yeah, thats assuming you stopped to think. sometimes I skip over that step.

QJ- fold turn, NH if you did

AA-check flop in position with As, bet/call without it. Having it should make you feel worse, not better

87- looks good to me but you're gonna have to stack off now

How's this line? I just felt this was a good hand to keep pot small... not stats on player... limp raise always scares me... and on a flop/board like this I have always gotten it in... so this is a different line for me... am I learning or scared of monsters in the closet?

Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

CO: $23.20
BTN: $7.40
SB: $40.10
BB: $28.70
UTG: $20.45
UTG+1: $21.10
Hero (MP1): $25.05
MP2: $24.30

Pre Flop: Hero is MP1 with Q Q
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.25, Hero raises to $1.25, 5 folds, UTG+1 raises to $2.25, Hero calls $1

Flop: ($4.85) T 9 T (2 players)
UTG+1 bets $0.50, Hero calls $0.50

Turn: ($5.85) 8 (2 players)
UTG+1 bets $2, Hero calls $2

River: ($9.85) 6 (2 players)
UTG+1 bets $7, Hero calls $7

Jeck, I like it for a couple of reasons. One, this often is AA (or KK). Two, often times when it isn't, it's some really random trashy hand that would just fold if you raised at any point. So you lose less / win more by just calling, usually. But also very important, you guarantee a showdown, which means you get to make a note. Having a specific read in spots like this is so unbelievably valuable, especially at micro / small stakes because a lot of these guys just take their bad lines and will never notice if you adjust.

. nh

He cooks and cleans, too!

Poker Stars $0.50/$1.00 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

BB: $172.40
UTG: $88.15
Hero (CO): $108.80
BTN: $142.45
SB: $203.40

Pre Flop: Hero is CO with 5 5
1 fold, Hero raises to $3, BTN raises to $7, 2 folds, Hero calls $4

Flop: ($15.50) J 7 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: ($15.50) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $10, BTN calls $10

River: ($35.50) T (2 players)
Hero bets $28, BTN raises to $61


villain is standart tag guy.

now we call rt ? even tho i want to fold ?

I assume you were going for a c/r on the flop, but I'd just lead out on that board.

If its a cooler then its a cooler, just get it in.

why would you lead that flop ?

i dont disagree just wondering what reasons you have for it

if you have a read that villain likes to raise here with air when you donk then I would like leading out, generally when people do a small 3bet PF I'll just C/R here though.

yeah, it doesn't really matter. But I sometimes donk into players who 3 bet, even like this.

Poker Stars $0.50/$1.00 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

SB: $26.00
BB: $100.00
Hero (UTG): $101.60
MP: $118.60
CO: $95.50
BTN: $100.10

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is UTG with A J
Hero raises to $4, 1 fold, CO calls $4, 3 folds

Flop: ($9.50) J 3 T (2 players)
Hero bets $9, CO calls $9

Turn: ($27.50) 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $19.50, CO calls $19.50

River: ($66.50) 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $69.10 all in, CO calls $63 all in


villain is loose passive 44/11/2 and a table coach. ok or overplayed?

I hate this spot because I have a weak made hand which is probably good, but very vulnerable on a drawy board. If I get it in I'm sure to lose! The trick here is to think long term: imagine you are the villain with KJ or Ax spades or TTT. And remember his stats. Yep, he's going all the way with KJ, and Axs folds to the river bet. What you need to do is get comfortable with losing pots with TPTK, and avoid getting stacked in them. Pot control here is really important. Here, I like check/call flop, lead turn, and as played, check/call river depending on bet size.

Edit: if he showed A8 spades that would really have sucked!

Against this villain, I would bet the flop for value and protection. I would check this turn card and evaluate. I'm probably folding the turn if he bets any decent amount. If he checks behind the turn I would value bet the river about 1/2 pot or so and fold to a raise. If he was really aggressive you could check the river and let him bluff spades.

As played I'm not really sure how I would play the river. If you check, he's definetly going to bet every hand that beats you, and probably check every hand that's behind. Where as he might at least call with some of his losing hands if you bet. The problem is I don't see him with too many hands you beat here except wiffed spades and he's obviosly not calling with those.

I think if you're inclined to call a river bet, you might as well bet. I would probably check/fold though.

