Ok lets break the hand down!

First, rather than did you play X,Y or Z right lets talk about why you want to do what you do and what you think about your opponent.

Now you haven't given us any stats to go on so I'm going to do the best I can with just the fact that you said he's playing loose.

You have 99. First 99 is in the top 5% of staring hands. Why is this important?

If the guy is limping in with a loose range then it stands to reason that you are ahead of his limping range and this is your first chance to get value for your hand (pre flop). So here you want to raise!

Before you read on I want you to stop and think about the other benefits to raising here.


Think about it don't just cheat and keep reading as only by changing how you view the game will you be able to beat it!!!

Last warning, think about why raising is good vs limping.



Good now I'll tell you, firstly we're going to get value for our hand which we just talked about. Secondly we're going to try and isolate the limper and let less people in the pot with junk hands that could run us down which increases our chances of winning the pot and/ or showing down the best hand.

Think about the blinds, imagine the big blind is sat with J 2 off suit and you let him see a flop for free, if the flop comes J high he now beats you, if you raised pre flop do you think J2 would call?

Thirdly, what would you do with AA or KK pre flop? you'd raise right? so why not with 99? what is your plan for the hand?

This is where I would like your feedback on your thought process at the time. Why did you play the hand as you did? it's only by understanding this that I can really help, you may have sound reasoning but do run me through what was going on in your mind...



Now onto betting post flop.

First, why are you betting the flop? (this is a genuine question that I again want you to stop and think about) I'm not saying betting is wrong or bad, just want you to think about WHY!

Think about it before reading on, you know the drill!

Ok so the reason we are betting here is firstly NOT for infomation, we are infact betting for value. By that I mean that I think our hand is best most of the time and we can extract value from a whole range of draws (flush and straight) as well as over cards, maybe a worse pocket pair.

Let's also look at bet sizing. At these stakes, most of your opponents are going to call, call, call without any concern for pot odds. If he is going to call your half pot bet, guess what, he'll call a full pot bet. So if we think he could easily be drawing to something (which on a super co ordinated flop like this he really could be) then we want to charge him the maximum for doing so.

So we missed value pre flop and on the flop.

Lastly

Playing the turn

Only by betting a hand can we really start to define our opponents range, so as played, we have no idea what he has? He could have A6 for a missed straight draw, we just don't know. You could have folded the best hand, who knows. We just had no info on our opponent.

Now yes I said we have no info but that doesn't mean you should bet the turn for info. When you bet only for info you pretty much always lose money. Why? because the best hand will call (you lose) and a worse hand will fold (you had showdown value)

Instead lets think about hand ranges again and WHY we are betting.

We bet the flop, he check calls so we can put him probably on a couple of overs, flush draw, a 6 for a straight draw hell at these stakes he could have a 7 for a gutshot and call, they will call with such a wide range that we again need to charge the maximum for them to try and out draw us!!! (bigger flop bet)

The turn helps the flush draw and a few combinations of over cards but there are still straight draws, worse pocket pairs, some Ax over cards etc that may pay us some thin value. So I'd make a thin value bet on the turn maybe just over half pot to two thirds.

This bet does many things:

1) Extracts value from the rest of his range that we are ahead of.

2) Also gives us a feel for where we are in the hand and helps us maintain control of the action (gives us infomation).

3)Acts as a reverse blocking bet so if he checks to us again on the river, we can check the hand down as there probably isn't much value to betting on the river.

Hope that helps..

Remember poker is an easy game once you start to think about it in the right way.

I really want to hear your thoughts on parts of the hands so I can help you steer your game in the right direction.


Good Luck


Broker

P.S I bet there are loads of spelling mistakes which I appologise for in advance. I like to think my poker ability out weighs my English flaws!...

Holy shit! Wasn't expecting such an in-depth reply. Really really good teaching there, thank you sir. Now on to my thought process for the hand (at the time of playing it, not now of course )

Preflop: I suppose I had been scared off of low-mid pocket pairs, because I get hesitant and confused when over cards come, especially since these limits have people playing with almost anything. I am thinking too reults-oriented here, and not about the value at this stage. I will try to remember this.

Flop: Fairly confident that my hand is best here, the only thing the BB or limper might have that beats me is 2-pair, 67, A2 maybe. More often than not I have the best hand. I have been keeping my bet sizes to a stand 3/4 pot for anything no matter what, my reasoning being that it would reveal nothing as to if I hit the board or not. Should I always be betting pot-size when I am confident I have the best hand and there is a draw possiblility on board?

Turn: Check-caller on the flop signals a possible draw-chaser or high-card defender, so the flush over-card makes me hesitant.

