Struggling Newbie

Hey all, I've been playing $2NL at Full Tilt for a couple of weeks now. (< 10000 hands) At first it was going pretty well, but this past week... man. I'm under no illusions that I am any good, but I am really starting to doubt my play and wanted to run some hands by you guys. Thanks!

Hand #1

The villain had been playing well over 50% of his hands and was not terribly aggressive. Between his bet preflop and how he acted on the flop I put him at AK. If he had three-bet instead of just calling my raise pre-flop, I may have dumped the hand. My thinking on the flop was that, even if we were even, I had the nut flush draw.

Full Tilt Poker Game #17044496525: Table Korea (deep) - $0.01/$0.02 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:25:01 ET - 2009/12/23
Seat 1: Hartinger1 ($2.60)
Seat 2: proff_bg ($2.13)
Seat 3: beerjew ($4.65)
Seat 4: pako maletas ($1.98)
Seat 5: adivinity ($10.95)
Seat 6: ArtDiamondmaker ($0.68)
Seat 7: Omial ($4.34)
Seat 8: fingerflinger ($3.70)
Seat 9: kingbronc ($1.58)
pako maletas posts the small blind of $0.01
adivinity posts the big blind of $0.02
kingbronc posts $0.02
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to fingerflinger [Kh Ah]
ArtDiamondmaker folds
Omial calls $0.02
fingerflinger has 15 seconds left to act
fingerflinger raises to $0.06
kingbronc raises to $0.23
Hartinger1 folds
proff_bg has 15 seconds left to act
proff_bg calls $0.23
beerjew folds
Hartinger1 is sitting out
pako maletas calls $0.22
adivinity folds
Omial folds
fingerflinger calls $0.17
*** FLOP *** [4h Qh Ac]
pako maletas checks
fingerflinger has 15 seconds left to act
fingerflinger bets $0.52
kingbronc raises to $1.35, and is all in
proff_bg folds
pako maletas folds
fingerflinger calls $0.83
kingbronc shows [As Ad]
fingerflinger shows [Kh Ah]
*** TURN *** [4h Qh Ac] [8c]
*** RIVER *** [4h Qh Ac 8c] [7d]
SUMMARY ***
Total pot $3.66 | Rake $0.24
Board: [4h Qh Ac 8c 7d]


Hand #2

Here, the villain was super-tight, but very aggressive whenever he saw a flop. I didn't really have a guess at his hand because the table had just dropped to three(from nine), and I hadn't seen him showdown at all.

Full Tilt Poker Game #17043859421: Table Blume (deep) - $0.01/$0.02 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:51:35 ET - 2009/12/23
Seat 3: djulio ($0.90), is sitting out
Seat 4: lofrogue ($1.80)
Seat 7: fingerflinger ($4.34)
Seat 8: twinspop ($7.44)
twinspop posts the small blind of $0.01
lofrogue posts the big blind of $0.02
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to fingerflinger [9h 9s]
fingerflinger raises to $0.08
twinspop folds
lofrogue calls $0.06
twinspop stands up
*** FLOP *** [Js 7s 9d]
lofrogue checks
fingerflinger bets $0.08
lofrogue calls $0.08
*** TURN *** [Js 7s 9d] [4s]
lofrogue checks
fingerflinger bets $0.33
lofrogue raises to $1.64, and is all in
fingerflinger calls $1.31
lofrogue shows [3s As]
fingerflinger shows [9h 9s]
*** RIVER *** [Js 7s 9d 4s] [8c]
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $3.61 | Rake $0.24
Board: [Js 7s 9d 4s 8c]



Aside from killing the desire to make bonehead calls, what kind of approach would you guys recommend for recognizing and shoring up leaks in a beginner's game? Any other tips? Thanks again!

Hand #1

The villain had been playing well over 50% of his hands and was not terribly aggressive. Between his bet preflop and how he acted on the flop I put him at AK. If he had three-bet instead of just calling my raise pre-flop, I may have dumped the hand. My thinking on the flop was that, even if we were even, I had the nut flush draw.