Oh yeah, I'm really rusty and might not know what I'm talking about...

i like it till the river. I think c/f>>>shove>>>>>>c/c vs this guy

i think it's more like c/f>shove>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>check call

semantics

This archive post from Foucault is very good for situations like this:

http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/show...48&an=0&page=0

Basically, in the AJ hand we want to make the most from worst hands and lose the least from better hands. Or the way I'm starting to think about it, we need to win more when we have AJ v KJ than we lose when we have KJ v AJ; lose less with AJ v KQ than we win when we have KQ v AJ. Our line should reflect this, and since with the str8 we would be trying to stack TPTK, we should ensure that our TPTK is not stacked by the str8.

And my reasons for checking the flop are deception, deception, deception. I want him to make a mistake. If I bet flop, then AJ (and my early raising range) is clearly defined as part of my range. If I check, AJ is likely to be a smaller part of my range, so villain may give me credence for better hands or worse hands - it doesn't matter so long as he calls a draw with the wrong odds, calls me with KJ, folds 2 pr to a river bet or whatever. So long as I make him make a mistake against my real range I'm winning.

If you're worrying about deception against this type of villain, and going as far as thinking he's worrying about your own range, I think you're giving WAAAAYYY too much credit. This guy is looking at his own two hole cards and the board and pretty much nothing more.

I believe it's a big mistake to check this flop when you're clearly ahead a large portion of the time on the flop, and his range includes lots of hands he will call with as an underdog.

Plus, even if he is putting you on a range, I'm pretty much c-betting this flop with a huge portion of my range being OOP, and he should expect that if he could actually hand read. IP there is a lot more of my range I'm willing to check behind for a few reasons.

thanks for the replies! the only thing i will add is that i am not playing for pot control vs. this type of player as i expect him to call 3 streets with pretty much any pair. the turn was the key point of the hand imo, but i expect him to raise there if he made a str8. when he just calls (3 times now), i think he has a weak hand and i'm still looking to extract value from TPWK and middle pair. the only thing i might have changed would be to bet bigger on the turn to make a river shove easier for him to call.

Poker Stars $0.50/$1.00 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

BB: $262.50
UTG: $26.75
Hero (CO): $150.65
BTN: $36.75
SB: $44.85

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is CO with K K
UTG calls $1, Hero raises to $5, 2 folds, BB calls $4, UTG calls $4

Flop: ($15.50) K A 6 (3 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets $10, BB calls $10, UTG folds

Turn: ($35.50) 3 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $18, BB raises to $41, Hero ?


vill here is 45/13/2
ive been sitting w/ him for a while trying to bust him. he plays pretty standart for his stats, calls a lot, with the ability for aggression.

i couldn't think of many hands he was raising the turn with in this spot, especially since we're deep(no telling if this affects him). i called for the board to pair or to get a check down or a bet fold.

what shoudl my plan be after calling, or should we be stacking here ?

Bengiec, I know what I do here everytime, which is call turn, check call any bet on the river when the board doesn't pair, and push when it does and get stacked by the flush - normally T2s. However, I'm not sure I'm right!

Part of me wants to shove turn, because sometimes with a player like this we're up against another set/2pr and he's raising to protect himself from a river spade or he has Qs, but it's hard to know if he's doing this often enough to make a shove profitable. If a spade falls on the river, your action is dead, and if the board pairs, and he has a bad flush, he may even fold to a push, so it's hard to get full value if you're ahead on the river, and hard not to pay him off if he's got you beat. Love to see good replies here ... ?

ben, I'd pot the flop against a 45/x/x every time here.

I like your bet sizing on the turn, and I'd probably call the c/r like you said to pair the board and stack him. But, I hope I'd fold to a river bet unimproved. Although lately I'd find an excuse to make a call.

peru, I'd expect if he had other strong made hands like two pair or a set that'd he donk that turn card rather than c/r to kinda see where he was at.

The only real hand I can see him having that he MIGHT play this way, is like AxJs or something like that. But, I don't think he has that enough. Sometimes ******s can show up with like 44s here, but I don't know if you are going to have enough ****** equity to ever call a river bet unimproved.

dave, ur AJ hand:

I'd play the flop and turn like you, but c/f the river. Too much got there, and not enough missed imo to either shove or c/c. KQ and T9 improved on the turn, 89 obv got there on the river. Only spades missed and I don't think you know villain well enough to be able count on him betting missed spades enough on the river.