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I’ve encountered a streak of run bad, 4 straight losing sessions. $200 buy ins, $1/$2.
Hand example. I have KJs in MP, $200 stack. Bunch of limps and I raise to $12. Guy to my immediate left calls, all others fold. FYI – caller hit $500 high hand prior, sitting on $1k, solid player. Flop is Q103 rainbow. I check to induce a bet, he bets $30 I call. Turn is 2, I check he bets $30 I call. River is 8, I check he bets $45 I fold, he shows AQd.
I’m button with 55, $130 behind. EP raised to $10, one caller in MP, I call. Flop is Q75 two diamonds. EP cbets $15, MP calls, I call but believe I should have raised (how much?). Turn is 9d completing front door flush. EP bets $30, MP calls, I call. River is 2off, EP bets $30, MP calls I call.
I’m MP with 10’s, $150 behind. Limps to me I open to $15, button and BB call. Flop is J64. BB shoves $120, I fold, buttton calls. Both hit J rag. Turn and river blank.
Just a sample of some of tonight’s hands, 2.5hr session. In for $300 after adding $100 on, out for $200. Table was filled with bad players except for 1-2 regs. Last handful of sessions frustratingly bad runouts/ runbad. Targeting TAG play, building pots yet poor runout.
Previous session played for 1hr: lost with AA to J10o flopped two pair, KK twice, QQ, and 10s. Felted with QQ to 44 flopped set.
Apologies – in the trip 5 hand, EP turned K high flush and won at showdown. I didn’t believe his hand to be that strong and needed to see there.
Played in a 1/3 and felt much more comfortable with table/image/range control. Yet not sure if it was a one off good session or if I’m a bit cursed at 1/2. Either way it’s rather deflating not being able to see basic results at 1/2. Thought about giving 2/5 a one time try but would feel much better if I had a string of solid 1/2 or 1/3 sessions/results.
You don’t seem like you have a plan in your hands.
KJss hand – Raise pre is fine. Flop gives you open-ender, and you check to induce? That makes no sense. Checking to induce is to get someone to bet a worse hand. Only possible worse hand he can bet here is J9. He bets over-pot, which should get your attention – he’s doing that with at least a pair. I don’t mind the call, but I would rather lead out and set your own price. Probably bet $12-15 on flop, rather than paying that price to draw.
55 hand – Just jam flop. You’re short, it’s only a little over a pot-sized bet, and this is a wet board. A lot of cards you don’t want to see.
1010 hand – nothing wrong here.
It’s important to have a plan for future streets. What do we want to do when we hit? What do we want to do when we miss? What do we do when we miss and no draws come in. What do we want to do when we miss and a different draw comes in? And just as important, what do the villains have and what do our actions look like to them?
You also mention wanting to play a TAG style. TAG is great, but in these examples you aren’t aggressive anywhere but pre-flop.
Just some things to focus on. Ignore the cooler’s and the bad runouts. Focus on whether or not you make good decisions, not the final win/loss.
Thanks for the thorough feedback, John. I appreciate it and will apply to my game. A few thoughts/questions:
I contemplated leading out on the KJss, sometimes I do vs don’t. Appears I need to be more consistent there. I figured by checking, I would see strength vs weakness of opponent and call as I’m not going anywhere initially with that flop. If I had led into him with a draw and I don’t improve on the turn or river, what betting action would you find fitting for those streets?
For 55, agreed I should have bet or jammed. I was somewhat trying to go under the radar as the solid player to my left was playing TAG, and I wanted to trap a bit – but obviously went south.
Also had AA once with a raise and a 3-bet to $22 in front of me. I make it $40 and both fold fairly quickly. $30-$50 pre was decently common in this session. Snagged $35 which wasn’t my intent as I was hoping for action there at a slightly bigger pot while weeding out marginal hands that could crack AA.
