Bens blog

Not really sure if I have a point to the blog, but figure I'll start one and see where it goes.

History: I think I quit poker about 9 years ago, although it didn't feel that long ago until I went looking for my old blog. I made my start with two $50 deposits, and by the second was a 'winning' player at SNGs where I build up to somewhere around the $650ish mark (quotations, because I learnt some really basic ICM and became a push/shove bot, I even have a vid on here I should watch again at some point to see if it was bad or not). Moved to cash at around $. It took time but became a winning player there with help from a bunch of friends trying to make the same journey. I've lost the stats, but from memory I beat the games at a reasonable clip up to $6k where I moved to 200nl with 30 buyins. Fairly quickly went up 10 more buyins, then even more quickly went down 15. At that time I was playing a lot less, the stress got to me, so I pulled the majority of my roll out and built a basketball area at home that's been money well spent.

A few reasons to get back into things, but mostly just started getting some poker vids passing through my youtube recommendations, popping back on here to be nostalgic and a bit of a desire to have another shot.

Looking back in review (and I kind of knew this at the time, but didn't think it was as big of a deal as it probably was), I think my main problem was not thinking, or being capable of thinking, in terms of ranges. A big part of that final downswing was reading some new advice on aggressive bluffing, but not understanding when they were good, and when they were bad. Looking back through some of the latest conversations in my last blog, and it's clear I'd get some advice about how to play in one spot, then think I was applying that advice in the same kind of spot when it was actually different. Basically I'd think "this is a good place to bluff pretending I have XX" without considering things like whether the way I'd played the hand so far meant I was likely to have XX in my range (and if so, how much of my range made up 'value' hands I'd be betting/raising with).

So threads like the classic ISF theorem, which is probably the single most important thread posted on FTR, just went over my head. I got the idea of what he was saying, but had no idea how to implement it into my game. I'd do a hand review and just go "my hand is XX, what's optimal" instead of "my range here is this, what's the best play with my range?".

Now sometimes you just play your cards, and especially at lower stakes it's probably overkill (and perhaps even somewhat negative) to worry too much about balanced ranges, but I definitely think as I moved up this was the big thing that held me back, and the thing I want to work on the most as I try to rebuild a better game.

So, I'm not a winning player thinking he can crush back at micros. I've deposited $100 and plan to play 2NL while I learn the game pretty much from scratch again. Not only have I forgotten a lot in nearly a decade of not playing, but I want to relearn differently this time around. For now I'm not trying to win the most $ possible as fast as possible, I just want to develop a solid game that I can eventually use as a foundation to move forward with. For now this means reading/watching/thinking about some of the more advanced stuff, while mostly actually studying the very basics. Doing this while I play a limited amount.

I'm playing 2 tables, no hud. Most sessions are less than an hour long, sometimes only 20 mins or so. Just trying to concentrate on what I'm doing, and whats going on on the tables. I've done very little of my work yet. I have no 3-bet range. I have no call 3-bet range. I'm pretty sure my 4-bet range is exactly AK, KK+ atm. I do 3-bet. I do call 3-bets (probably too many). However I do so knowing these are parts of my game I need to develop fairly soon. Mostly so far I'm trying to focus on good preflop first in raise ranges, and trying not to be too stupid post flop. I think I've run pretty well, and gotten lucky at times, so trying not to be results oriented. I'll work on expanding my game in pretty much every spot as I go.

Swingy results. Feels a bit like my results depend on how I'm running, which...well sounds how it should be, but I mean in a more exaggerated fashion. I think I made things worse looking for places where 'my range is strong, I'll bluff' in larger pots. On one hand I make $ when people can't fold, so no matter how strong my range is, I'm not sure I should be trying to get people to fold. I dunno, on review some I think are bad, some I think are good, and some I just don't know, but I probably don't need to be trying them. Here's probably the one I was most torn on at the time:



NL Holdem $0.02(BB)
HERO ($2.12)
SB ($1.98)
BB ($2.33)
UTG ($0.94)
HJ ($0.76)
CO ($2.14)


Dealt to Hero: A:spade: T:heart:


UTG Folds, HJ Folds, CO Raises To $0.05, HERO Calls $0.05, SB Folds, BB Folds


Flop ($0.13): Q:heart: K:diamond: 2:spade:
CO Checks, HERO Bets $0.09, CO Calls $0.09


Turn ($0.31): Q:heart: K:diamond: 2:spade: 2:diamond:
CO Checks, HERO Bets $0.22, CO Calls $0.22


River ($0.75): Q:heart: K:diamond: 2:spade: 2:diamond: T:club:
CO Checks, HERO Bets $0.54 , CO Calls $0.54


[spoil]
CO shows: J:heart: Q:spade:


CO wins: $1.74
[/spoil]

I didn't have a heap of hands on him, but he seemed reggy. I expect him to cbet something like JT and any K or better, so when he C/C flop I put on a Q. So my bet on the river is obv not a value bet, I think he has better and want him to fold. I think betting flop when checked to is fine, and basically treating my hand as KQ is ok. I guess the 2nd 2 on the turn didn't help me as now I don't have a set, but...I dunno. Thoughts?

Then there are some hands, where I just have no idea what range to give a villain. In this hand, villain has pretty much just sat down.

NL Holdem $0.02(BB)
CO ($3.27)
BTN ($2)
SB ($3.35)
BB ($0.74)
UTG ($2.52)
HERO ($2.02)


Dealt to Hero: 9:heart: J:heart:


UTG Folds, HERO Raises To $0.05, CO Folds, BTN Folds, SB Folds, BB Calls $0.03


Flop ($0.11): T:diamond: 9:club: J:diamond:
BB Bets $0.11 , HERO Calls $0.11


Turn ($0.33): T:diamond: 9:club: J:diamond: 7:club:
BB Bets $0.58 (allin), Hero???


Flop I guess I should know what to do here, but didn't. He could have all kinds of draws, but he could also have me drawing to 4 outs. Turn is even worse. Am I overthinking this? I think it's a fold on the turn, but if so, do we fold pretty much everything other than QK?

On a different (but maybe related) note, I've been pretty busy lately, so most of what little time I've had for poker has gone to playing. This wasn't really the plan. At times, yeah I only have 1/2 hr and want to play, but if I'm just going to donk around at 2NL without improving, I might as well go play computer games. Maybe my approach should be study first, play later? Time should free up more in a couple of weeks I think, but I think I need to put a bit more of what time I spend into trying to improve rather than just at the tables.

My opinion has been that if you're not tight for cash you should be studying so much more than actually playing and not waste your time building a roll by grinding the stake below just deposit more and more up when you feel you're ready.

Trying to get people to fold is generally a pretty big mistake at 2nl when people aren't really thinking about your range but rather their hand except in fairly specific situations.

H1 when villain calls the flop with KQx rainbow and the turn is a complete dud I really don't think we pick up very much fold equity at all in this spot so I think we can give up and realise our equity, Ace is a pretty good card and a jack hits villains range hard enough that we get paid off a lot imo. When we pick up a reasonable amount of showdown value on the river and it's not a scary card for villain betting is wrong.

H2 Opening J9s in MP may be a mistake given the right table conditions. I think you can shove the flop as people who sit down short stacked at 2nl tend to be huge calling stations, hit any hand get the money in types. That being said the turn is horrible and a shove tends to be pretty strong. Villain will turn up with some AJ, KJ type hands so you'd have to check what he needs to be doing this with to make it a call and see if it's reasonable.

So H1, what kind of hands do we want on the turn? I agree 2 is pretty terrible for us. Or are we pretty much checking behind to improve if we haven't already?

J9s is bottom of my range there, but just in it. I'm kind of confused about what range to give him, but yeah I guess one approach is to just start with a tightish range and keep adding hands until it becomes a call and see how I feel about that range when I get there...

And yeah, it's not a money issue. I guess it's a conflict between goals of improving, and impulse to have fun. I need to be thinking longer term, rather than which I'd prefer to do right now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bjsaust

So H1, what kind of hands do we want on the turn? I agree 2 is pretty terrible for us. Or are we pretty much checking behind to improve if we haven't already?

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Hands or cards?

If you 3bet QQ+, AK, KQ then it's just a pretty dreadful flop for you I suppose.

If you mean what cards on the turn can we bluff then probably not all that many but I don't particularly see why this is too much of an issue. If there is a Q we can maybe fold out some weak Kx, K shouldn't really make him fold much Qx but he probably does. AJT all help you, I suppose the T probably leaves you behind enough that bluffing is ok OTT. But I just don't feel the need to bluff here all that much at 2nl.

Sorry, and yeah I meant card, not hand. And yeah, I'm trying to adjust to less bluffing in spots beyond ones that seem really good.

Nothing to do with learning, but I figured I'd post a fun hand for the blog. Villain in this hand stacked off with bottom pair for around 70bbs his very first hand at the table. He's playing almost all hands and pretty much betting and calling if he has something. From memory I think he can fold his complete nothings, which is why I let him bet first on flop. The fact he does tells he has something so from there I don't expect him to fold (turns out I was wrong, but...wow). He's been at the table for a few rounds now, and I just haven't hit any flops in the hands I've played with him until now:

Hand History driven straight to this forum with DriveHUD Poker Tracking Software


NL Holdem $0.02(BB)
HERO ($5.05) [B]
HJ ($2.78)
CO ($2)
BTN ($1.77) [VPIP: 100% | PFR: 9.1% | AGG: 58.3% | 3-Bet: 25% | Hands: 11]
SB ($2)


Dealt to Hero: 3:club: 3:heart:


HJ Folds, CO Folds, BTN Calls $0.02, SB Folds, HERO Checks


Flop ($0.05): 3:spade: 3:diamond: 7:diamond:
HERO Checks, BTN Bets $0.02, HERO Raises To $0.08 , BTN Calls $0.06


Turn ($0.21): 3:spade: 3:diamond: 7:diamond: 5:spade:
HERO Bets $0.15, BTN Calls $0.15


River ($0.51): 3:spade: 3:diamond: 7:diamond: 5:spade: 7:club:
HERO Bets $0.49 , BTN Raises To $1.52 (allin), HERO Calls $1.03




BTN shows: 9:club: 5:diamond:


HERO wins: $3.38

Bigger on the turn?

Yeah. I probably just hit the 3/4 pot button without putting a heap of thought into it.

So I wondered about my thinking on this one. Villain hasn't seemed out of line, but that's over a very small sample. The very previous hand I called his btn raise from BB and c/r a 7:club:7:spade:2:club: flop and then bet 0.28 into 051 8:spade: turn and he reluctantly (it seemed) folded. So then onto this hand:

Hand History driven straight to this forum with DriveHUD Poker Tracking Software


NL Holdem $0.02(BB)
HERO ($2.46)
BB ($2.57)
HJ ($1.59)
[color=blue]
BTN ($0.73)


Dealt to Hero: K:club: Q:diamond:


HJ Folds, CO Calls $0.02, BTN Folds, HERO Raises To $0.08, BB Folds, CO Calls $0.06


Flop ($0.18): 4:diamond: 2:spade: Q:spade:
HERO Bets $0.09 , CO Raises To $0.68 (allin), HERO Calls $0.59

It wasn't quite a snap call, but it was close. Afterwards I wondered whether I should have given it more thought. At the time I thought he could have all kinds of stuff and just decided to spaz out. A draw, a worse Q, complete air and just pissed off at me (the later was what I figured he was more likely doing at the time). If you would fold this, what do you need to call with?

fwiw I snap this, but it's worth thinking about. It's such an incredibly silly line. limp/call with a 35bb stack from the button. This is a random Qx a lot, but it's definitely weighted towards Q4, Q2, 22, 44 with some completely random hands in the mix. With 2:3 odds I don't see any way we can fold. If he has 50bb+ I'd dump it in the absence of player notes.

Quote:

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Trying to get people to fold is generally a pretty big mistake at 2nl when people aren't really thinking about your range but rather their hand except in fairly specific situations.

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^^ One of the 100 or so hands I've played, I bluff jammed river with my tptk after the board ran out to a 4-flush and got snapped off by 2nd pair. So I guess that worked out, but holy shit that made me realize how retarded that was.
That said I think barreling can be very effective as long as you have some type of implied odds (overs, any pair...)
If you're reasonably sure he was drawing you can bluff something super gay on the river like 1/8 pot.

Ok, cool. Fwiw he had...well he had TT. I dunno what he was doing. At the time I called fairly quickly and high fived myself for my good read, but when I was reviewing I just wondered with the overbet if it really should have been an easy call.

This is what I would call the: goddamn-I-should-have-3b-pre-fuck-that-queen-I'm-sure-he-hit-that-queen-lets-get-it-in-to-confirm-how-unlucky-we-are - jam.

It's a pretty standard play.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bjsaust

So I wondered about my thinking on this one. Villain hasn't seemed out of line, but that's over a very small sample. The very previous hand I called his btn raise from BB and c/r a 7:club:7:spade:2:club: flop and then bet 0.28 into 051 8:spade: turn and he reluctantly (it seemed) folded. So then onto this hand:

Hand History driven straight to this forum with DriveHUD Poker Tracking Software


NL Holdem $0.02(BB)
HERO ($2.46)
BB ($2.57)
HJ ($1.59)
[color=blue]
BTN ($0.73)


Dealt to Hero: K:club: Q:diamond:


HJ Folds, CO Calls $0.02, BTN Folds, HERO Raises To $0.08, BB Folds, CO Calls $0.06


Flop ($0.18): 4:diamond: 2:spade: Q:spade:
HERO Bets $0.09 , CO Raises To $0.68 (allin), HERO Calls $0.59

It wasn't quite a snap call, but it was close. Afterwards I wondered whether I should have given it more thought. At the time I thought he could have all kinds of stuff and just decided to spaz out. A draw, a worse Q, complete air and just pissed off at me (the later was what I figured he was more likely doing at the time). If you would fold this, what do you need to call with?

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ha ive just started back playing.

bet sizing is off imho - before betting flop you gotta figure how to get this short stacks money in by the turn. if he called ur flop bet then ur overshoving. flop bet needs to be 12-14c. Ur also OOP so play it stronger. your never folding here at these stakes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bjsaust

Sorry, and yeah I meant card, not hand. And yeah, I'm trying to adjust to less bluffing in spots beyond ones that seem really good.

Nothing to do with learning, but I figured I'd post a fun hand for the blog. Villain in this hand stacked off with bottom pair for around 70bbs his very first hand at the table. He's playing almost all hands and pretty much betting and calling if he has something. From memory I think he can fold his complete nothings, which is why I let him bet first on flop. The fact he does tells he has something so from there I don't expect him to fold (turns out I was wrong, but...wow). He's been at the table for a few rounds now, and I just haven't hit any flops in the hands I've played with him until now:

Hand History driven straight to this forum with DriveHUD Poker Tracking Software


NL Holdem $0.02(BB)
HERO ($5.05) [B]
HJ ($2.78)
CO ($2)
BTN ($1.77) [VPIP: 100% | PFR: 9.1% | AGG: 58.3% | 3-Bet: 25% | Hands: 11]
SB ($2)


Dealt to Hero: 3:club: 3:heart:


HJ Folds, CO Folds, BTN Calls $0.02, SB Folds, HERO Checks


Flop ($0.05): 3:spade: 3:diamond: 7:diamond:
HERO Checks, BTN Bets $0.02, HERO Raises To $0.08 , BTN Calls $0.06


Turn ($0.21): 3:spade: 3:diamond: 7:diamond: 5:spade:
HERO Bets $0.15, BTN Calls $0.15


River ($0.51): 3:spade: 3:diamond: 7:diamond: 5:spade: 7:club:
HERO Bets $0.49 , BTN Raises To $1.52 (allin), HERO Calls $1.03




BTN shows: 9:club: 5:diamond:


HERO wins: $3.38

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raise preflop - win by him folding then. win by getting the cbet in on flop if whiffed a high % of the time. also PPs vs his range arent gonna give huge returns.

again your sizing is too small on flop and turn and then v large on river. - need to have some sort of plan to get his money,

Villain limp/calls far too much to make 33 a raise there imo 100% bet the flop though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Da GOAT

raise preflop - win by him folding then. win by getting the cbet in on flop if whiffed a high % of the time. also PPs vs his range arent gonna give huge returns.

again your sizing is too small on flop and turn and then v large on river. - need to have some sort of plan to get his money,

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Usually I'd agree, but with this guy I want to see cheap flops and get his stack. I agree about flop and turn sizing, the auto-size buttons (1/2 pot, 3/4 pot, etc) are making me lazy. River is large because I honestly thought he either had a 7 and would call anything, or missed a FD and would fold anyway. In retrospect maybe river should actually have been higher.

