A few hands for review

First proper session of .5/1 limit last night. Here are some interesting hands that I'd like to get feedback on:

Party Poker 0.5/1 Hold'em (9 handed) converter

1. Bet the flop?

Preflop: Hero is BB with 4, J.
UTG calls, 2 folds, MP2 calls, 2 folds, Button calls, 1 fold, Hero checks.

Flop: (4.50 SB) 3, A, 7 (4 players)
Hero checks, UTG checks, MP2 bets, Button folds, Hero calls, UTG folds.

Turn: (3.25 BB) 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets, Hero calls.

River: (5.25 BB) 8 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets, Hero raises, MP2 calls.

Final Pot: 9.25 BB

2. When do I give up?

Party Poker 0.5/1 Hold'em (9 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with K, A. CO posts a blind of $0.5.
UTG calls, 2 folds, Hero raises, MP3 calls, CO (poster) calls, 3 folds, UTG calls.

Flop: (9.50 SB) T, 6, 4 (4 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets, MP3 folds, CO calls, UTG folds.

Turn: (5.75 BB) J (2 players)
Hero bets, CO calls.

River: (7.75 BB) 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets, Hero folds.

Final Pot: 8.75 BB

3. I knew I should have raised the turn, but do I raise the flop?

Party Poker 0.5/1 Hold'em (9 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is CO with A, 9.
2 folds, MP1 calls, MP2 calls, MP3 calls, Hero calls, Button calls, SB completes, BB checks.

Flop: (7 SB) A, 6, T (7 players)
SB checks, BB bets, MP1 calls, MP2 calls, MP3 calls, Hero calls, Button calls, SB folds.

Turn: (6.50 BB) 9 (6 players)
BB bets, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, MP3 calls, Hero calls, Button calls.

River: (10.50 BB) 9 (4 players)
BB checks, MP3 checks, Hero bets, Button calls, BB folds, MP3 folds.

Final Pot: 12.50 BB

4. 3-bet turn and bet the river?

Party Poker 0.5/1 Hold'em (9 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with A, A.
1 fold, Hero raises, 3 folds, CO calls, 3 folds.

Flop: (5.50 SB) 7, 9, 5 (2 players)
Hero bets, CO calls.

Turn: (3.75 BB) 3 (2 players)
Hero bets, CO raises, Hero calls.

River: (7.75 BB) J (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets, Hero calls.

Final Pot: 9.75 BB

5. Can I fold anywhere?

Party Poker 0.5/1 Hold'em (9 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is UTG with J, K.
Hero calls, UTG+1 calls, MP1 raises, 6 folds, Hero calls, UTG+1 calls.

Flop: (7.50 SB) J, 2, 5 (3 players)
Hero bets, UTG+1 raises, MP1 folds, Hero calls.

Turn: (5.75 BB) 8 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 bets, Hero calls.

River: (7.75 BB) A (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 bets, Hero calls.

Final Pot: 9.75 BB

Hand 1: Flop is fine on an Axx board, particularly if you're up against players that call with nothing. Bet the river without a read. Ax will check behind too often. The river play was a big leak for me.
Hand 2: Looks good to me. Sometimes I bet that river, a read on CO's calling/raising standards helps.
Hand 3: Raise pre-flop. Flop is close (maybe wait for a non-heart turn), raise the turn!
Hand 4: Meh, need a read. What range of hands does the CO play here?
Hand 5: Raise pre-flop. 3-bet the flop or bet the turn.

Thanks Fnord. On hand 4 I didn't have a read on CO as it was only my second orbit.

The results were:

Hand 1: I win
Hand 3: I win
Hand 4: I win (CO had AQo :P)
Hand 5: I lose (UTG+1 has J8s)

Originally Posted by Fnord

Hand 3: Raise pre-flop. Flop is close (maybe wait for a non-heart turn), raise the turn!

I have my list of reasons why I would agree with Fnord, and Dwarf's assessment that raising the turn is the way to go here.

But, here's a potentially interesting discussion topic. Would this or would this not be a good spot to go for an over-call from the button on the TURN? (i.e. don't raise the BB's bet, but instead just smooth-call, and hope that the button will call too. Then, hopefully, the BB will lead out again on the river allowing you to raise then.)

monkey, there is a flush draw out there so you have to raise the turn to give him bad odds if that's what he's chasing. getting the button's overcall gains 1 BB but so does raising the BB. the raise reduces your risk of getting sucked out on.

i wonder, what did button have?

ChezJ

Originally Posted by ChezJ

monkey, there is a flush draw out there so you have to raise the turn to give him bad odds if that's what he's chasing. getting the button's overcall gains 1 BB but so does raising the BB. the raise reduces your risk of getting sucked out on.
ChezJ

I agree; those were two of the reasons that I had for preferring the turn-raise over going for an over-call. The third reason for me being that you don't have the position to run that play. You might win a few extra bets going for this play if you were first to act (i.e. you smooth-call the BB's turn-bet after the button calls (ok, that' technically not an over-call), and you check to the raiser on the river ..... giving you the chance to check-raise and perhaps get more river b-bets outta both the BB and the button. BUT, BUT, BUT, in this specific hand, with the position dwarfman had, a turn-raise was the only correct play.

I think everyone knows my position on giving or not giving odds to other players in really loose games ... THEY ARE GOING TO CHASE NO MATTER WHAT! I'm not saying that you shouldn't raise to give them bad odds, I'm just saying that your reason for raising is to make them pay to suck out on you/give them the opportunity to make a mistake, not to give them bad odds so they'll fold.

BTW, I feel this is much less true with gut-shot chasers; making em' call two cold will often get those draws to fold, but I'd say that 90% of flush chasers are going to the river with their 4-flush every time irrespective of pot size, pot odds, the number of bets they have to call, the number of players left in a hand, and whether the board is paired or not. I love playing against these people

Last night, there was a woman at my table who limped 65s (diamonds) from early position, then she proceeded to call 3 cold pre-flop. The flop was XX-Kd giving her a 3-flush and nothing else, not even a crappy pair, on a paired board!! You guessed it, she called two more cold on the flop, another two (or maybe even more I can't remember specifically) on the turn and river and of course hit a runner-runner flush to take down a huge pot. Did I say that I love playing against this kind of player?