1)http://www.pokerhand.org/?588619

I figured I was best here, I took his bet as a bluff trying to represent the flush. I think this was just bad luck.

2)http://www.pokerhand.org/?588632

In hindsight I probably should not have made the flop raise, as I was just building a very draw heavy pot. Further, I should have just folded the river.

3)http://www.pokerhand.org/?588633

I figured I was best here, I had an overcard and a gutshot. I doubted he had a made flush as I had two of the jacks.

This shit is so frustrating, I am one buyin away from being sufficiently rolled for the $100 game, I feel like I m never going to be playing 1-2 or 2-4.

How would you have played these?

Hand #1
I'd bet more on the turn. Not because of the 2nd spade, but if he floats the flop with an AJ or KJ, you have GREAT action and any straight draw calling as much as $10, too. I'd bump it up to around $7.50, maybe $8. It's hard for him to fold an 8 here, too. Ace high isn't giving you any action for any money and a pair lower than 8's will only give you action at the same price that you allow the straight to outdraw you.

Small difference in how I'd play it. I think the extra value matters.

Hand #2
This is a good flop. I think you played it fine there. He's coming over the top to build the pot with a set and even a straight. I'd probably represent the Jack on the turn and bet 2/3 the pot unless he's a really bad player that would actually check the turn with a straight. That's a huge PL no-no. All you can beat is AQ. AK comes stronger earlier in the hand and a pair under 99 runs scared on the flop. I'd use my position here and shut down on the river if he calls. If he raises, it's an obvious fold. What's weird here is that nothing you beat will give any action of any sort, but better hands will lay down.

As you played it, I'd just fold the river. It's too late to represent the Jack and you can't beat anything in this range given the action. The only value in calling is to see his cards if you have no read on the guy or the very few times he has QT which also shuts down on the flop.

Hand #3
This is just a classic blind-on-blind fuck-job. He's obviously making a move preflop, so you come over the top. On the flop, he's C/R'ing that flop every time and you're both getting all the money in a lot just because his range is sooooo wide here. Folding isn't bad because he's either got Queens, a set, or a draw and against the draws you're about 50/50. Against QQ or a set, you have 6 outs. The pot's a bit juiced up, so the money's goin' in.

Just calling PF because you have position is something I don't like. You have the limper beat and you wanna go heads-up with the SB. But the re-raise is a high variance move because the money gets in the middle a lot.

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QQ, bet more on turn. prolly bet river. check call is good too imo.

K9 I play same, possibly bet more on flop i do.


JJ Id proly smooth call pf vs good player, re pop vs ideot, then id prolly c/r flop. Flop is shitty though, I might lead with pot bet. This hand really depends on opponent imo.

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Hand 1:

Ok, I understand that in Hand 1, it is 5 handed. I dont play 5 handed, so im just gonna tell you how I would have played it if it was a 7-10 handed game.

PF - raise to $2.50

Flop - Ps should be about 5$, so id bet about 4-5$ on that flop.

Turn - If my pot bet gets called then I assume he has either a set or is drawing to a straight with the oesd (in which case he would have hand like 77, 57s, 67s, 78s, etc..), or maybe 22-44, 99-JJ and is calling my pot bet cuz he thinks im cbing with 2 overs. Since there is no way of knowing, you should be checking here to keep the pot small (pot control). So in this case, I would check-call the turn. Check-calling also takes away your opponents ability to semi-bluff raise you on the turn in position (e.g. you fire turn again OOP, and opponent raises with a 67s - means you now have to fold ur 1 pair, thinking he has a set, and it means u just got outplayed by villian)

River - If the OESD misses, then I lead out on the river with a blocking/value bet for about 1/3rd the ps, folding to a raise. Leading out on river with a blocking/value bet of 1/3rd the ps is a better river line imo then check-calling because you essentially minimize ur loss against a better hand (if you check river hes probably gonna be betting like half the pot or more, most of the time, with a better hand). Furthermore, if u decide to check-call the river, and villian decides to bluff at it hard with a broken draw (maybe he bets 3/4+ potsize on river with a 67, you will now be forced to fold your hand). Also by betting 1/3rdish ps on the river, it acts as a valuebet for hands like 99, TT, 77, etc... basically hands that he would have otherwised checked behind on the river. In any case, if the OESD completes on the river, then I just check-fold it.


