Hi,
I am more or less a beginner, and so in order to improve I am trying to plug holes in my game for the most common situations first. I think I'm doing quite well at estimating EV at the table, although I'm trying to almost pre-learn the EV in common situations so I don't have to think about them in so much detail when they come up (just estimate the relevant numbers and make the best play). One situation I find myself in fairly frequently is one like this, where I am very confident that I have started with the best hand, but by the river I am essentially playing a high card (or an otherwise weak hand). By that point, it becomes pretty hard for me to know whether my hand is good or not. Here is a recent example from my HH:
Full Tilt - $1|15/30 NL (2 max) - Holdem - 2 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4
Hero (BB): 64.5 BB
SB: 35.5 BB (VPIP: 41.67, PFR: 33.33, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 14)
SB posts SB 0.5 BB,
Hero posts BB 1 BB
Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K
A
SB raises to 2 BB,
Hero calls 1 BB
Flop: (4 BB, 2 players) 2
9
J
Hero checks,
SB bets 3 BB,
Hero calls 3 BB
Turn: (10 BB, 2 players) 6
Hero checks,
SB bets 5 BB,
Hero calls 5 BB
River: (20 BB, 2 players) Q
Hero bets 10 BB,
SB calls 10 BB
Hero shows K
A
(High Card, Ace) (Pre 74%, Flop 85%, Turn 93%)
SB mucks A
3
(High Card, Ace) (Pre 26%, Flop 15%, Turn 7%)
Hero wins 40 BB
I had only played a small number of hands against this opponent so my reads were very approximate, but he was raising roughly 30% of his hands and so far had c-betted 100% of the time.
In this case I was right and he called me with a worse Ace high, and I'm reasonably happy with how I played it EV-wise, but I was hoping for some more opinions as I think it could have gone better and I find myself in this kind of situation fairly often.
A few points that I would like to get some opinions on:
Preflop: I would think that calling a hand like this OOP is preferable to 3-betting since it plays so well post flop and a call disguises the hand. With not many reads, I didn't want to risk 3-betting and getting a fold, but I appreciate I might be overcomplicating this (for example, at $1 the villain might not even be thinking of my calling vs. 3-betting range and so I might not be able to fully realise the value of the hand later on if I hit). Would it be better to simply 3-bet a hand like this? I tend to 3-bet hands which I think are roughly in the middle of the opponents raising range, so that I can add some fold equity to what is otherwise about 50-50 odds.
Flop: Given that I called pre, would a raise have been better than a call? Given my limited reads on the opponent and the flop texture, he is betting here every time. Weighing it up at the time, I was confident that I had the better hand and that he might go for another barrel or two with air, but now I'm thinking it might have been better to raise and polarise his hand, or just get a fold right there.
River: I chose to bet on the river, because I thought I could get him to fold a better hand a decent percentage of the time, especially given the completed straight draw, and he could conceivably call me down with a worse hand like A or K high (which he did). If I checked and he bet then I would have a tough decision to make which I was not confident that I would be able to make correctly under time pressure, and so I opted for the bet. On balance I think I'm quite happy with this bet.
Sorry that I ended up asking so many questions, but any opinions on any of them would be appreciated, especially if it comes with a good explanation
Thanks