Here's what I am thinking, tell me if I'm looking at it wrong (I want to learn). What can Villain have here that beats you?

You are two handed and Villain is out of position. Hand ranges are pretty wide for both of you.

Hands that beat you are AA, J9, 96, AT, A8, A7, TT, 88, and 77 (that's 32 straights, 5 sets, and 9 two pair if he is playing 96o). AA, TT, AT and A8 you can probably discount. They'd be raised preflop, I would think. Post flop, 88, 77 and the straights would have reraised you, so they are probably out. A7 is the only hand beating you, and probably Ac7c specifically. There are a lot more suited aces, suited connectors, Txs, 8xs and 7xs hands here that he'd be playing back with on the turn, than nut hands.

I would have to call and see what he does on the river unless I thought he was slowplaying pocket aces or the other sets on the flop.

What did you do? When you post these open ended hand histories, does that mean you folded and are wondering about it?

The Coaching Project

Do you think that he will valueriase worse made hands? And how often does he bluffraise with a draw or a weak made hand. Tell me your thoughts.

Goals of the week:
This week I will concentrate on paying attention to betsizes and timing tells. People often tell you with their betsizes their handstrength and you can exploit it. The same is valid for how fast a villain reacts when he has to react. By paying attention to timingtells I make the crazyiest calls and was mostly right.

some info on the hand would be great :P (actually 100% necessary to make any kind of good analysis) but given his line i would assume he's at least kinda fishy and will mostly do this for value with a better hand than yours. of course raising for value is pretty much mandatory but folding to the 3b is probably best.
i give him a few combos of slowplayed stuff and then AT A8 A7. maybe he plays some combodraws like this if he thinks you're agro (which he probably does, it's up to you to estimate if he's the type to do this or not). not sure at which point it ceases to be a fold and i don't have pokerstove in this computer so i'll leave that to you :P

very inspiring thread, keep up the good work man =)

A very weird line. Twopairs from him should be worried about sets and straights from you and he shouldn't be all gung ho about leading and 3betting you OTT for value with them.

Heads up games are usually more aggressive, so it's possible he's value raising with Axh (without the Th). After all, what do you think he thinks you have? The Ace is a good bluff card too. The turn bet sizing is a bit suspicious. He donk bet 1/3rd pot, which you re-raise 2/3rds pot, followed by a near pot 4bet by him. What do you think the donk-bet means? Is it a blocking bet or a bluff inducing bet? Did he start out blocking and then get stubborn? What's the history of play? Have you been pushing him around? Could he be tilting? Small donk bets when a flush draw comes (spades here) lead me to think my opponent has a flush draw that he wants to try and draw out cheaply on. The 78 of spades would fit his betting as does the AT of Hearts and J9. I'm not sure that ATh wouldn't have reraised on the flop. TPTK with such a drawy board would want to know where he was. J9 would want to do the same (unless he has J9 hearts).

He's got about 390 behind, is he setting up for shove on the river? The pot would have been 312 if you'd called. I don't know, strange bet lines either mean the nuts or a bluff.

The Coaching Project

How likeley will villain bluff in this spot? When you answer this question you got the answer what is the best play.

chess position of the week
We have a tactical task. White is next to move.

Easy Lf7 nebst Sg5 und Se6

The Coaching Project

Sehr gut. Beim nächsten Mal ich es schwerer.

learning target: handreading
I improve every day a little bit. There more I do it there less mistakes I make. When I play 2 or more tables its not so easy to handread. 1 tablíng is fine. Still some work to do.

other matters
Villain folded a lot preflop. What would be your plan on the turn?

I added the alkhine opening in my chess knowledge. My coach played this opening vs me and I wanted to know what is the best line vs this opening.

hand of the day
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00 BB (2 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.com

SB ($400)
Hero (BB) ($419.50)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Q, 6
SB raises to $8, Hero raises to $32, SB calls $24

Flop: ($64) 10, 5, Q (2 players)
Hero bets $36, SB calls $36

Turn: ($136) K (2 players)
Hero ?

bet half pot and check fold river or simply give up on turn. depend on the oppenent but total readless i vote for 2nd. what do you think?

c/f for sure

The Coaching Project

I prefer cf. When villain called with a Tx he would mostly check the turn (no better hand folds and worse calls). When he would have floatet the turn card hits his range very well. So I think its an easy cf.

learning target: handreading
Yesterday it was horrible. I lost a lot on NL400 and was not good in handreading. Today I read again "Dealing with Polarized Ranges and Calling Big Bets OOP" in Balugawhales great e-book "Easy Game". I discovered some interesting things which I will use in the future in my game.

hand of the day
Villain was a reg and not very aggressive. Would you have called the turn and what would be the worsed hand which you would call?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, €4.00 BB (2 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from http://poker-tools.flopturnriver.com/Hand-Converter.php

Hero (SB) (€447.50)
BB (€555.29)

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q, 8
Hero raises to €8, BB calls €4

Flop: (€16) J, 7, 8 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets €12, BB calls €12

Turn: (€40) 10 (2 players)

worst are 97-A7, 98-A8 and low flush draws

The Coaching Project

Thats is a little bit too loose. You need at least 2 Pair+ or a Flush DR.

