Brantford $10/$20: Please evaluate these hands.
I tried the $10/$20 for two sessions this weekend, and I wanted your guys' opinions on how I could've played these hands better and whatnot.
Hand #1
I pick up Ah5h in the CO and I already posted BB+SB ($10+$5) since I missed them. A very tight player from UTG+1 raises, and it's folded to me. Maybe I shouldn't have called the extra $10 but I did it because I felt that I could outplay this guy and steal the pot if he misses. Anyways, I'm the only caller so we're heads up. The flop comes TT4, two diamonds. I knew he missed because he wouldn't raise with any T's in the hole unless he had two of them. He bets and I call, planning to bluff-raise the turn if a third diamond falls. The turn is a J, not a diamond. He pauses then bets, I take that as weakness and raise, and he only calls. My Spidey sense is telling me that he has either AQ or AK for sure, he would've re-raised with QQ, KK, or AA. I plan to bet the river if a Q, K or Q does not fall, and if he checks to me. The river is a 5, I know MHIG. He checks and I just check because I know he won't call another bet with just ace high, and I wanted to see his hand. He shows AKs. I show my hand and he got mad at me for my play. I tried to explain what I was doing but he wasn't having it. Was my play here bad? I don't think I should've been in the hand and got lucky at the end.
Hand #2
I pick up QQ in the SB. There's 5-6 limpers, so I just complete to disguise my hand and if a K or A flops I'm pretty much screwed. The flop is Q54, two spades. I check, there's a bet from late position, I overcall to induce callers, and there's a couple more callers. I think I should've either bet or check-raise the flop. The turn is the worst card ever, 6s. I check and so does everyone else. So I'm assuming MHIG and I'm betting the river. The river is a 4. I bet and get a caller. MHIG. Should I have bet the flop/turn?
Hand #3
I pick up AK in the SB. Again, there's lots of limpers, 4-5, so I just complete to disguise my hand and not be an out-of-position aggressor if I miss the flop. The flop is AA4, two suits. I check, there's a bet from mid position, I go for the overcall to induce callers behind me, and there's a couple of callers. The turn is an A. I check, BB bets, mid position raises, I just call to get another bet from the BB but he folds. So we're heads up. The river is an 8. I bet, mid position raises, I re-raise, he calls (had 84, lol) and MHIG. Is there any other way I could've got more money out of this hand?
Any of your guys' comments/opinions/suggestions is greatly appreciated.
Hand #1
I pick up Ah5h in the CO and I already posted BB+SB ($10+$5) since I missed them. A very tight player from UTG+1 raises, and it's folded to me. Maybe I shouldn't have called the extra $10 but I did it because I felt that I could outplay this guy and steal the pot if he misses. Anyways, I'm the only caller so we're heads up. The flop comes TT4, two diamonds. I knew he missed because he wouldn't raise with any T's in the hole unless he had two of them. He bets and I call, planning to bluff-raise the turn if a third diamond falls. The turn is a J, not a diamond. He pauses then bets, I take that as weakness and raise, and he only calls. My Spidey sense is telling me that he has either AQ or AK for sure, he would've re-raised with QQ, KK, or AA. I plan to bet the river if a Q, K or Q does not fall, and if he checks to me. The river is a 5, I know MHIG. He checks and I just check because I know he won't call another bet with just ace high, and I wanted to see his hand. He shows AKs. I show my hand and he got mad at me for my play. I tried to explain what I was doing but he wasn't having it. Was my play here bad? I don't think I should've been in the hand and got lucky at the end.
Hand #2
I pick up QQ in the SB. There's 5-6 limpers, so I just complete to disguise my hand and if a K or A flops I'm pretty much screwed. The flop is Q54, two spades. I check, there's a bet from late position, I overcall to induce callers, and there's a couple more callers. I think I should've either bet or check-raise the flop. The turn is the worst card ever, 6s. I check and so does everyone else. So I'm assuming MHIG and I'm betting the river. The river is a 4. I bet and get a caller. MHIG. Should I have bet the flop/turn?
Hand #3
I pick up AK in the SB. Again, there's lots of limpers, 4-5, so I just complete to disguise my hand and not be an out-of-position aggressor if I miss the flop. The flop is AA4, two suits. I check, there's a bet from mid position, I go for the overcall to induce callers behind me, and there's a couple of callers. The turn is an A. I check, BB bets, mid position raises, I just call to get another bet from the BB but he folds. So we're heads up. The river is an 8. I bet, mid position raises, I re-raise, he calls (had 84, lol) and MHIG. Is there any other way I could've got more money out of this hand?
Any of your guys' comments/opinions/suggestions is greatly appreciated.
Comments
All that said, the overall plan I like the most is simply giving up the late position blind pre-flop facing only a "very tight" player UTG+1 with a suited bad Ace. I can't imagine you having more than 3 outs.
Hand #2: I like betting the turn simply because it will both act as a value bet, and will probably make some of the weaker draws pass. You don't want to give a hand like 88 or a lone low spade the chance to take off a free card. It's going to be difficult to go for a check-raise against a late position flop bettor when a scare card falls, since it's pretty unlikely that he actually has anything good when you have two Queens yourself.
For the third hand, I think you managed to get a lot of value out of the hand. Just calling again on the turn to keep the BB on the hook seems like a sensible play that just didn't happen to work out. On a bizzare side note, I also make quads with AK a couple of days ago online, but it was quad Kings instead of Aces.
ScottyZ
I think you played the other hands well, I personally like to raise if I have a good hand before the flop, just to make sure the big blind really wants to play. I personally have won hands with 27 off suited as the big blind cause 227 comes out in the flop, when that happens it great to see the players with high pairs go ape.
Hey but what do I know I’m still a beginner
Just my thoughts on the hands
ScottyZ
That was very Daniel Negreanu of you. An article in--I believe--the May issue of Card Player has Negreanu telling the long version of something very much like this short story: He's in a tournament, playing a big pot against a predictable player. Negreanu has 9:spade: T
Nice hand, both his and yours. One more interesting Negreanu story from that magazine: On the Party Poker cruise, during a late-night high-stakes pro game, Negreanu only played Hellmuth's discards. Whenever Phil folded a hand, the other players agreed to let Negreanu--who wasn't being dealt into the game--play Phil's cards from that point on. Apparently, he won a bunch of money that night.
Hand #2:
I definitely would have jammed pre-flop, and on the flop, as much as possible. Your hand is nice, but vulnerable, so you should be protecting it.
Hand #3:
I think you made the most out of this hand, and I would have played it the same way FWIW. Unless your opponents are terrible players (which, apparently, one of them was) there's not a lot of hands that can go to war against you with three aces on the board and you holding the fourth. I like the play on the turn.
Regards,
all_aces
I think you have to raise with QQ, there are only 2 hands better than you, and with no raises before you its unlikely anyone is holding AA or KK. A raise preflop will also knock out a couple players holding weak Aces and Kings and garbage suited cards.
On the flop, with 2 spades on the board i would raise and make it a little more expensive for someone on a flushdraw.
Its hard to say how i'd play the turn, it depends on your opponents and your reads on them. I probably would bet the turn and call 1 raise hoping the board would pair on the river.
The second session (Hand #2 & 3) I won $11. I got sucked out on a few hands (big pots) and didn't get many playable hands.
I had a third session tonight and won $1,000 in three hours.
Here's one more hand from the second session (I was stuck $270 at this point and desperately needed to win a pot):
I pick up AT in the late position and limp in with 3-4 others. The button raises and everyone (including myself) calls. The flop is KJx, two clubs. It's checked to the button who bets obviously. Two people call in front of me, and I call because: (i) I have the pot odds (~15 to 1) to call to make my ~10 to 1 draw, and (ii) I need this pot to get un-stuck!! The turn is a Q. YES!!! There's a bet and a raise in front of me, I re-raise (KEY), button puts in the last of his money (all-in), first bettor folds, and raisor calls. The river is a third club. I know the other guy doesn't have clubs because of his turn raise plus he checked to me, so I bet, and he calls with QJ (two pair). I show my hand and take the side pot. Button had KK (he was pissed off), so I take the BIG main pot too. The KEY was the re-raise because if I had just overcalled to let the first bettor in, he told me he would've made his flush and I would've lost this big pot. So he folded when he had the pot odds to call, he obviously was not the type of player that makes use of pot odds. The side and main pot together was ~$360, which got me even plus some.
I'd be *more* inclined to raise QQ pre-flop against such players, not less.
There is much more to raising pre-flop (or any street) than just knocking people out.
ScottyZ