a few line-checks, $100NL

Hand 1:
-villain is 51/21/3.5 over 60 or so hands
-Should I bet this flop? Villain must have some kind of pocket to call this strong PF re-raise, and this flop is looking good to him I'm sure
-if I bet this flop and half my stack is in the middle, do I call a push?

Cryptologic
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.50/$1
5 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $199.75
CO: $145.75
Button: $164.99
Hero: $99
BB: $103.75

Pre-flop: (5 players) Hero is SB with
UTG folds, CO raises to $3, Button raises to $8, Hero raises to $22, 2 folds, Button calls.

Flop: ($48, 2 players)
Hero??


Hand 2:
-villain is 24/14/1.6
-fold this turn?
-Another barrel from villain, is this an auto fold? I can't see myself beating on ace, or a ten

Cryptologic
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.50/$1
5 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
Hero: $99.50
CO: $107.75
Button: $196
SB: $119
BB: $54.50

Pre-flop: (5 players) Hero is UTG with
Hero raises to $4, CO folds, Button calls, SB calls, BB folds.

Flop: ($13, 3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $10.75, Button calls, SB folds.

Turn: ($34.5, 2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $12, Hero calls.

River: ($58.5, 2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $28, Hero??


Hand 3:
-same villain as previous hand
-blind wars, how good/bad is this?

Cryptologic
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.50/$1
6 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
UTG: $104.25
UTG+1: $66
CO: $100
Button: $45.45
Hero: $130
BB: $304.75

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is SB with
4 folds, Hero raises to $4, BB calls.

Flop: ($8, 2 players)
Hero bets $4.5, BB calls.

Turn: ($17, 2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $9, Hero calls.

River: ($35, 2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $21, Hero calls.

Hand 1: If I'm certain that opp can find the fold button I would push. But often I also find a check here. On second thought this might be a good board for a c/raise?

Hand 2: I would lead the turn as well just to show that I'm not afraid of a T here. As played I call the river. If I would be opposition this would be a perfect board to bluff.

Hand 3:
In a blind war I often bet the turn as well with only 1 overcard to my high pockets. If I'm called here I shut down and would find a fold on the river if a blank falls.

Hand 1: Against a villain this bad raise to 35 preflop and watch him call with AQ and stack off when you shove flop.

As played I C/R shove flop or C/F depending on how terrible he is, but I never bet/fold.


Hand 2: Lead turn for 20, he is still calling with a flush draw, and maybe a worse 2pair, and if you are raised its pretty easy to dump it. I don't think most villains at this level are capable or necesarily should be bluff raising you here.

As played you are getting pretty great odds on both the turn and river and I lean towards calling, but you really put yourself in a tough spot here. Flip a coin imo, fold call whatever its ugly. I would probably fold to teach myself to bet the turn lol.

Hand 3: I would sometimes bet and sometimes check the turn here. This all comes down to whether you want to induce a bluff or not. But as you see the non threatening turn you should definitely be thinking that the ONLY reason not to bet this turn for value would be to induce a bluff from anything he is floating with/ a double barrel from a flush draw or QT or gutty of some sort.

You are having the same problem on all three of these hands which is not accurately planning out a line for the whole hand on the flop, and even preflop. You make some standard plays here, as in- Cbet, check mediocre hand, then O GOD player in position puts me in a marginal situation!!! Try to merge your hand ranges a little more in general forcing your opponents to react to your play.

Basically, doing this will put you in fewer marginal situations on the river/turn when the bets get big and force your opponents to play their hands in a more straightforward and less profitable manner against you- you will also get paid off more with your big hands when you merge your hand ranges like this.

And when those opponents make "fundamental theorem" mistake it can mean only one thing- SHIP THE SKLANSKY BUCKS. Sauce.

Very sweet post Sauce. I think I can learn a lot from the last part about merging ranges and planning out lines etc..

As far as these hands, they're all extremely marginal/gross. I agree tha tbetting the turn makes it easier, but either way it's one of those things where there is no clearcut answer anyone can give you and it's a feel based thing. I usually puke and call in a lot of these spots, but I'm also not making any monies in poker right now.

As far as the AK hand I probably don't bet here. And if I bet it's an overbet pricing myself in.

I think a very good example of this is FGators. Pre-legislation I get the feeling he was a winning player, playing tightish and robotically multitabling msnl. Always checking for pot control with top pair no kicker and mid pair, rarely bluffing except in std "bluff spots" always raising similar amnts pre and post flop, but still winning enough money from the donators to get by.

Now I play at almost any table he is at, and I think he has graphs posted on 2p2 of being down like 40 BI in a couple months. Games have just gotten A LOT harder- at least on Stars where I play, and we all have to adjust.

I like your reasoning sauce, but if hero isn't reraising very often and his cbet is called, villain has a K here very often. If you 3bet a lot then the postflop dynamics are totally different, but I'm a tight reraiser and checking the turn to induce bluffs seems incomprehensible to me, from the way I play and my experience with how people react to that.

Originally Posted by sauce123

You are having the same problem on all three of these hands which is not accurately planning out a line for the whole hand on the flop, and even preflop. You make some standard plays here, as in- Cbet, check mediocre hand, then O GOD player in position puts me in a marginal situation!!! Try to merge your hand ranges a little more in general forcing your opponents to react to your play.

Basically, doing this will put you in fewer marginal situations on the river/turn when the bets get big and force your opponents to play their hands in a more straightforward and less profitable manner against you- you will also get paid off more with your big hands when you merge your hand ranges like this.

And when those opponents make "fundamental theorem" mistake it can mean only one thing- SHIP THE SKLANSKY BUCKS. Sauce.

Thanks for all the replies guys. I definitely agree, sauce, that I am shutting down too quickly OOP on the turn when my hand is marginal. In position, its a lot easier to check through and call a river lead. OOP kind of sucks. I definitely need to incorporate more block betting in spots like these, especially in the second hand.

hand 1- I lead flop for $33, he pushed, and I called. How bad is that? (he showed JJ for what its worth)

hand 2 - I folded the river bet

hand 3 - I called and he showed AK. Wasn't expecting villain to be that strong. Figured he'd check behind with a weak king, so I thought his second barrel after flat calling the flop was a missed draw. Bad logic? (I guess this is what sauce is referring to about merging your range, so ppl can't put you on a hand)

I think we are ahead of his range on turn if we put it at FD, QT, AQ, QJ, JT, Jx maybe, K9+ say, and various floating. However if we checked we are gonna make a lot of mistakes on later streets, whether it is folding when he misses or calling when he hits, its better to bet when your ahead than to pass the initiative and play a guessing game.

This applies mostly against passive players who aren't capable of semibluff raising a draw on the turn here (which i thnk is 90+% of 100nlers)