First, we have to know WHY we bet. So why do we bet? Two primary reasons – for value and to bluff. We can also bet for protection (ex. JJ in a 3bet pot, flop comes all unders. We are betting for value AND to charge our opponent from hitting an over card. The hand is likely good, but needs some protection).
We can also bet to build a pot in the event that we hit. This is also a bluff, since we are likely no good. We can win the pot right away or we build a bigger pot for when we do hit.
The KJ hand – This falls under the last reason for why we bet. Yes, it’s a bluff, but we have a draw to the nuts, so if we hit we want to win a bigger pot. Hence why we should be betting. I’m betting flop and turn (unless we get raised), and I might bet the river.
Why bet 3 streets? Well, our opponent can’t simply call-call-call with a lot of hands. Sets will likely raise at some point with the straight draw out there. I imagine two pair raises as well.
Put yourself in villains shoes – what is the worst hand you call for 3 streets here against a pre-flop raiser. For me, KQ is the WORST hand I call for 3 streets (without extremely large sizing). And T (or worse) shouldn’t call (strictly bluff catching with that hand). QJ would be close, but I feel you’re going to be outkicked a lot here, so it’s probably a turn/river fold for me. KQ, AQ, and any two pair combo I’m never folding.
In this case, he did have AQ, but that’s not the point. By betting, we set our own price (instead of that over pot-sized bet he made on the flop) and get to put pressure on him, rather than letting him take the lead and set the price. Plus, there is a chance he raises and we know we can fold.
55 hand – Terrible spot to trap. Yes, we most likely have the best hand, but we are extremely vulnerable. Bottom set on a board with flush and straight draw. Not the spot to trap. We need to be fast playing and getting money into the pot before the board gets worse for our hand.
Trapping is a play we should rarely use. Only times we should ever really trap are when we a monster hand and need our opponent to catch up – top boat, top set on really dry board (AA on A72 rainbow), etc. It’s somewhat hard to trap even with nut flushes and straights, since there are so many cards that can kill our action (4 to a flush or straight tend to scare people off). We do better by playing fast. Check raise is fine, but don’t get fancier than that.
AA hand – that’s a tough spot. You’re never wrong raising AA pre, but you also don’t want to fold everyone out. What you don’t want is to play the hand 4 or 5 ways and lose a lot of your equity. The problem is 4-bets are so few in a 1/2 game they are almost always AA. But I don’t think that means we shouldn’t 4-bet, since we should be trying to target super strong 3-bet hands like AKs or KK.
I was gonna comment, but I agree with all of John said, great analysis/explanation!
the set of 5s hand, to me, went you flat (especially turn, when a 3rd diamond comes) it’s no more for trapping, but more as a drawing hand, we’re drawing to a fullhouse. And with EP betting 3 streets and getting called by the other player, I might even fold the river. Having pretty much a bluff catcher at this point. Flush got there, straights got there, and oversets are in their ranges, imo
Well it depends if villain in EP could be value betting top-top, or 2pairs combos on 3 streets here, and player in the middle could also call with pair+draw, 2pairs, top pair maybe… or do you think he’d go in c/c mode with top pairs, and 2pairs combos with that board texture knowing he’s been called twice by 2 players behind… I guess as played, with 55, we’re beat by one or the other.
I’ve read John S and Chuck M analysis often enough and they have a pretty solid grasp. The only other thing I would note is that at 1-2, don’t pay off the river bets. No one is bluffing and usually a strong bet on a wet board is not good. That’s a really tough skill to learn, and that’s not paying off your opponents. Money management is huge at 1-2. Keeping from paying off your opponents a couple of times can amount to a couple hundred of savings. And if you’re wrong… that’s ok. But my experience tells me that 1-2 is rarely bluffing a river bet, unless the play should absolutely make no sense.
I’m also sometimes ok with you not getting it all in with the flopped set… but we do want to bet for value then and deny some equity. Don’t think it would have made a difference on the hand, but something to think about.
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