River: Another over card and he leads out betting. Now I'm thinking he could've hit the K and been scared of the flush too, or hit the 10 now. Or he had me beat from the start and was slow playing. Too many possibilities to risk it in my mind.

I am just getting back into the poker world, so I'm still not thinking about everything properly all the time. But your reply has done wonders to get my head around the concepts. Love it

Raise preflop.
Bet flop.
Bet turn.
Calls small bet on river.

Originally Posted by KRE8R

Raise preflop.
Bet flop.
Bet turn.
Calls small bet on river.

Yes this in short breaks down how to play the hand but remember that if you have taken control throughout the whole hand (been the aggressor), you will probably find the villain checking the river to you a lot of the time and when he does bet the river (if you have taken this action) then there will be a large amount of missed draw bluffs in his range rather than value bets.

Broker

Originally Posted by Wallace

Awesome post Brokerstar. Very well done!

Thanks.

Thought it was about time I gave a little back!

Originally Posted by azeldin

Preflop: I suppose I had been scared off of low-mid pocket pairs, because I get hesitant and confused when over cards come, especially since these limits have people playing with almost anything. I am thinking too reults-oriented here, and not about the value at this stage. I will try to remember this.

Yes people do play with almost anything which is why it is even more important to extract value for your good hands. You will also see overcards nearly always with 99 but your opponent will miss the flop 70% of the time and hit top pair even less, coupled with the fact that you have position on him, you can control the pot based on how he reacts.

I have been keeping my bet sizes to a stand 3/4 pot for anything no matter what, my reasoning being that it would reveal nothing as to if I hit the board or not. Should I always be betting pot-size when I am confident I have the best hand and there is a draw possiblility on board?

Your reasoning is ok in as much as you don't want to give anything away so lets hold that thought for just a second and think about that logic as a pre flop action. What I mean by that is that by raising with your whole range if you're the first to enter the pot (pre flop) be it with 99, AA, AK, TJs whatever, you effectivley disguise your hand strength and give yourself more ways to win either there and then or post flop.

I can go into more detail about that but I want to talk about how we're playing the flop with regards to bet sizing and just think about the average player at these stakes and how we can best exploit them.

Players at these stakes are what's known as level one thinkers so they pretty much play their hand for face value or look for an excuse o chase something. They never think about pot odds and I doubt very much if they are paying any attention to your post flop bet sizing as some sort of read so there is not much reason to balance your range so to speak.

However even at the stakes I play (1/2 & 2/4NL) I vary my c-bet size based on the flop texture. If it is a super dry flop like Kd 2c 7s (high card flop with nothing to chase for example) then I c-bet small. The reason why is that it is so hard for them to have anything that my c-bet bluffs are way more profitable if I bet just over half pot to 2/3 and when I do hit, a smaller bet may also get some action from a pair that doesn't believe us.

Now lets look at the flop in this hand? there is so so much that someone can call with as the board is so co-ordinated (wet flop) that we want to charge the maximum, so on these board textures I bet pot with a hand as I want to get maximum value when I think I'm ahead and likely to be called.

As you move up through the stakes the games do change (don't panic there are still plenty of fish, you just need to table select is all) but down at these stakes there are so many ways to extract value from the players with what I call 'optimal bet sizing for droolers' that I have even been experimenting in a few vids with big over bets on the river when I can firmly put someone on a weak top pair hand that I have beat and I'm getting paid!! Many players would go for the standard 3/4 or full pot but with these guys, but know this, if they'll call a full pot bet on the river they'll call an overbet!! So the moral of the story is bet an amount that is most +EV for the situation and game dynamics not because it's a 'standard line'

Hope that made some sense, it's 7:30am here and I've just woke up so forgive me if that got a little rambly.

Turn: Check-caller on the flop signals a possible draw-chaser or high-card defender, so the flush over-card makes me hesitant.

Yes I see what you mean but don't go looking for the monster in the closet just for the sake of it. At these stakes the guys play fairly honestly so don't assume he has you beat until he tells you he does. Think about an entire range of hands that he could be playing and look to extract value if you still think there are hands that he can call one more bet with.

River: Another over card and he leads out betting. Now I'm thinking he could've hit the K and been scared of the flush too, or hit the 10 now. Or he had me beat from the start and was slow playing. Too many possibilities to risk it in my mind.

By the river the hand way played in a way that we had no idea where we were in the hand and calling would of just been guess poker which is normally losing poker. But we were all once in the same boat, I had to join two poker training sites and employ the help of three poker coaches before I 'got it' and I still have a long, long way to go.

Good luck with your game and just try to remember that winning players don't just play differently, they take more time to think about the big picture which then leads them to play better.

Broker

Brokerstars you are a typing MACHINE!!!