Welcome back!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Savy

Villain limp/calls far too much to make 33 a raise there imo 100% bet the flop though.

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Again, usually yes, but I'm extremely confident that this guy will bet if he has any piece, and if he doesn't I'd prefer him see a turn and get something than fold this flop. Put another way, I really didn't think there was any holding he'd have that he'd call a flop bet with, that he wouldn't bet himself if checked to.

I've been doing work for a startup, and we had a big event last Friday, so all my effort was towards that rather than any poker. Will see if I get back into it more this week.

I would strongly discourage betting quads on the flop vs someone who will spew when he makes a hand. Why are we betting flop? What can villain possibly call with? 7x, pairs and flush draws. Maybe ace high. Forget the fact he bet/calls nine high here, we don't know he's this bad until the end of this hand.
I would happily c/c this flop in the hope he keeps betting. Maybe I raise turn, maybe river, depends on his sizing and if I think he's got something.
Once I've seen this guy show 95 here, well it's a no brainer flop bet (or c/r) in future. Just give him a raise button.

Definitely don't raise this pre. This hand is absolute junk against someone playing a massive range. If we don't hit a set, we're folding almost always because our hand is so difficult to play out of position against someone playing so loosely. I realise I will often fold the best hand, but I'm happy to let him bluff me off a 2.5bb pot when I have a small pair. I'd much prefer to have middle pair and up if I'm going to continue post flop.

Did a bit of quick filtering research on my results, mostly trying to find places where I'm losing. Some of the results were a bit surprising.

Biggest loser is VPIP = false. The others are affected by small sample sizes but match my expectations for them, which is any straight draw on flop, and any called 3bet hands (and this last includes the time someone shoved for 90bbs when I'd raised with AA and held).

Surprisingly called in BB was positive, and so was VPIP = true with PFR = false.

Like I say, not a heap of hands in DB, so most of those results are affected by a couple of big hands either way, but interesting to look through.

Feedback? New to table:



NL Holdem $0.02(BB)
UTG ($1.84)
HJ ($2.65)
CO ($0.44)
HERO ($1)
SB ($2.93)
BB ($2.60)


Dealt to Hero: T:spade: K:spade:


UTG Folds, HJ Folds, CO Folds, HERO Raises To $0.05, SB Calls $0.04, BB Calls $0.03


Flop ($0.15): 2:spade: 9:diamond: T:heart:
SB Checks, BB Checks, HERO Bets $0.10, SB Folds, BB Calls $0.10


Turn ($0.35): 2:spade: 9:diamond: T:heart: 4:heart:
BB Checks, HERO Checks


River ($0.35): 2:spade: 9:diamond: T:heart: 4:heart: T:diamond:
BB Bets $0.45, HERO ???


Fwiw I don't normally play short tables, but sometimes they're all I can get on early in a session.

vpip = false includes all your blinds you fold I assume? You have to be really careful looking at results in your database because remember as a default sb = -50bb/100 and bb = -100bb/100 so if the weakest hands you play are just above that (your sample is far too small for this) then things are looking good.

At 2nl I really see nothing wrong with bet bet bet as your line especially 50bb deep. I'd even argue making it bigger on the flop if we were deeper. I think we can fold or call here it doesn't really matter all that much mostly due to how rare a spot it is and he can be doing this with worse tens. He shows up with a FH a fair bit too though but I also wouldn't' fully discount villain having something stupid like a really badly played overpair.

This is never a fold at river at these stakes, especially after turn checks through, not unless we have really reliable notes on villain that suggests he only overbets river with nutty hands and never tries to steal with this kind of sizing.

I've made plenty of hero calls with just top pair to these kind of river bets, and I'm good often enough to justify the call. With trips, it's a no brainer. Yeah he has hands we lose to, but he also has plenty of tens we beat, and he can bluff.