Goals of the month
Many thoughts that make (for example, Hand Reading , hand planning to pay attention to the bet size / speed, ....) I turn not permanently attached . These processes are not yet automated. Jared Tendler describes it very well in his book "The Mental Game of Poker " . This is about the four stages of competence.

I just can not seem to bring about a thought process into the " unconscious competence". Therefore, I will now aware the 21 days rule apply (it takes until a process is automated ) . My greatest weakness in poker is when things are not going so well that I play too fast and thus does not reflect a great deal . So I make mistakes and mistakes cost money.

Next month, it's not about results , but about the learning process. I'll in poker + chess eighth aware that I'm keeping a certain time rhythm . In chess, this may mean that I go to every decision again let me 10 seconds ( depends on the game length) and then draw . Whether I lose by time, is only of secondary importance .

My thought process in chess should be for the next month: ( 1) opponent draws : which field is the figure in the next train out (2 ) what is my worst figure and where does this best , and (3 ) can someone the drawn figure attack ? I 'm going to ask me these questions consciously , so that this process is automatic.

In poker, I will consciously make sure to take my post-flop after each decision about 2 seconds before I perform an action ( in the fold I do this instant) . Before that, I 'm going to apply the thought process of Handplanes conscious . We'll see if everything will work the way I make it myself.

haha i misunderstood your qeustion. i agree with you

The Coaching Project

chess position of the week
White is next to move. Who has the better position and what are the plans for white and black?

The Coaching Project

Goals of the month (until the 15.03.2014)
In the last 3 days I did a great job. Played very slow and considered all my thougths like handreading, plan the hand,.... I also dont get enaugh action on nl400. When I join 20 villains on stars 18 will sit out instantly and just 2 will play me. One of both will sit out after 5 hands. If the last villain is a good villain decides after about 40 - 50 hands when I check villain.

hand of the day
Villain had a fold 3Bet of > 70 % after 18 hands. What is your turn plan (b/f, c/c,...)?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00 BB (2 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.com/

SB ($499)
Hero (BB) ($404)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 2, 4
SB raises to $8, Hero raises to $32, SB calls $24

Flop: ($64) 2, 4, 5 (2 players)
Hero ?

i cbet 42 and if turn is non-flush/non-straight and not a 5, barrel bigger than normally in 3bet pots like 80% and i call if he reshove.

White is better, black has little to no counter play.

Plan: Bishop to c4 , make sure black night does not go to g4, attack f-file .... profit

Hm
Indeed white stands better

- Half open f-File (main Target)
- Better pawn structure
- Black has some black square weakness

My plan would be

- Prevent queen sacrifice
- Pressure on f file and pressure vs f7

So I would try Qf1, Le2, Lc4. But again I still see some defense resources for black and its not 1:0 immediately.

Damn would poker so easy as chess  … Or may I just need a pokercoach.

I think Position is equal. Yes black is little behind in development but he has the bishop pair. So brings to the usual plan to open the position with black. As i said position pretty close to equal

The Coaching Project

I like both plans.

Great . Nothing to add.

Yeah, its close. Black is a little bit better with the bishops and the weak white pawn.

Goals of the month
All in all Im very satisfied with these week. In the last 2 days I started playing a little bit faster. I should stop doing these and follow my rule. To punish me I I have pay attention 1 extra week on these goal. In the time which I have my main goals are (1) plan the hand (2) analyse the board structure and (3) pay attention to timing- and betsizetells. The (3) goal gives me a lot of extra profit. But Im still in the beginning with focusing to timing- and betsizetells.

The Coaching Project

chess position of the week
We have a tactical position. White is next to move.

what about new hand? :P

Lf7 and Seg5 looks winning

The Coaching Project

Tell me more.

Look down.

Goals of the month (1) take up time (2) plan the hand (3) anlayse board structure --> up to the 25.03.2014
I permantently think about how to improve in poker and which is the best thinking process. So I add 2 more goals and try to keep to them until 25.03.2014. When I will have managed this I will concentrate on betsize and timing tells.

hand of the day
Would you valebet the river (betsize)?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00 BB (2 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from http://poker-tools.flopturnriver.com/Hand-Converter.php

BB ($225.50)
Hero (SB) ($478.64)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 3, A
Hero raises to $8, BB calls $4

Flop: ($16) 5, 2, 4 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $12, BB calls $12

Turn: ($40) Q (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $28, BB calls $28

River: ($96) 3 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero ?