Help me get aggressive on the turn (long, with some hands)

I played about 20K hands of 100NL 6-max during April. I made 4.6 BB/100 (for about $2000 of profit), which isn't bad, but I would like to be doing better than that. I want to look at my performance and figure out what specifically I could be doing better.

Here are some stats.
Total Hands 21675
Vol. Put $ In Pot 19.46%
Raised Pre-Flop 11.95%
Att. To Steal Blinds 24.69%
Went to Showdown 23.55%
Won $ at Showdown 52.75%
Pre-Flop Aggression 1.43
Flop Aggression 3.76
Turn Aggression 1.65
River Aggression 1.43

I'm very aggressive pre-flop and on the flop, but I think the biggest flaw in my game is that I play the turn and the river like a wimp, especially the turn. I take down a lot of pots by raising preflop and making a continuation bet on the flop, but I give up too easily when my continuation bet is called. I don't bet the turn unless I'm almost sure I have the best hand (or if I have air -- I don't fire two barrels very often, but from time to time I'll do it).

The good thing about this approach is that I win a lot of big pots by snapping off bluffs from overaggressive players, who see my turn check as weakness and think they can steal the pot.

Examples:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2 BB (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

Button ($235.25)
SB ($187.10)
BB ($88.50)
UTG ($245.90)
Hero ($220.05)
CO ($162.50)

Preflop: Hero is MP with A, 8.
1 fold, Hero raises to $8, CO calls $8, 3 folds.

Flop: ($19) 6, 4, 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $14, CO calls $14.

Turn: ($47) 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $20, Hero calls $20.

River: ($87) 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $120.5 (All-In), Hero calls $120.50.

Final Pot: $328
Hero shows A 8
CO shows J 9
Hero wins $325.


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

Hero ($100)
SB ($116)
BB ($135.55)
UTG ($195.90)
MP ($46.45)
CO ($98.95)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A, A.
3 folds, Hero raises to $4, 1 fold, BB calls $3.

Flop: ($8.50) 8, 4, Q (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $6, BB calls $6.

Turn: ($20.50) K (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks.

River: ($20.50) 7 (2 players)
BB bets $15, Hero calls $15.

Final Pot: $50.50

BB shows 3 3
Hero shows A A
Hero wins $48.05


In the two above hands, I obviously won the most I could have won. Unfortunately, the flip side is that I don't win enough big pots by value betting aggressively and getting paid off. A lot of times I check behind like a wimp when my opponent had a decent hand that he would have called a bet with, for example against this guy:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (4 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

UTG ($160.45)
Hero ($144.30)
SB ($63.95)
BB ($66.25)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A, A.
1 fold, Hero raises to $4, 1 fold, BB calls $3.

Flop: ($8.50) 8, 5, 7 (2 players)
BB bets $3, Hero raises to $12, BB calls $9.

Turn: ($32.50) 4 (2 players)
BB bets $15, Hero calls $15.

River: ($62.50) T (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks.

Final Pot: $62.50

BB shows 8 3
Hero shows A A
Hero wins $60.50.

More importantly, I think my approach is going to give me problems as I move up in stakes and play against better players, against whom inducing a bluff is not quite so easy. If I let a good player control the size of the pot on the turn and the river, he'll naturally build a bigger pot with his better hands, and he'll be getting the best of me more often than not. Another problem is that my second-barrel bluffs don't have much credibility against a good player if they know I'll check the turn most of the time if I have something I'd like to show down. In the hand below my opponent was a pretty decent LAG. He'd been raising a lot of pots so I decided it was time to re-pop him. He said he was folding AK even though he thought it was probably good. Right after the hand, he got up and moved to my left instead of my right, at which point I left the table because I don't like sitting to the right of a good LAG.

In this hand, I would probably check behind with any pocket pair jacks or worse, because I'd be afraid my opponent had a better pocket pair. Thus, when I bet the turn, he can put me on a pretty narrow range (or a bluff). That seems bad.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2 BB (4 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

UTG ($55.10)
Button ($223.15)
Hero ($242.90)
BB ($164.95)

Preflop: Hero is SB with K, T.
1 fold, Button raises to $7, Hero raises to $24, 1 fold, Button calls $17.

Flop: ($50) 8, 8, 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $30, Button calls $30.

Turn: ($110) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $60, Button folds.

Final Pot: $170

So basically I'm looking for advice on how to ramp up my aggression on the turn and stop playing like a wimp. How often should I be following up my flop bets with a second barrel? Obviously, whether you fire a second barrel depends on a huge number of factors, so let me try to simplify it a little bit. Say you're heads-up in position against an unknown opponent, and you made a continuation bet which he called. What percentage of the time are you betting the turn, if you have a decent made hand like top pair? What if you have a monster? What if you have air?

I hope you don't mind a tiny hijack for a few questions (as I don't think I can answer yours anyway).. it's mainly because your preflop game is so different from mine:
- I normally wouldn't raise A8s UTG+1.. any particular reason? Or is it one of your standard raisable hands?
- You raise A8s for 8BB and AA for 4BB.. again, is this just variation or is there a specific reason to raise the former more?
- You raise a 7BB bet with KTs.. I wouldn't think of doing this, so I'm curious as to your reasons?
- how many tables do you typically play at the same time?

Thx

Some of the hands I posted were 200NL hands from last Saturday night. There seemed to be a huge number of donkeys on PokerStars that night so I decided to take a shot at 200NL. It went pretty well I might add.
Anyway, all of my open-raises are 4 BB, that's just $4 or $8 depending on what stakes I'm playing.

And yes, I do usually raise suited aces from second position in a 6-max game. PokerTracker tells me I'm making a small profit on them, so I don't see any reason to stop doing it. The only reason I wouldn't raise them would be if I've been really active lately, or if one of the players with position on me is a calling station.

The KT hand is not a standard hand by any stretch (obviously), but this guy was raising a ton of hands on the button, and I'm not just going to let him get away with it. Sometimes the 100NL and 200NL games get kind of aggressive and you need to occasionally take a stand with a weak hand or else you'll get run over. Against this type of player, I pick a spot and re-raise and they almost always fold either pre-flop or on the flop. His initial raise was only 3.5 BB, by the way. This concept isn't very applicable at all at 25NL, because there really aren't any good LAGs there and in general people don't raise pre-flop unless they have a really solid hand. There's no point re-raising these guys unless you have the goods.

1 tip

go play lhe and learnt to take avergae or weak hands to showdown a lot
Then come back and apply the same tactics to nl post flop play.
Id enjoy seeing the results.

hand 1
i check/push the turn because you are freerolling with your flush draw against another 8
hand 2
i bet this turn most of the time because of the diamond draw, if i get raised i would prob fold suspecting kq
hand 3
i think i bet river. i dont think he checks a straight here

Gabe,

So do you think that inducing bluffs is usually a waste of time and I'd be better off just betting my hands?

nah inducing bluffs is great, but you gotta pick your spots for it

http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...oker-33972.htm

Our stats seem similar, especially the agression numbers. I think checking the turn a lot makes river decisions easier, although good players find more value by betting/raising more. Decent turn/river play is probably the difference between beating (5ptbb/100) and killing a stake (10+).