Probably should just bet the turn, this is 2nl where people call far too much and top pair good kicker is good enough to triple barrell against a station. But if we check turn, then hit trips while draws do not complete, we definitely should not be folding to a river overbet of this size. Maybe if he shoved, I can find a fold. Even then, I'd want to call for the value of the note.

KT: really need to be going 13c flop, 30c turn, jam most rivers for value. We’re realistically only behind AT on this run out, maybe 22. When our hand is strong but vulnerable we should err towards betting big to deny villain equity and increase the pot those times we’re ahead. We get called by all 10x, 9x, QJ, KJ, KQ, 87s, J8s, Q8. Getting villain to fold AJ is also fine. If we were deeper then we should still barrel but can bet fold river, maybe even size down as a blocker bet.

I think the way you played this, my sense is that you’ve taken some bad beats recently and now have monsters under the bed syndrome. I’ve been there many times and become way too pot controlly, even when presented with a clear three barrel for value spot.

I can't totally remember why I checked that turn. It was definitely pot control, but I'm not sure why I felt I needed to. I think I was worried about AT, even though I had no reason to think that was what he had. No bad beats (well, not until this session, but that was after this hand).

I called river without thinking too hard. I actually wondered with less than a min-raise left (40c) whether I should just stick the rest in?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Savy

vpip = false includes all your blinds you fold I assume? You have to be really careful looking at results in your database because remember as a default sb = -50bb/100 and bb = -100bb/100 so if the weakest hands you play are just above that (your sample is far too small for this) then things are looking good.

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Hmm, interesting. I was acknowledging (to myself) that a big part of it was simply my blinds on hands I had no actions, but never actually considered those at a bb/100 rate. I'm at -22bb/100 over 1800 hands, so compared to the sunk cost of my blinds that's probably actually not too bad.

A few questionable hands I'd love some feedback on:


1st JTo in BB
Early in table, no reads although I think I made him fold just before on another new table when he was PFR.
NL Holdem $0.02(BB)
CO ($2)
BTN ($2.07)
SB ($2.05)
HERO ($2) [B]
UTG ($2.76)
HJ ($3.25)


Dealt to Hero: T:diamond: J:spade:


UTG Folds, HJ Folds, CO Raises To $0.06, BTN Folds, SB Folds, HERO Calls $0.04


Flop ($0.13): 3:club: J:club: 5:diamond:
HERO Checks, CO Bets $0.13, HERO Calls $0.13


Turn ($0.39): 3:club: J:club: 5:diamond: 5:spade:
HERO Checks, CO Bets $0.28 , HERO Calls $0.28


River ($0.95): 3:club: J:club: 5:diamond: 5:spade: A:club:
HERO Checks, CO Bets $1.53 (allin), HERO Folds


I feel like I can defend with JTo for that price, but even when it hits I don't really want to play a big pot. Not sure there's a worse card on the river, and to the overbet with no reads...


2nd. QTs CO.

This guy was fairly new to table but so far seemed fairly tight. I think I like the look of QTs more than I should...



NL Holdem $0.02(BB)
BB ($2.38)
UTG ($2)
HJ ($2.04)
HERO ($2)
BTN ($2.68)
SB ($3.43)


Dealt to Hero: T:heart: Q:heart:


UTG Folds, HJ Raises To $0.06, HERO Calls $0.06, BTN Folds, SB Folds, BB Folds


Flop ($0.15): 4:spade: 4:heart: 5:club:
HJ Bets $0.08, HERO Calls $0.08


Turn ($0.31): 4:spade: 4:heart: 5:club: 3:heart:
HJ Checks, HERO Bets $0.22 , HJ Raises To $0.59 , HERO Calls $0.37


River ($1.49): 4:spade: 4:heart: 5:club: 3:heart: 2:heart:
HJ Bets $1.31 (allin), HERO Calls $1.27 (allin)

So on flop I think this is much better for my range than his, and want to bluff even with such low equity, but a 4 or 55 (or 45s) is such a low part of my range, so even though I can have stuff like 56, 67 etc I kind of got stuck in "if I had hit this flop, what would I do?" and thought I'd wait for turn, which looked about the perfect card for me. I find the raise strange, but given the price I thought looking for my draw was worth the cost... I dunno, I question just about every part of this hand, including whether I should be in it at all.

