Hello,

not really much of a poster but have lurked for over a year now learning what i have and can. but would like some constructive criticism in a hand that i played. i think the line i took was fine but am open to change.

live hand so will have to type this HH out so my apologies in advance if it looks like a dogs breakfast.

8 handed - live tourney
blinds 300/600
stack sizes are 29kish eff
UTG limps
fold
MP Limps
fold,fold
Hero in CO raises to 1800 with A5ss
BTN and blinds fold, two limpers call the raise, 3 ways to a flop (5700 pot)

K810

UTG bets 2k
MP calls (visually umming and uhhing about the call)
hero calls ( decided to float with some back door possibility, and due to MP actions i know he cant be strong)
Pot 11700

Turn is J
UTG bets 6k
MP again painfully calling and not so sure about it
pot is now at 23700

Hero decides UTG probably has alot of Kx tyope hands that he is leading with here, due to his sizing it looks as if he is trying to price any draws out of calling to protect his hand and should be able to fold to some pressure

Hero decides that with the NFD the NSD and an overcard to shove for the remaining 24k and change. ( i should have 3 aces, 4 queens and 8 spades for a win here, 15 cards of the remaining 29 cards should be good)

UTG sat and tanked and sigh called and tabled K10o for two pair

river was an off suit Ace not improving my hand


Im relatively new to the game still so making these plays is sometimes still tough for me but i also would like to know that when i DO make these plays im doing it in a way where its profitable for me overtime. some constructive criticism or advice would be welcomed.

thanks,

raise more preflop, fold on the flop and don't let visual tells drive your decisions.

thanks, what sizing would you go with 4x 5x or even larger? i can absolutely understand the reasoning for fold on the flop in this particular instance. you would never float in this instance with the odds you were getting to see peel one card? and when you hit one of the most favourable hands for your holding ( and co range ) you wouldn't try and turn the hand into a semi bluff if you didn't fold? Would a different board texture on the flop entice you to float more often with these types of holdings?

for the bet sizing preflop against limpers I am using normal opening size + BB * No of Limpers formula. I.e. if I normally open 2.5BB then raising vs 2 limpers would 4.5BB
As for the flop, I think it's more about thinking of the whole range that we might hold in this spot - there are hands you want to raise, to call and to fold. You definitely have better Ax hands to call like A8, A9s(w/ bdfd), AT, AQ(w/ bdfd), AJ(w/ bdfd).

Fast forward to the turn....to my eye the turn barrel is not particularly big, however you're in the game and know what the population considers chunky. Plus he is betting into 2 again which denotes strength.

I'm saying that to say, if you have strong reason to believe a random opponent has top pair or better, do not try to get them to fold it (until you're in much tougher games). Small stakes players are not renowned for their ability to make big folds. That doesn't mean you can't bluff, just reserve it for the occasions where it's credible to imagine they have some hands in their range other than top pair+, even if they still have those strong hands.

Because you're in position and therefore have good implied odds you can still just call even if not getting the exact direct odds (what are they gonna do? x/fold 2 pair on the river?) but you showed good instinct to not treat your drawing hand like a bingo hand waiting to see if you hit which will serve you well in tougher games so I'd like to immediately stake you for 1000/2000 for inf rollz.

thankyou, all good advice and can see your line of thinking with the better Ax hands, appreciate it.


inf rollz aye ...is the interest rate 50% APR cause that kinda sounds like a really good deal that would mutually benefit us both.

it is tough to get small stakes players to fold top pairs decent kicker type hands, i guess im just glad these types of plays may work in future at tougher games, i guess i just dont want to get myself into "fancy play syndrome" i wouldn't say im a TAG or a LAG player i def dont 3bet A6o but i do have 3bet bluff/jams in my range that i dont consider spewy, so i guess im just trying to find that balance between LAG and TAG? seems to be working for me over a small sample of course.

I would have probably over limped pre-flop, I am a little to nitty to play A/rag suited that hard but willing to call one and see multi way.

I can find a fold on the flop.

I have no problem with your turn push as played.


I am basically a nit btw.

Preflop: Limp behind. This is super standard to to limp behind with a speculative hand.

Additionally, in small stakes live games, when there is already a multi-way pot you will not win the pot with the raise nor isolate for a heads up pot nearly as much as you need to warrant a bluff raise. If there was only 1 limper that is different, but when there are 2 or more limpers, only raise for value in small stakes. And if you were not sure, A5s is not a value raise here.

And if you were going to raise over 2 limpers, with these stacks my sizing is 2.5x standard raise size + 1BB for each limper, making a 4.5x raise here to 2,700.

Post flop: When you are putting players on a hand, you have to be careful not to pigeonhole your opponent's on too limited a range. By saying he has Kx only and nothing else is an example of this.

In fact in a multi-way pot, betting KQ flop and turn is probably over playing your mediocre strength hand. With 2 bets in a row, into multiple players, I would think that two pair is near the bottom of his range if not the bottom of his range. He could also potentially have some draws as well.

The MP player is the player I would put on a marginal hand. Top pair and questionable kicker down to maybe 99/8X. Draws would call quicker

Now back to your play. On the flop I would fold, but I can't make a great argument that folding is 100% the best play. Calling the smallish bet with a 3 way pot and a BDFD to the nuts with this stack size might be ok. It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

Now getting to the turn. The hand selection for the bluff is good. However the opponent selection is not good. First as was already mentioned it is near impossible to get small stakes players to fold hands with the strength he has shown already. Additionally, your bluff has to get through two players, not just one.

Additionally, your flush outs are definitely good. Your straight out is probably good. I would not count A as a clean out at all. Of course, some % of the time the A will give you the hand, but that might be as low as 10% here. Even if we discount the Q 1/3 of the time giving you the value of 11 outs, and only needing 20% for a call, why raise when you are already getting a good price for your draw?

Thankyou, and I appreciate the time you took to read and write your comment i think from most of the feedback it is good play bad time to run it. im glad that as a new learning player ive been able to adapt some decent concepts to my game and start to build my game tree