Newbie at $25NL, advice wanted pls ;)

Hi all,

Couldn't resist and played one 25$ NL table yesterday evening. My strat: play very tight, and only play very good opportunities. After almost an hour of folding, I played these 2 hands. Can you analyze them, and give future advice if needed... (reading HOH's books).

About me: I started playing poker 3 weeks ago, and my BR is $280 now, started with 75$ on PP). Yes I know $25NL is too high for my BR, but wanted to have a taste on it. Normal tables I play are $10NL, 2 or 3 multitabling (started on the $5 tables).

Ok hand 1 (tried to use the hand convertor on this hand, but it did not work):

Edit: tried another converter now...

Party Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.10/$0.25
10 players
Converter

Pre-flop: (10 players) Hero is Button with 8 8
2 folds, UTG+2 calls, MP1 raises to $0.5, MP2 calls, MP3 calls, CO folds, Hero calls, SB folds, BB raises to $1.29, UTG+2 calls, MP1 calls, MP2 calls, MP3 folds, Hero calls.

Flop: 8 3 A ($7.05, 5 players)
BB checks, UTG+2 bets $3, MP1 folds, MP2 calls, Hero raises to $10, ...

And here is hand 2:

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (9 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver Cards)

UTG+1 ($22.42)
MP1 ($32.23)
MP2 ($7.76)
MP3 ($25.45)
CO ($4.40)
Button ($18.81)
SB ($25.50)
BB ($4.65)
Hero ($35.27)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with , . SB posts a blind of $0.10.
Hero calls $0.25, 6 folds, SB (poster) raises to $0.4, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.25.

Flop: ($1.25) , , (2 players)
SB bets $0.35, Hero calls $0.35.

Turn: ($1.95) (2 players)
SB bets $0.4, Hero raises to $0.8, SB raises to $4.2, Hero calls $3.40.

River: ($10.35) (2 players)
SB bets $2, Hero raises to $4, SB calls $2.

Final Pot: $18.35

Thx for any advice!
C_S

Hand 1: Fine.

Hand 2: If you're going to raise the turn make a proper raise. At least $1.50 I'd say.

What did you put villain on? There's both boat and flush possibilities by the river and he just re-raised you on the turn. I'd be tempted to just call here. Even if his bet is so weak.

Originally Posted by Anosmic

Hand 1: Fine.

Hand 2: If you're going to raise the turn make a proper raise. At least $1.50 I'd say.

What did you put villain on? There's both boat and flush possibilities by the river and he just re-raised you on the turn. I'd be tempted to just call here. Even if his bet is so weak.

I agree, although considering his river line he probably has A10. I'm raising him on the flop, flopped straits are so easily counterfitted by later streets if not to beat them at least to kill the action!

Originally Posted by Anosmic

Hand 2: If you're going to raise the turn make a proper raise. At least $1.50 I'd say.

What did you put villain on? There's both boat and flush possibilities by the river and he just re-raised you on the turn. I'd be tempted to just call here. Even if his bet is so weak.

Well I was thinking, I had the highest straight, so I didn't want to scare off other players by raising (high). I figured I would take their/his money at the river if he makes some hand with that flop...

I did not put him on a flush, because of his betting, I thought he had some higher pair and made a set, or he also made a straight. (He had a set of tens at showdown I think).

Thx,
C_S

Don't min-raise

Delete the turn and river cards from hand 1, and the opponents action after you raise to $10. You want to stop the action where you're asking the question.

Originally Posted by seasider

flopped straits are so easily counterfitted by later streets if not to beat them at least to kill the action!

That's a great point. 3x A, K, Q, J, T, or 4x 9. That's 19 cards, minus 2 since we're getting played at still leaves 17 scare cards, which is 37% on the turn, 60% on the river.

Originally Posted by swiggidy

Don't min-raise

What exactly is a min-raise? If someone bets 1$ and I press the re-raise button to $2, is this a min-raise?

Originally Posted by seasider

flopped straits are so easily counterfitted by later streets if not to beat them at least to kill the action!

That's a great point. 3x A, K, Q, J, T, or 4x 9. That's 19 cards, minus 2 since we're getting played at still leaves 17 scare cards, which is 37% on the turn, 60% on the river.[/quote]

I'll let this sink in.

Thx all!

Originally Posted by coolsmoe

Originally Posted by swiggidy

Don't min-raise

What exactly is a min-raise? If someone bets 1$ and I press the re-raise button to $2, is this a min-raise?

Yes, that's right. Don't do it. Pre-flop rule of thumb is 3x, but that's not always enough post-flop.

On the turn villain bets .4 into 2, so you have to call .4 into 2.4 giving you 6:1 odds. You min-raise, now he has to call .4 into 3.2, giving him 8:1 odds. Even if you raise 3x, now he's calling 0.8 into 3.6, giving him 4.5:1 odds, easily good enough to draw.

On the turn, if you are raising, there is $2 + his 0.4 + your 0.4 = $2.8 in the pot. You want to raise $2.8, so make it $3.2 (2.8 + 0.4) to go. Now villain is getting 2:1 odds to call. Rounding to $3 is good enough.

You don't always want to bet the pot, this is just an example. A raise to $1.8 (1.4 + 0.4) would give villain 3:1 odds.

Have you read these?
http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...oker-36037.htm

You want to win a big pot with your big hands. To do this you have to build the pot before any cards come along to either scare your opponent or give him the best hand. If he hasn't got anything he's not going to play a big pot no matter what you do. Make the pot as big as possible the times he has got something, and don't let him catch up cheaply. (Which is exactly what the other guys said, really.)

And my best piece of advice: step back down to 10NL until you have 500$. You said you know that you shouldn't play 25NL, and you're right. So just don't do it!

Hand 2 - Def raise the flop for sure! He is very likely to have 2pair here. Prob just call the river.

Hand 1: Set's are VERY unlikely to get drawn out on barring flushes n straights. This guy bets half the pot. Either his KQ / pp missed, or- more likely- he has a strong Ace (maybe even a two-pair axe). If he has a strong ace- like AQ- hes practically drawing dead. (he needs runner-runner overfull). If he has two-pair, aces up, then he needs to spike 1/2 remaining bullets in the deck by the river- not likely. I would not try to frighten him on the flop.

Originally Posted by bigslikk

Hand 1: Set's are VERY unlikely to get drawn out on barring flushes n straights. This guy bets half the pot. Either his KQ / pp missed, or- more likely- he has a strong Ace (maybe even a two-pair axe). If he has a strong ace- like AQ- hes practically drawing dead. (he needs runner-runner overfull). If he has two-pair, aces up, then he needs to spike 1/2 remaining bullets in the deck by the river- not likely. I would not try to frighten him on the flop.

If he's got an ace he's definitely going to be scared shitless if the flush draw completes. If the flush completes WE are going to be scared too, and we won't be able to play a big pot. If we want to stack him we need to get lots of cash in fast. If he's got a strong ace or two pair he's not gonna let it go to a single raise. Slowplaying here is a recipe for disaster.