3rd A5s BB

I kind of suspect A5s should be in my 3b range rather than flatting range, but not real sure. Anyway, as played I think looking for a bit of value from pretty much all PPs and any TX combos is worthwhile, but then on river given I just said I expect a fair amount of TX hands when he calls turn I wasn't sure what my plan on river should be when the T hit.

Villain just sat down.


NL Holdem $0.02(BB)
BTN ($2) [B]
SB ($3.80)
HERO ($2) [B]
HJ ($2.77)
CO ($5.29)


Dealt to Hero: 5:spade: A:spade:


HJ Folds, CO Folds, BTN Raises To $0.06, SB Folds, HERO Calls $0.04


Flop ($0.13): T:heart: A:club: 3:spade:
HERO Checks, BTN Checks


Turn ($0.13): T:heart: A:club: 3:spade: 3:club:
HERO Bets $0.06 , BTN Calls $0.06


River ($0.25): T:heart: A:club: 3:spade: 3:club: T:diamond:
HERO Bets $0.12 , BTN Raises To $0.60 , HERO Folds

Any thoughts or feedback appreciated.

if in doubt bet - and bet bigger. review hands and learn :)

cmon dude

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Originally Posted by Da GOAT

if in doubt bet - and bet bigger. review hands and learn :)

cmon dude

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I think last time I played being passive was a leak of mine I had to overcome :p.

What stakes you playing? Are you playing much or just messing around a bit?

JTo - I'm playing this the same.
QTs - calling pre is fine. 3betting is an option but calling is much better than folding. Flop, I mean ok if we're trying to balance our range then for sure we need to be floating some flops, and this looks ok, as long as we're not always calling QTs here. And yeah I'd bet this turn. However, when he raises, I'm quite happy to fold. If we call turn, well there's no way we're folding this river, and we probably have to call queens too, maybe tens, which is why I don't like calling turn. We're basically playing for stacks on turn, when we could already be drawing dead. I prefer outright shoving turn, I mean if we're playing for stacks with queen high, let's at least have some fold equity. But folding seems best.
A5s - we can probably 3b this pre more often than not, but as played pre, no problem post flop.

I mean if I'm being nitpicky, we can bet a tiny bit more with A5s on the turn, but that's being really picky. I'm talking a cent or two.

Yeah, I've been thinking about his range in that QTs hand, and I agree its a fold. At the time I think I gave him a much wider than realistic range. I can't see how he has any semi-bluffs or overpairs in his range, and really he has no mid-strength hands. He either has a monster that we're drawing dead to, or air, and I just can't see how we can justify putting many bluffs in his range (not to mention some of those bluffs we can still be behind if we see showdown unimproved). That kind of means our draw is fairly irrelevant and we're largely calling a decent sized raise with Q high.

Agree with bet size on A5s hand. I need to break my habit of using preset bet sizing and enter my bets manually. ACR just seems to suck for this. I've nearly timed out a couple of times trying to type a bet amount in.

Thanks for the feedback.

You're welcome, it's nice to have some hands to talk about.

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Agree with bet size on A5s hand. I need to break my habit of using preset bet sizing and enter my bets manually.

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I'm lazy, my habit tends to be to hit the half pot button then adjust the bet so it's a little bigger than half. Maybe I go a bit bigger again on a draw-heavy flop. Manually betting isn't fun, furthermore it's a potential problem. In the past, I've been final two tables of an MTT with an average stack, and I open KQo 10x bigger than I intended to, simply by adding an extra zero. I got shoved on, was forced to call, ran into AK and now I'm a short stack. Inevitably, I bust out soon after. That was probably the most painful mistake I've made in poker. Since then, I avoid using manual betting, and on the rare occasion I do it, I'm super-careful.

QTs is fine besides flop. You are behind almost his entire range and you're only hope is that he will give up and you can steal the pot which seems unlikely given that you have a much weaker range. Everything else I think is fine. Turn you have to call as you're getting a good price to draw what is most likely an over pair. I'm folding Qx and Tx to a river shove. I'm very happy with this river. It's very difficult for him to have you beat here as boats represent such a small part of his range and this would be a very weird way to play one. The 2h is basically the best card you could have asked for as AA and Ax bluffs makes a straight.