So I'm new to 2+2 and i got a question. Today i played 0.25/0.5 nl holdem. I played on a 6 players table. I was on BB and had 54 of diamonds, UTG raised to 3BB, CO called as well and i called too. The flop is 5 A 2 . Everyone check, the turn is 4 . UTG bets 3, CO raises to 11, i call and UTG folds. The river is 5 completing my full-house. I bet 11.5BB in a 34.5BB stack. CO goes all in for 80BB. I think for 10 sec a call. He got Aces.
I'd be more than happy to read your opinions and tips.

What hands do you think they bet here?

What hands do you think they raise with here?

What hands do you think shove here?

Welcome, and a couple of things first before I attempt to answer your question. First, there is a sub forum on here fore online NLHE questions. For something like this, you would probably get more and better answers posting there rather than the beginner forum. Second, and more importantly, do NOT post results of your hand when making posts like these. That makes it much more difficult to answer the question objectively. You didnÂ’t know what villain had when you made the decision you are questioning; why should we get to know that information? If you want the best advice give all pertinent information you had at the decision point - prior action, stack sizes, and reads or stats on villain, etc. But this obviously does not include villainÂ’s hand. It makes no difference anyway - the decision is either good or bad, and that wouldnÂ’t change if villain had shown 76s instead of AA.

OTTH - when you bet the river you either are looking for worse hands to call or better hands to fold. Obviously in this case, nobody is folding a better hand, so you are targeting worse hands that will call. Think of villainÂ’s range at this point. Sure, a 76s or a 6x hand might call your river bet. IÂ’m not sure any 7x gets to the river with the given action. Is CO really raising ott with 6x. Maybe 76s as a bluff raise ott gets there. Other than that you have 22 or 44 in your value range. 6 combos of 22, 4 of 76, and 1 of 44 means you beat 11 combos. You lose to 7 combos (6 of AA plus 1 A5s). Assuming this to be COs shoving range as well you should call - you risk 23bb to win 77 (if I calculated right) so you need to win 23% of the time to call. If CO is shoving the range I describe above itÂ’s an easy call. Is he really shoving a straight with the paired board though? That probably is better played as a bluff catcher, so IMO he probably isnÂ’t shoving. This leaves us with 7 combos we beat and 7 that beat us, assuming CO is shoving with his boats. That still is a call, but be prepared to lose about half the time, like you did in the actual hand.

Quite a bit happened here for you to end up all-in.

CO flatted an UTG open .. pure trap and can be mixed into CO calling range but typically CO will want to 3bet and try to isolate the UTG from position

CO checks Flop .. because of the trap CO is kind of stuck here because they dominate the Board so much and the Ace will fold out most of UTG holdings that aren't Ax.

Bet/Raise on Turn is pretty much a must for CO .. enough trapping and try to get some additional value before the River comes out. Granted any 3x has them beat but is unlikely and 'just poker' if either of you or UTG have it. The fact that you've made 2pr here is interesting and certainly is consideration for a cold 3bet before you possibly get counterfeit on the River. Are you getting away from this on the Turn? Probably not, but I think both calling and raising should be considered. CO certainly could have a set or A3s (unlikely from a 'good' Player), but in most cases IMO the CO will have a strong AK-ATs range here on the Turn.

CO River range should shrink quite a bit when they make a raise, but could still include some AK/AQ that think their kicker may be good. It will really depend on your online site. Ranges live definitely include 'strong' Ax holdings, which is why turning a profit online is a tougher task than in a live setting most of the time.

IMO for both online and live I would consider a check/raise line on the River since CO range will be wider when they bet out. Getting raised into by someone who raised the previous street is very strong if they have any poker skill at all. Yes, you do risk losing value if they check behind .. but were they going to call a bet anyway?

As played it's really hard to fold here, but a raise-raise line is super strong and does come down to some Pot Odds calculations as shown above.

I play more PLO now and this actually is a pretty easy fold in that game when you take this betting line.

There's always a different way to play a poker hand. What you have to determine is how often to take each option and certainly take the more profitable option more often than the others.

1) You'll see plenty of tips on 'just fold' this when you have both UTG and CO involved. It's just so hard to get paid with this holding to make up for the times when you are forced to fold the Flop.

2) You got lucky/unlucky that the Flop checked through .. combined with CO trap, this is super unlucky

3) You got lucky/unlucky that you improved on the Turn .. What happens when the UTG re-raises the CO? You just wasted 14bb because if you call off here you need to move away from poker!

4) You got lucky/unlucky that you improved on the River .. You very well could've won a nice pot here if CO is going nuts with 22 or AK or 3x somehow, but just remember that you will get caught up in these perfect storms from time to time. Just like a set over set spot, someone is going to lose a lot of their stack just because of how the hand came off.

I'm glad you asked about playing the hand differently. Evolving in poker is about looking at 'how' you played a hand .. not necessarily the results. GL