Hi guys. Thanks again for the advice and feedback given from my previous hand posts, (my gratitude predominantly goes out to Hockeyguy.) I have two more hands here on the minimum stakes which I’d once again very much appreciate any further comments, observations and suggestions.

In this hand the villain is in-between a nit and a loose player, playing a tight ish range of hands but missing out on a lot of expected value, for example if he’d raised the flop I would’ve given it up. Would you make the river call?

6 Max game, 0 sitting out. (0.01/0.02p)

Hero dealt (Ah Qs)

UTG – call (0.2p)
MP - call (0.2p)
CO – fold
BU (Hero) – raises (0.10p)
SS – fold
BB – fold

UTG + MP call (0.8p)

------------- Flop: 3s Kc 3h ---------------- (Pot 0.33p)


UTG - checks
MP - checks
Hero – bets (0.24p) – dry flop, figure to have the best hand.
UTG – calls (0.24p)
MP - folds

-------------- Turn Ac ----------------- (Pot 0.81p)

UTG - checks
Hero – bets (0.60p)
UTG – calls (0.60p)

------------- River Qd ---------------------- (Pot £2.01 )

UTG - checks
Hero – bets (£1)
UTG – raises to (£2)
Hero – calls (£1)

Showdown: Pot £6.01

Hero: Two pair (Aces and Queens)
Villain: Two pair (Kings and threes)





• In another hand, I 3bet AQo OOP pre-flop to BU raiser. He 4bet over the top therefore I mucked it due to positional disadvantage and that his 4bet was pathetically small; twice as large as my 3bet. The guy seemed to want a call. I figured against a random deep stack opponent this was a wise choice.

• Also by the way, if you have J4s in the small blind, it’s 0.01p to call into a pot of 0.07p, 7:1 pot odds, is worth the call? BB in this instance is a station, and it’s highly probable he’ll check.


In this next hand UTG, the villain, is a nit. No stats I’m afraid but he doesn’t enter the pot often.

6 max game, 1 sitting out. (0.01/0.02p)

Hero dealt (TT)

UTG – raises (0.8p)
MP - fold
CO – fold
BU - fold
SS – fold
BB (Hero) – raises to (0.22p)

UTG calls (0.14p)

------------- Flop: 5s 8d 3c ---------------- (Pot 0.45p)


Hero bets (0.37p)
UTG calls (0.37p)

-------------- Turn 5d ----------------- (Pot £1.22)

Hero bets (0.55p)
UTG calls (0.55p)

------------- River 5c ---------------------- (Pot £2.32)

Hero checks
UTG raises all-in (£3.07) – Instantly
Hero calls. (£3.07)

--- Pot (£8.46) ---

Hero shows full house, (fives full of tens)
UTG shows full house (fives full of jacks)

My initial response, angry four letter word. I can easily see why this seems to be poor play on my behalf. I’ll just jot down my thinking for the hand.

- Pre-flop, here I 3bet to put pressure on him and to discover where I was. I figured the chance of him sitting on Broadway cards was reasonable, as well as a pair that had me dominated however, he could also be raising with cards he wouldn’t be too confident playing to a 3bet. I figure he would’ve come over the top with AA KK QQ and maybe JJ although as it happens he did not. AK I would expect to re-raise me as well and therefore his call pre-flop narrowed his potential hand range down. As it happens I assume he called with his select hand as he had position and wanted to see the flop.

- Flop. Here I cbet to put the pressure on him and because at the time there was no reason to believe I didn’t have the best hand. He calls which once again didn’t tell me much. I hadn’t played with this guy before, so he could be clinging onto overcards, or maybe he called with A8s although that seems unlikely.

- Turn. Here I double barrelled again because his passive play seemed to emanate weakness. It didn’t seem like he liked his hand enough to bet but liked it enough not to fold. I very much doubted the five had helped him and wanted to put him under pressure once again. His call started planting doubts in my mind

- River. Here I checked, now with a full house hoping for a cheap showdown. His instant push seemed suspicious somehow. I called for some intuitive reason, logic seemed hard to grasp in the 15 seconds I had to think about it, which my biggest mistake was looking back. I couldn’t put him on AA KK QQ and although Jacks were possible, so were pocket nines, possibly A8, or maybe an Ace high card. I didn’t for moment believe he had the five because he’s a nit, and I’m sure he didn’t believe I had it either.


I’d appreciate any comments or observations on how I played the hand, and all suggestions are welcome as well. It turns out the call on the river was bad and lost me quite a bit considering the blinds are so small, and would any of you guys make it, or was it just terrible play.

This combined with three bad beads, e.g. pocket kings loosing to pocket nines, top pair top kicker loosing to a draw vs. a short stack, has lost me all my winnings and just under 10% of my original buy in. It seems this is perfectly normal for someone starting out, but it is nonetheless aggravating. I have also had a couple of personal problems and this could possibly be handicapping my judgement.

xavier wrote:Hi guys. Thanks again for the advice and feedback given from my previous hand posts, (my gratitude predominantly goes out to Hockeyguy.) I have two more hands here on the minimum stakes which I’d once again very much appreciate any further comments, observations and suggestions.

