river.

Hand 2 I think I misread originally and missed the significance of the flop action. Lol live play

We have this bizarre out of turn $100 bet that could be acting as an angle,since if hero still c-bets knowing the bizarre rule about being able to see a free turn and knowing villain is willing to bet $100, then heros hand looks stronger.
(Why angle for $100? It's easier and less risky to grab a stack than to say all-in or bet a couple stacks.)
So in light of that, do some of you still want to bet? Which villain hand would bet $100?
Op, does the $100 stay in if you bet that?

in our room....
- if I check, she has to check back
- if I choose to 'call' her $100 stays in,
- if I bet any other amount...smaller or larger...the action opens to her again

I read her bet as a mistake/excitement and not an angle. It happened within a second or two of the flop being dealt

We're not pot controlling; we're making sure that QQ-JJ and other stuff that are drawing very slim don't fold.

GcluelessNLnoobG

House rules, clarified later by OP are that if we bet $100 then her $100 stays in, so there's no danger of QQ/JJ folding.

Anyway, I think that QQ/JJ probably don't excitedly donk out of turn on this flop, no? QQ/JJ are losing to a lot of hands in Hero's 4betting range. Seems like Vs range is more concentrated on KK and top pair (mostly AK). Villain has already signaled she's ready to GII with her out of turn donk -- I don't see why we shouldn't oblige her.