In the trenches!- Live low stakes hand advice wanted! (sorry if its too long)

[MyNameIsMud]

First time posting on here but I don’t have anyone to talk hands with. These three hands came from 1-3 (400 cap) Maryland Live, a game which I ma currently beating for about 15$/hr over a pretty large sample size. And I would love some advice, figure i would pick three hands from each session I play, seems like a great way to improve and talk strategy with other people on the low stakes grind. Normally my posts wont be so long but i wanted to give some background on my table image.

Before I start, Im playing at a pretty action table, but a very predictable table as well. I have a tight image and really haven’t played a hand in the first hour. As a skinny white dude with glasses with a tight image many perceive me as a weak player. People love to get into pots with me and raise my blinds, which is great because I get a lot of action when I have it. So with that table image established…

Hand 1 (effective stacks 300)- Straddle out! Player in middle position raises to twenty in front of some limpers and Im in the small blind with AQo. Normally I would three bet here but for some reason I didnt, I think this was a huge mistake mainly because I don’t have a reason for why I flatted. The straddle calls we got to a flop. Ace six five two hearts. I check, UTG checks, PFR leads for twenty about 25% pot, I call. I called because the straddle has been check raising a lot and has had it everytime, and I looked at him before i flat and he was basically drooling. So I flat, sure enough he check raises to fifty, PFR folds and I reluctantly fold. The check raiser shows A6 off suit for top two pair. My questions are, one I tend to agree with the school of never flatting the small blind at low stakes because position is so vital. I hate my flat call here, do you normally three bet or fold the small blind? Question two, My fold was very tight and exploitative, but I know when this player check raises he has it, my fold was correct as I was drawing to three outs basically, but is that just too tight of a fold given that if a queen comes I think stacks were going in.

Hand 2 (effective stack 300)- In the game for 400 after an add on, no tilt just some run bad so far lol. A very tight player who thinks hes a shark raises to fifteen form middle position, two more callers and we defend the big blind with QJ of clubs. Flop comes K9X two clubs, we flop a flush draw and a gutshot. It checks to PFR who leads (about 1/2 pot) and we call. Turn is a blank I check, he checks back. At this point I know hes on a flush draw, and given how tight he is Im guessing its nut flush draw, but I think he has me on a flush draw as well and he hoping a club comes so he takes my stack. The river is a club, The king of clubs is on the board, so ace king of clubs is out and I have blockers to the other big flush draws, Aq and Aj of clubs. I know he has the nuts, but I felt like checking here was so tight and exploitative it almost seemed dumb (but I wanted to check so bad and show my snap fold of the second nuts just to see his face). I lead for thirty five ( about a third pot) small because I know a raise is coming and I had already decided to call and I didn’t want to bet a sizing that would allow him to jam and have it make sense. Sure enough, he makes it 85 and we snap call knowing were beat and he shows A9 of clubs. SO yes we lost the minimum but I feel like i severely misplayed the river. I lead into a spot that I knew was a cooler. Why even open the door for the villain, I have the soul read on you, Ill check the second nuts to you and let you win the bare minimum. Not too many questions on this hand, just a bad cooler that I wanted to vent about. Do you hate my river lead as much as I do?

Hand three- topped off again In the game for 500 with (275 effective stacks). I look down at pocket kings under the gun and open to fifteen. I get six callers, yup six, skinny white dude with a tight image that people think is a donk, told you I get the action when Ive got it. Pot is 105 headed to the flop and Ive got a 260 in my stack and this is a fist pump spot… except Im running bad. boards comes J103 ( two diamonds). I lead for fifty, All but one folds. HE has the same stack size as I. Now he didn’t three bet, so aces is out and I think jacks is also. What did he call with, probably a flush draw, probably the nut flush draw, unless hes slow paying a set of tens or threes. But I have a pot sized bet left and I started the hand with less than 100BBs. Only one way Im playing a blank turn. Turn is the deuce of spades. Um yeah Im all in, best case scenario for him is he has A suited ace hand so he has 12 outs with his ace being an over card. He calls. The river is the eight of diamonds I show and he flips over Ace Ten suited. So he actually had fifteen outs with the two remaining tens, but I got my stack in with a 70/30 flip in my favor. Cant be mad about that, but alas, the loss was booked and today is a new day of grinding.

Would love advice on how I played these hands. My two big takeaways were, one flatting the small blind there was a huge mistake, even though I went to the flop with AQ against two ace rags and got coolered but lost the minimum, I feel the small blind at 1/3 is three bet or fold due to positional disadvantage. Second takeaway, I have a bad habit of putting my opponent on a single hand and not a range of hands, I was right all three times and lost a 70/30 flip that would have put me back to even on the day, that’s poker folks, but am I playing too exploitatively, If I put the villain on the nuts and I have the third nuts, should I not put another dime in that pot, or is losing the minimum considered the best way too play that spot?

Sorry for the long post, but I love playing no limit, and think about the hands I play a lot, I would love insight from other players who are most likely much better than I. I hope you all run like god, and thanks for taking the time to read this. Keep grinding hard!

[John S]

Hand 1: So the board configuration is pretty important in this hand. Is the Ace a heart or not? This definitely affects what a player could be check raising with. If is Ax6h5h, then someone raising with Axhh is very likely. That definitely affects whether I call here or not.

But pre-flop is definitely a raise with AQ. A lot of dead money in the pot and you stand to be well ahead of the limpers. I don’t mind flatting the button with a small suited connector or small pair. Hands like this either hit really well or miss, so you can easily get away from the flop if you miss or play with a strong hand or a lot of equity.

Hand 2: This is fine. If he doesn’t have a flush you’re just going to get checked back on and get no value for your flush, but he could call with hands like AK, QQ, JJ, TT, etc., since you could be trying to steal. As you said, he doesn’t have too many flushes since AK, AQ, and AJ aren’t possible with this configuration.

Hand 3: Not much here to say. This hand will pretty much always play out this way. My only question/suggestion is what’s the average raise in this game and how many callers do you normally get? I usually only get a chance to play on weekday mornings because of my schedule. At 2/3 I’m usually the youngest guy at the table (usually everyone is 25+ years older than me), so everyone thinks I’m the crazy kid (even though I’m in my 30’s). If you’re getting that many callers all the time you need to size up. Wouldn’t have changed anything in this hand, but you need to make people pay for calling you when you have premiums.

[MyNameIsMud]

Hey thanks for the reply so fast! I didn’t think about the ace being a heart (and I dont remember if it was), and the though of him bluff raising a flush draw. But this player was abc and straightforward theres, no way I would ever put him on that type of play but definitely something I should have considered in my hand analysis, great insight! thanks. Glad to hear you agree hand three was just a cooler, but in regards to raise sizing, I typically raise I think a little too small PFR but I think 4-5x would put a lot more pressure on my opponents, not only will they be paying to play crap out of position, I can punish with large c bets and play more in position to work in some cool check raises in spots. Maybe my self perceived image is me whining a little bit, and bigger PFRs might help plug a leak in my game. For hand two you hit the nail on the head, the only reason I lead the river was I didnt want to lose all value from the second nuts assuming he didn’t have it.
Thanks again, I love that point from hand 1 I totally missed that when going over it in my head.

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