I've recently played some hands which I found interesting. And I am wondering if there should have been some room for improvement. This is $1/2 NL Live.

Hand 1: H: Q J P:HJ S: $200 Villain Stack: $200

I raise $10 and CO calls. Everyone folds.

Flop is J 2 7 rainbow. I bet $15 and CO calls.
Turn is 3. I bet $25 and he calls.
River is 9. I check and he goes all-in.

How would you play this hand? My thinking is either has a set of two's or 7's...maybe 9 7suited (most likely not), pair of J or is bluffing.

Hand 2: H: 88 P: SB

Everyone limps to me, I raise to $12. Folds around to BTN. BTN calls This guy has been raising for the last 5 times each preflop which I think he is stealing blinds. My read is he is LAG or maniac. One pot he open raised $90 into a 3 way flop with a $45 pot (with I believe to be nothing, he didnt show).

Flop is J 9 7 rainbow. Gutshot straight draw and 3rd pair.

My read is that he has nothing. I check with intention to re-raise. And soon enough he bets to $50 on a pot of $30. I have about $90 left.

What would you do?


Hand 3: H: QJ

Folds to me in HJ and I raise to $6. Folds to SB and he re-raises to $15. I call. We are heads-up

Flop is Q 9 8

He bets $25 and I re-raise to $50. He calls.

Turn is 7. He checks. My stack is about $60 left.

I put him in a range of mid pocket pairs, maybe a set or also pair of Q's.
Since he just called my re-raise, most likely not a set. Maybe a straight draw as well.

What would you do?


I'll post my results after I get a few answers. Feedback is greatly appreciated.

h3 : i would put it in now on the turn, what with $130 in the pot and u having only $60 left

hand one When he jams the river you snap fold.

Hand 2 HOW MANY GUYS IS Everyone ?
Why are you looking to re raise with 3rd pair ? You could easily be dominated here in a few different ways.

Hand 3. You are playing ALL these hands way to loose.
Why are you betting looking to push him off his hand when there are like 9
different cards on the turn that could help you ?
He 3 bet you pre flop and his flop bet is saying I am not affaird to the Queen.

Over All You are playing way way to aggressive relative to the RIGHT NOW strenght of your hand.

Hand 1: Fold pre, AP snap fold river

Hand 2: I'm raising less with a $100 stack. AP given your read and stack size, ship it in.

Hand 3: Fold pre. Snap fold to the 3bet. LOL @ flop raise. Double LOL at wondering what to do OTT, you put yourself in a position where you have to ship it in and hope for the best. KK/AA are in the populations' range BTW.

Thanks for the feedback! I do realize that I do play loose in these situations.

Sorry, newbie here...was is AP?

I do agree with river snap. He looked bluffy and I felt that he bluffed me a few hands before...leading to why I thought he was bluffing this time. I called and he shows 3 2 for a two pair. He called pf with that?!

I’ve seen his pattern where he limps or maybe raised pf. Then overbet the pot 2x-3x. He did this 4-5 times already. I had a strong feeling that he didn’t have the goods.

I go all-in and he tanks for a little bit then calls. Turn is a K. River is a 3. I turn over the pocket 8’s and he gets a little surprised. He turns over K 5 for a pair on the turn.

I felt I had a good read…but variance happens? I wanted to exploit his play but I played instead. lol. He got me with garbage. I felt if I didn’t go all-in and maybe just bet 1/2-2/3 pot..he might have folded because going all-in he might have thought I was bluffing.

Why fold pre? Q J is good enough to open in HJ (or so I thought).

Looking back at this it does seem foolish to c/r flop...I was card dead for a long time and was looking to make plays and get action...very bad idea.

I go all-in and he tanks for about a minute then calls. River is an A.
He says that I might have him beat…then turns pocket A’s for trips.
I guess I almost bluffed him out by repping a straight. Maybe my stack was just too short to do it.

Looking back, I think I was either slightly tilted or impatient or not sure what I was thinking when I did these hands.

Forgot to clarify that after the raising, everyone else folded and it was just heads up on the flop.

True. Played too tight all evening, then play 1 loose hand and lose it all.
As I mentioned, I was impatient (card dead for a while) and wanted action. I thought I that I had him dominated (complete misread).

