AA on the button - FR 2NL

Villain was new to the table - had only played one hand with them previously and it hadn't gone to showdown.

I feel I played fairly standard "ABC" poker here and with the lack of reads I was playing somewhat blind.

Preflop - Not much to say - maybe a 5/6xBB raise was more appropriate.
As I don't know anything about villain, I felt putting him on a range of something like {22+,AJs+,KQs,AQo+,KQo} was realistic. He may be looser than I give him credit for, perhaps harbouring TJs or similar.

Flop - Decent flop, probably one of the best I could've hoped for. Naturally I raised it up a bit. Villain's calling range would be something like the following, I would think - {33-22,AJs+,KJs+,QJs,AKo,AJo,KJo+,QJo}. I haven't included 45s in there as I don't feel it fits in with their preflop play, plus they are somewhat OOP. His raising range would most likely be JJ+. The C/R is slightly suspect.

Turn - At this point, the danger is villain having JJ, QQ. A straight draw is also a possibility.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (8 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) ($1.97)
SB ($1.44)
BB ($0.80)
UTG ($1.79)
UTG+1 ($1.98)
MP1 ($1.88)
MP2 ($1.17)
CO ($1.55)

Preflop: Hero is Button with Ahttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/spade.gif, Ahttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...miles/club.gif
UTG calls $0.02, 4 folds, Hero bets $0.08, SB calls $0.07, 1 fold, UTG calls $0.06

Flop: ($0.26) 3http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/heart.gif, 2http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...es/diamond.gif, Jhttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...es/diamond.gif (3 players)
SB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets $0.20, 1 fold, UTG raises to $1, Hero calls $0.80

Turn: ($2.26) Qhttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/spade.gif (2 players)
UTG bets $0.71 (All-In), Hero ?


I struggled with this turn decision - be great to have other opinions.

I would raise to 0.12 or so preflop. I would also shove over villians raise on the flop. We still have the best hand here alot, villian is pretty much committed and there are straight and flush draws on the board we need to protect from.

As played, I call the turn.

You need to call $0.71 to win a $2.97 pot, so you only need to be good around 20% of the time for the call to be correct. 22 and 33 are definitely in villians range, but so are alot of Qx, Jx hands and villian may even spaz out here with overcards or TT-55. I think most 2NLers would raise QQ and JJ preflop so we can discount these quite a bit.

Nice analysis by the way.

Definitely shove over on the flop. After his $1 raise he's got 0.71 left so he's calling with a very wide range (FD/SD, KJo+,maybe 88-TT, AK-AQ if he thinks he has odds to hit his overs). Call the turn for sure. Though his line looks so much like JQ or 33,22 you'd have to be 80 percent sure of it to warrant a fold.

Pre flop I like less or more than 4x bb in 2NL. Raise more to try and fold out drawing hands or garbage they might play. On the button I like raising only 3x bb because a lot of 2NLers immediately assume you're bluffing and 3 bet you. Then you can 4 bet shove and either stack off or win a decent amount of dead money :)

The decision in this hand isnt on the turn, but on the flop.

I'd agree the pfr was low, but you know, given how likely you are to get calls at this specific table and what not, it may not be that bad. Given it's 2NL I'd lean more on it being too low given the random crap that people may play.

I have no problem shoving on the flop. I think a lot of times here it will look like a flop that may have missed you to him. If he's got any pair or a Jack he may be pushing back thinking you're just making a standard cbet after whiffing the flop. Of course he could have a set here, but that's not a huge part of his range. I'd say his range is probably wider... Maybe something like 22-JJ, JTs+, KQo, AXs, ATo+. I doubt he's limping QQ or KK. I think there's a lot of sooted cards making this play along with lower pairs that don't believe your bet, paired jacks and, of course, sets.

I don't see anything wrong with bet sizing pre. I beleive you just have to decide to shove or fold by the flop.

3bet shove flop. He has more than half his stack in so he's not going anywhere, and while he could have 22, 33 or JJ, there's also plenty of flush draws, straight draws and strong Js in his range.

shove flop as played get it in on the turn

Like everyone said, get it in on the flop.

The absolute worst way to play this hand would be to call the flop raise and then fold to the inevitable turn bet. If you are so sure that you are behind that you want to fold here, you should have just folded on the flop.

Thanks for the replies, all. I understand why I should have got it all in on the flop and indeed, this is backed up by analysis of previous hands I've played with KK and AA. In one previous instance, villain was able to make his flush on the river card because I let it get that far. A leak that definitely needs plugging.

In this hand, it turns out villain was holding pocket threes. I'm not sure whether he would have folded if I'd have gone all-in on the flop (given my lack of reads), but I see why it would have been a much better decision. I called his turn shove and lost the majority of my stack. Irritating at the time, but it serves me right and I'll definitely be learning from this.