Hey! Im rather new to poker, but im trying to learn as good as i can. Now i was playing in a micro stakes game, 0.10-0.25$ blinds and i Had A Js in the SB. Ill post the link. Now i do think that my bet sizing was poor, but i felt that i could potentially get a big pot here, so i didn't want to go in too hard. Considering the guys who raised was Dealer, i expected him to have a bit looser range, but considering his 9 BB raise, and also the fact that he was playing tight earlier, made me think he had a much tighter range. Anyways, ill let you guys watch the hand play out, and let me know your thoughts.

https://www.jivaro.com/profile/KingC...a3bdb5e7ab502/

25nl is quite tough.

If you can afford the loses then more power to you. Even then it might to learn how to beat the lower stakes first and then move up from there.

Yeah a new player shouldnt play 25NL, youre just gonna lose a lot of money at first.. Play a lower stake that you can have 30+ buyins for.

Ah okay, so this is 25NL, tbh i didn't even know that, but how did i play the hand though, no matter if it's 25NL or lower stakes. Should i have widen his range, to think he could have 76s? should i not have checked on river, or maybe bet higher on the turn? to scare him off the river? or just folded earlier?

This is a spot (because of the action and the disadvantageous position of the sb) where you should be cold 4 betting or folding. This is a good hand to 4 bet cold as a bluff, and then check flop intending to call a bet on this specific flop.

As played, always check to the preflop raiser.

Given that the preflop 3 bettor showed strength via 3 betting, and you decided to flat out of position, also showing great strength, AJ is a weak hand in consideration of this and acts as a bluff catcher. You should be playing this hand passively on all streets. I don't know why you think you should be getting bigger or betting river. Villain mostly has a lot of AQ, AK and can have many As two pairs as well. What are you accomplishing by betting into that?

Very good point, it's i guess just from playing other low stakes poker games, that people tend to 3 bet with a lot of different hands, and they overvalue kings and jacks, even any hand that contains aces. I do completely understand what you are saying, and i will definetely try to put what you are saying into my poker games at these low stakes. I just feel like strategies like that are very conservative considering the level that i play on. Cause when i try to play very game theory optimal, it seems to me that the opponents i play against play a wide variety of hands, and hit the dry flops extremely often. Then proceeds to continuation bet a lot of the time with very weak hands. And i just find it very hard to get a read on my opponents, to know if they actually play weak or strong hands, i guess this was 25NL so it's a bit different than the other stakes i play on. But as you say if the villain has AQ AK i lose anyways, even two pairs, so i see what you are saying and i Agree Thank you!

After reading through your thought processes I highly recommend you drop down to the 2NL ($2 buy-in) games and learn the game at that level.

Drop down to 2NL and start over with the whole fundamentals like preflop ranges and flop (c)betting. You made either the wrong decision or set yourself up to make mistakes at every point in this hand probably.

Pre is a fold or 4bet, never a call. You're not closing action preflop, are left with someone to act after you if you face a bet on the flop, and your hand looks prettier than it actually is. Use it as a bluff or muck. And by that I mean that unless you have some super reliable stats on people you should just fold.

Flop and especially turn bet are ambitious, it's hard to get called on multiple streets by hands that are much worse than yours. Check at least one of the streets to control the pot. On the river you find out that you've created a big pot for him to value bet, you could have played a smaller pot with your hand.

Cold 4 bet if you have a tight image and they are loose aggressive, thou.... got to think about % of dead money you can win also..... and can use this for balancing

Grunch. I’ll be honest. If you’re new to poker, you should be playing $0.01/0.02 or $0.02/0.05 to establish good habits, ranges and folding hands. Fold pre.

fold pre. your facing a open and a 3 bet by unknowns and you hold AJs which isn't going to be good enough here to be profitable calling or 4 betting with limited information for the 4 bet strategy.

you don't lose anything folding and will save yourself monies by folding such a hand.

on the flop i think betting is fine.
turn i think betting is fine.
river your betting and calling the bet and losing this pot to someone who 3 bets with 76s. note that down and adjust. since opener folds to a 3 bet you could 4 bet with AJs in the future when both of these players decide to play in the same fashion again.

Most of the time however and if your play tournaments where your deep enough and you don't have enough info and chances to adjust your folding here.