How do you catch yourself though?
Do you have a mind routine or checklist?

This has been my main problem I wish to fix.

@Narj bets in poker are like a conversation. Example I like my hand I like my hand too.
Your hand might be good but i AM in the drivers seat etc etc etc.
The bets being made are "telling a story". It is up to you to put the pieces together and see IF you are being told a Believable story.
This skill comes with more and more with experience, an Almost ALL the decent players have a good grasp of it. The "Poker conversation"
goes on as each hand is played and buy how the bets are made.

As played.

They aren't playing back at you as much as you think. A possible bluff a few hands ago isn't nearly enough to go calling it off here IMO.

Well you got the money in with him crushed so good job.

QJo is a pretty crap hand. I fold it from HJ. It's not atrocious but I doubt it's a winning play. QJss is much better and playable from HJ.

You didn't almost bluff him. He was worried about the straight (but sets are actually likely too) but he wasn't close to folding.

Bluffing with top pair is usually bad in low stakes NLHE games.

Wish I crushed him all the way. That one stung. C'est du Poker.

Isn't that too nitty? I guess I need to play tighter. I've been following the preflop guide from UpSwing. Do you have a better suggestion?

@nara QJo to open with a raise from the HJ is Meh Not Great Not the worst either.
BUT As soon as you get 3bet its fold city.
There are just way way to many hands that could be dominating you.

It really sounds like you want to learn and it also sounds like you need to read a couple of poker books geared toward the beginner.
Pretty sure there is a books and publications forum on this site. There you will hear guys talk about good poker books they have read.
I would point you to
Winning low Limit Hold Em by Lee Jones.....its a good place for a new player to build a decent poker foundation to work off of.

I play QJo from the HJ but I hate to fold preflop. That said, if you follow a preflop guide you have to make sure the advice applies to stack- and open raise sizes in your game.

I'm not saying it's wrong to open QJo from HJ, I'm saying I don't because I doubt it's profitable for me. My suggestion is drop off some of the weakest hands in the charts you are using until you are more confident with live play.

H1: I'd fold most of the times but mix in a small amount of calls depending on how idiotic is the player.

H2: Mostly a fold pre unless there are deep stacks looking to gamble.
Can limp and rejam over someone raising.
Can limp and pray for a set.
Can open shove.
You have many options, but I'd mostly fold if there aren't 3+ 400-500bb stacks on the table.

As played : Shrug ship it in.

H3:
Option 1 Fold pre
Option 2 open bigger (no one respects a 3bb open live)
Postflop:
raise all in on flop and pray he doesn't have you beat (most of the times he has you beat)

As played.
Check back turn&river hoping for a showdown.
Shrug call any bet.
After the hand finishes go bang your forehead with a pokerbook in the casino bathroom.
Hope that helps.
Cheers!

Edit:
Is the preflop guide you're looking at for 6max online?

Also, tighten up your range, play 100bb+ deep, cause you know, the chart is optimised for 100bb, not 50.

50bb stack live means that you don't get to fold top pairs etc. So roll with the variance.

Or if you just want to have fun, you know just go ahead and do whatever you like

Cheers.

I started with at least 100 BB...went down to 50 BB.

top up.

Hand 1: Everything looks fine, fold river. Yeah he might be bluffing at times there, but there's better spots to catch him.

Hand 2: Everyone limps and you're in the SB with 8's, throw the buck in there and see the flop. No need to raise. As played on the flop it depends, do you feel like gambling? I probably wouldn't. Villain is't going to fold to your jam, unless he has complete air. JT, 9T have you in bad shape. QT, KT means you got some outs to dodge. Now look at all the two pair hands and top pair hands, where you need to catch to take the pot.

Hand 3: I'm fine with your preflop play. Yeah it's a small bet by you, but he makes a just as small raise. Call it and play in position. Where you go down hill is that raise on the flop. It's another small bet, which gives you very little behind for any play on the turn. If you really want to raise villain here just jam it in. The only time you should really be making that bet with your stack size, is because you're dying for villian to call. I'm probably just calling and looking to jam/fold the turn. Turn brings a 7, now you're just in a bad spot.