Pocket 10s and OOP

[tuuk2]

This hand had me a little stumped last night. I had just sit down at this table so I've got no reads on anyone. Since it's 5nl, we can probably assume that they aren't very good.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (5 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($0.53)
UTG ($6.10)
MP ($10.67)
Button ($0.96)
Hero (SB) ($4.61)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 10, 10
UTG bets $0.10, 1 fold, Button calls $0.10, Hero raises to $0.30, 1 fold, UTG calls $0.20, Button calls $0.20

Flop: ($0.95) 2, 3, 9 (3 players)
Hero bets $1, UTG calls $1, Button calls $0.66 (All-In)

Turn: ($3.61) 5 (3 players, 1 all-in)
Hero checks, UTG bets $1, Hero calls $1

River: ($5.61) 7 (3 players, 1 all-in)
Hero checks, UTG checks

Total pot: $5.61 | Rake: $0.25

Preflop, I'm in the SB but with a min-raise and a call, I thought I might be able to at least get one player out with my raise. I thought wrong obviously and with two callers, I start to worry about pocket pairs higher than mine. Mostly JJ or QQ since I think most people would re-raise with KK or AA, although that's not a given.

So the flop comes and since I've out of position, I want to bet the pot to try to take this down. I know I'm probably getting called by anyone with a flush draw or top pair here, most likely. I wasn't expecting both to call here though.

Because I got two callers (essentially one now because the other's all-in) I start to shut it down. I'm OOP and there's a good possibility I'm behind here. When the UTG bets $1, I have to call because of pot odds. If the other player still had some chips, I might have had to fold this hand most reluctantly. What does anyone else think about that?

On the river, again I check to control the size of the pot. I want to see what his move is. If he pushes all-in though, I'm in a very difficult spot. If he was on a flush draw however, he probably checks like he did.

So my question is, did I play this hand OK or did I give up a lot of value but not betting the turn and rivers? Without reads, I normally tend to be more conservative, especially since I'm out of position. Sorry for the length of this, but I felt I needed to put my thoughts down in order for someone to give me the best possible advice.

[oskar]

There's a whole lot of fuzzy logic here.

You should start out by giving your opponents a range based on their betting frequencies and previous hands they've shown down, or generalizations based on the stakes you're playing, their stack sizes and their opening sizes. Then you can decide whether to call, raise or fold based on those ranges.

When you're hoping to isolate one player, you should ask yourself why you want to isolate one player, and think about what price you're laying them to call. As played it would be a mistake for them to fold just about anything. UTG is getting almost 2:1 and button is getting almost 3:1, and that is without taking implied odds into consideration in case you have a big pair that you're not going to fold for 100bb.

Anyways... so you have no reads and you're on 4th street... you have the option to bet/call, bet/fold, check/call, check/fold and open fold and variable bet sizes. Just go through each scenario and see what you think is your best option and why.

[Hawk]

Preflop, I'm in the SB but with a min-raise and a call, I thought I might be able to at least get one player out with my raise. I thought wrong obviously and with two callers, I start to worry about pocket pairs higher than mine. Mostly JJ or QQ since I think most people would re-raise with KK or AA, although that's not a given.

You don't have to raise here (though I probably do), but if you do it needs to be a bigger raise, .50 or so. You'll still get called often by broadways, pp's, and other crap that should fold.

So the flop comes and since I've out of position, I want to bet the pot to try to take this down. I know I'm probably getting called by anyone with a flush draw or top pair here, most likely. I wasn't expecting both to call here though.

You do want to bet here, but rather than hoping to take it down (that's not a bad outcome), I'm doing it to be called by 9x, flush draws, and anything else bad players call with. Good bet.

Because I got two callers (essentially one now because the other's all-in) I start to shut it down. I'm OOP and there's a good possibility I'm behind here. When the UTG bets $1, I have to call because of pot odds. If the other player still had some chips, I might have had to fold this hand most reluctantly. What does anyone else think about that?

You got called, but don't have a lot of reason to think you must be beat as lots of worse hands called your flop bet, and this card helped almost none of those (A4, 55 are about it). Checking here isn't terrible if he's the kind to jump all over weakness, but betting for value here against pairs and flush draws is best, at lease $2 or so should be good, maybe more.[/quote]

On the river, again I check to control the size of the pot. I want to see what his move is. If he pushes all-in though, I'm in a very difficult spot. If he was on a flush draw however, he probably checks like he did.

If you had fired the turn, I'd bet again on this river. As played I'm not really sure.

You can probably treat overpairs like the nuts against most opponents who are only calling. If he has an overpair, note how passively he plays this type of hand. If you get raised, then you need to start considering more if you might be behind.

[beerman69]

yeah im gonna have to second what hawkfan said on this one.

you don't HAVE to raise, but if you do, then do it bigger

I don't dislike post-flop if UTG realizes that there's no point in bluffing and won't call you with worse
of course, if he doesn't realize it's a protected pot you can bet more liberally