Two hands from a short session.

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  • #4031
    Heath
    Participant

    I was running really good at Cherokee late Thursday night/early Friday morning. Bought into a 1/2NL for the max $200 and cashed out for $825 after an hour and 45 minutes. Flopped multiple sets and my straights and flushes were getting there, couldn’t ask for a better session. However, I had two hands that were played heads up and I was wanting some feedback on. I’ve really been trying to work on bet sizing lately and these two hands, end results aside, I’m curious about.

    Hand 1: Villain is UTG with $115, I’m in the HJ and have him covered. What I’ve seen so far is that villain will raise small preflop with any combination of broadway cards and check the flop.

    Villain opens to $6
    UTG+1 call
    I raise to $21 with red 88
    Villain only caller

    Flop: K89 rainbow.
    Villain check with $90 so behind.
    I bet $45
    Villain shoves, snap call

    Board runs out AA, I turn over the boat and he mucks. Obviously I’m happy with the result, but going forward is the better play to make his only options to fold or jam, or would you prefer a check back to try and let him improve?

    Hand 2: Villain is BTN and has me covered, I’m in BB with a little over $280. Villain isn’t textbook OMC, but does enjoy Ax suited and JJ/QQ/KK/AA gets shown regardless of winning the hand.

    Action folds to BTN, he opens to $10.
    SB folds, I call with J10cc.

    Flop: Q89, 2 spades.

    I check.
    Villain $25.
    I’m feeling over pair or flush draw, and leaning toward the draw I want to price him out. I raise to $70 leaving a little over $200 behind…two stacks of red and 2 or 3 white chips.
    Villain insta-raises to $170.
    I jam the rest of my stack.
    Villain calls and says “I’m gonna need some help.”

    Turn Qd, river Kc.
    Villain proudly flips over AKss before I get a chance to show him the bad news.

    Though I feel this one would end with all the chips going in either way it plays out, do you like the raise here, would you go bigger with the check raise, would you prefer to call the flop bet and see how it unfolds??

    I realize the answer could be that these hands just play themselves as is, but I’m really trying to improve my game. I spend too much damn time at my job putting in OT hours and the possibility of using poker as a means of extra income is very appealing, and any feedback that could help me get there is greatly appreciated. Anything from “you play like a dumbass” to “maybe try this” or the highly unlikely “keep doing that” LOL. Thanks for putting up with me.

    #4032
    Hans Griese
    Participant

    you play like a dumbass! Just kidding 😀

    Hand 1, I think it’s mostly fine. $45 into a pot of $50 is pretty large though – I think it may be better to go about $30. That way he can still just flat and have about a 1/2-pot stack left. My concern is $45 might start your opponents playing perfectly – they will fold anything but their strongest hands to this. Now granted, you have the virtual nuts here (He’d 4-bet with Ks, I assume), but you may still be facing straight draws that would call 30 but not 45, etc. Overall I’d say its some-what opponent-dependent – if you know he’s getting the money in on that flop, then go for it.

    Hand 2, I am fine with most all of it. My only concern is that OMCs often will fold strong hands to check-raises…they like to show they can make the big lay-downs too. That being said, if he opened it’s easy to put him on a strong pair that is going nowhere. So again, I think this is fine. 3x check-raise, and then you are correct to not call 170 with only 30 behind.

    #4048
    Chuck M
    Participant

    I agree with Hans 🙂

    #4049
    allin67
    Participant

    Also agree with Hans here. And will add two points.

    On Hand #1, what would you have done with a hand like AQ, that misses the flop entirely? I hope you wouldn’t bet/bluff $45 into a $50 pot. $25 or $30 will generally get most worse hands to fold, so why continuation bet for more? So, I like all my flop bets to be about half pot so no one can read me as strong or weak based on bet sizes. In this case, with shorter stacks, betting half pot still easily gets your opponents stack in the middle on the turn or river if he has a hand he is committed to. So, a smaller bet shows more patience, might get mediocre hands like middle pair to call, and better fits with meta game considerations (not having bet size tells).

    On hand #2, I like how you played it. Leaving aside what the villain actually had, any Spade, ten, or Jack on the turn might kill your action. So I like playing fast here to get as much money in as soon as possible. I like your bet sizing here.

    • This reply was modified 5 years, 7 months ago by allin67.
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