$0.01/$0.02 No Limit Holdem
9 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($0.68)
UTG+1 ($4.34)
Hero ($3.70)
MP2 ($1.58)
MP3 ($2.60)
CO ($2.13)
BTN ($4.65)
SB ($1.98)
BB ($10.95)

Pre-Flop: ($0.03, 9 players) Hero is MP1
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.02, Hero raises to $0.06, MP2 raises to $0.23, 1 fold, CO calls $0.23, 1 fold, SB calls $0.22, 1 fold, UTG+1 folds, Hero calls $0.17

Flop: ($0.96, 4 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.52, MP2 goes all-in $1.35, 1 fold, SB folds, Hero calls $0.83

Turn: ($3.66, 2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($3.66, 2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $3.66
Hero shows

MP2 shows


Hand #2

Here, the villain was super-tight, but very aggressive whenever he saw a flop. I didn't really have a guess at his hand because the table had just dropped to three(from nine), and I hadn't seen him showdown at all.
$0.01/$0.02 No Limit Holdem
3 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
Hero ($4.34)
SB ($7.44)
BB ($1.80)

Pre-Flop: ($0.03, 3 players) Hero is BTN
Hero raises to $0.08, SB folds, BB calls $0.06

Flop: ($0.17, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.08, BB calls $0.08

Turn: ($0.33, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.33, BB goes all-in $1.64, Hero calls $1.31

River: ($3.61, 2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $3.61
BB shows

Hero shows

1st thing: when posting hands, dont post results as they taint the discussion.

2nd thing: please use a converter! if ftr's doesnt work, go to a place like weaktight.com and use theirs. this makes reading HH's soooo much easier and it also generates more interest cuz ppl dont have to work as hard

3rd thing: the actual hands!

hand 1: flop doesnt matter so long as it gets in. id be leaning more towards checking though so that we let villain bet and hopefully get some calls from the other fishies then we can get it in with TPTK + nut flush draw.

@preflop: raise more pre, like to 10c. we have a good hand against people that enjoy limp calling as well as just regular calling with shitty hands so we might as well exploit that by making it a bigger mistake (adding in the fact that they like folding flops and there we go )

after we get raised and several callers, im really not sure here. folding seems bad since we have alot of dead money so a call is fine. Im pretty mixed on raising though (maybe cuz i saw the results ) just because people rarely 3b at 2nl imo so we should be up against a pretty solid value range.

hand 2
pre: nice
flop: omg noes

bet more on flop! we just flopped a vulnerable monster and are willing to get it in! also players at these stakes dont understand relative hand strength so hands like {AJ, KJ, QJ, JT, 77, XsXs, 8x, Tx} and more are willing to stack off to us! Lets target this part of villains range and get the most we possibly can! pot it.

turn: ack! dont bet pot! i cant really see villain calling now with Jx anymore and we no longer have a nut hand. i still want to bet so maybe 1/2pot ish? im torn between just checking too but that seems crazy.

Whoops! For what it's worth, I tried to use this site's hand converter, but couldn't post it because I have less than 10 posts at the moment...

Thanks for the advice, JKDS. I understand what you mean about the second hand, since there was a flush draw and an overcard, I should have played my set much faster.

In the first hand, I was concerned about having three opponents get a free card and pairing, since I figured that there was one other ace out there. It sounds like I should have treated it more like a drawing hand, since I was drawing to the nuts? Thanks again, and happy holidays.

Originally Posted by flicking

Hand #1

If he had three-bet instead of just calling my raise pre-flop, I may have dumped the hand..

1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.02, Hero raises to $0.06, MP2 raises to $0.23

http://www.flopturnriver.com/poker-dictionary/3-bet.php

Its probably an oversite when you constructed your thread .

Both of those hands are just coolers, the second one you need to bet a lot bigger on the flop, like 17c, it probably would not have changed the end result but its better poker. At the 2NL you need to be betting big for value every single time you hit something, slowplaying basically never. Dont be tricky, just raise pre when your supposed to, 3bet with your really good hands and bet bet bet your good hands when the flops are good and youll beat 2NL in no time.

Hand 1: He did 3-bet preflop. Read this http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...in-t87954.html and apply it.

Hand 2: Your flop bet sizing sucks.

Oh, thanks for the link about 3-bet, I actually was confused about the meaning. Nice article too, spoon. Looks like I've got plenty of work to do.

Good work