Hand 2:

You played this hand perfectly on every street.
You put in 5$ when u were ahead on the flop (you had him drawing to 6 outs about 24% chance to outdraw on you seeing 2 cards), and ur opponent only put in 4$ when he was ahead. The thing is, he doesnt outdraw on you here over 50% of the time, just from that fact, you have already won money from him in the long run. You got more money from him on the flop when u were ahead, then he got from you when u were behind - you will crush him in the long run from him doing that.

Hand 3:

Not really sure, how I would play this because its a 5 handed game. Since u re-raised, im probably betting like $10-12 on that flop. All i kno is that u pretty much gotta call that min raise on the flop cuz u have the gutshot. From the line u took, I probably call the flop raise, and push all in on the turn. But I dont think it would have changed much anyways cuz after calling the min raise on the flop, your pretty much commited.

Eclipse,

The reason why I like the flop bet in hand is for the exact reason that you stated on the turn. If Villian calls a PS bet, we make the turn a lot harder to play and we're forced to give Villian a free river or get knocked off the best hand on the river because you've knocked out the Broadway hands that could've floated the flop like AJ, KJ, KQ, AQ, KJ, QJ, and JT. Allowing these hands to call adds value to both a flop AND turn bet, but like I said, if we're gonna go this small-ball route on the flop, bump it up on the turn. This is move I exploit heavily in PLO when I flop monsters to draw-heavy boards against passive players- let 'em call with smaller draws and come strong on the turn to put 'em to the test where they give me a higher quantity of smaller pots or make a bad call in a big pot.

In Hand #3, I referred to this as a hi-variance hand again because of your point:

I'd just rather put my money in than someone else put it in for me with 1 pair.

I was thinking about Hand #1 and someone would have to crunch the numbers, (I'm too stupid to do it now.) but we all agree with coming strong on the flop as oppossed to later. In turn, this shuts down Villian's range and when that 10 turns, we simply can't beat anything. Neither of you are taking this approach along with the fact that we can get better hands to lay down?

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In this case, I agree with your reasoning here.. betting 2/3 pot on the turn to rep the straight, and check behind on river is also a good line to take in this situation as well. Positional advantage is everything in this game, and that would have been a perfect time to double barrel because u can get alot of better hands to put down.

However, the only better hand then yours that u can really get to put down on the turn is KT (KQ is probably playing that flop harder), and in doing so, you also lose value from AT, and QT - both of which are probably going to try to bluff you on the river if u check behind on turn. On top of that, you may actually have trouble with getting ur opponent to drop KT on the turn because he may be those types of guys that will put u on "AK" on that flop and follow thru accordingly. In any case, I like the check behind on turn line, and calling river (or betting river if checked to you) because its very hard to really know were u are at on that type of board once that turn card hits (e.g. the way villian played it, he could have been calling with a AT just as easily as a QJ/KJ, just as easily could of been slowplaing the nut straight, or even calling with a weak K7s type hand). So instead of betting that turn, id much rather try to keep the pot small now, and try not to lose that much $$ to the straight (e.g if u bet 2/3 pot on turn to rep the straight, and he happens to have it, you will lose ur bet.. but if u check behind, he will probably think u are weak and therefore valuebet for something less then 2/3 pot on the river... allowing you to minimize ur loss). Also by checking behind, you may get some extra value from AT/QT on the river if he trys to bluff you, or he may check-call you with a QT on river.

Hand 3 We're about coinflip here. Since we can't fold, anything from pot-sized bet to AI looks fine here.

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I don't disagree.

My line on the turn wouldn't be written in a vacuum. It'd depend on how long I've been at the table and how people are reacting to me. The more I've shown that I'm likely to take a board like this to ultra-valuetown with a straight, the more likely I am to bet the turn.

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