In this hand the villain is in-between a nit and a loose player, playing a tight ish range of hands but missing out on a lot of expected value, for example if he’d raised the flop I would’ve given it up. Would you make the river call?

6 Max game, 0 sitting out. (0.01/0.02p)

Hero dealt (Ah Qs)

UTG – call (0.2p)
MP - call (0.2p)
CO – fold
BU (Hero) – raises (0.10p)
SS – fold
BB – fold

UTG + MP call (0.8p)

------------- Flop: 3s Kc 3h ---------------- (Pot 0.33p)


UTG - checks
MP - checks
Hero – bets (0.24p) – dry flop, figure to have the best hand.
UTG – calls (0.24p)
MP - folds

-------------- Turn Ac ----------------- (Pot 0.81p)

UTG - checks
Hero – bets (0.60p)
UTG – calls (0.60p)

------------- River Qd ---------------------- (Pot £2.01 )

UTG - checks
Hero – bets (£1)
UTG – raises to (£2)
Hero – calls (£1)

Showdown: Pot £6.01

Hero: Two pair (Aces and Queens)
Villain: Two pair (Kings and threes)





• In another hand, I 3bet AQo OOP pre-flop to BU raiser. He 4bet over the top therefore I mucked it due to positional disadvantage and that his 4bet was pathetically small; twice as large as my 3bet. The guy seemed to want a call. I figured against a random deep stack opponent this was a wise choice.

• Also by the way, if you have J4s in the small blind, it’s 0.01p to call into a pot of 0.07p, 7:1 pot odds, is worth the call? BB in this instance is a station, and it’s highly probable he’ll check.


In this next hand UTG, the villain, is a nit. No stats I’m afraid but he doesn’t enter the pot often.

6 max game, 1 sitting out. (0.01/0.02p)

Hero dealt (TT)

UTG – raises (0.8p)
MP - fold
CO – fold
BU - fold
SS – fold
BB (Hero) – raises to (0.22p)

UTG calls (0.14p)

------------- Flop: 5s 8d 3c ---------------- (Pot 0.45p)


Hero bets (0.37p)
UTG calls (0.37p)

-------------- Turn 5d ----------------- (Pot £1.22)

Hero bets (0.55p)
UTG calls (0.55p)

------------- River 5c ---------------------- (Pot £2.32)

Hero checks
UTG raises all-in (£3.07) – Instantly
Hero calls. (£3.07)

--- Pot (£8.46) ---

Hero shows full house, (fives full of tens)
UTG shows full house (fives full of jacks)

My initial response, angry four letter word. I can easily see why this seems to be poor play on my behalf. I’ll just jot down my thinking for the hand.

- Pre-flop, here I 3bet to put pressure on him and to discover where I was. I figured the chance of him sitting on Broadway cards was reasonable, as well as a pair that had me dominated however, he could also be raising with cards he wouldn’t be too confident playing to a 3bet. I figure he would’ve come over the top with AA KK QQ and maybe JJ although as it happens he did not. AK I would expect to re-raise me as well and therefore his call pre-flop narrowed his potential hand range down. As it happens I assume he called with his select hand as he had position and wanted to see the flop.

- Flop. Here I cbet to put the pressure on him and because at the time there was no reason to believe I didn’t have the best hand. He calls which once again didn’t tell me much. I hadn’t played with this guy before, so he could be clinging onto overcards, or maybe he called with A8s although that seems unlikely.

- Turn. Here I double barrelled again because his passive play seemed to emanate weakness. It didn’t seem like he liked his hand enough to bet but liked it enough not to fold. I very much doubted the five had helped him and wanted to put him under pressure once again. His call started planting doubts in my mind

- River. Here I checked, now with a full house hoping for a cheap showdown. His instant push seemed suspicious somehow. I called for some intuitive reason, logic seemed hard to grasp in the 15 seconds I had to think about it, which my biggest mistake was looking back. I couldn’t put him on AA KK QQ and although Jacks were possible, so were pocket nines, possibly A8, or maybe an Ace high card. I didn’t for moment believe he had the five because he’s a nit, and I’m sure he didn’t believe I had it either.


I’d appreciate any comments or observations on how I played the hand, and all suggestions are welcome as well. It turns out the call on the river was bad and lost me quite a bit considering the blinds are so small, and would any of you guys make it, or was it just terrible play.

This combined with three bad beads, e.g. pocket kings loosing to pocket nines, top pair top kicker loosing to a draw vs. a short stack, has lost me all my winnings and just under 10% of my original buy in. It seems this is perfectly normal for someone starting out, but it is nonetheless aggravating. I have also had a couple of personal problems and this could possibly be handicapping my judgement.

the first hand
2 observations
in general it is not a good idea to cbet A hi (especially w/ no draw) into 4 other players
i know it was a very dry flop and it is tempting to represent AK, but too many times 1 of the others will have a K or a pocket pair they wont give up due to the very dry 3K3 board

if opponent was taggy, i think the call is ok, but when you made AA and QQ i think you can reraise river for value(not a huge raise but maybe 2x to $4 depending on stack size- no stack info given, a 3 is very unlikely and i dont think he will fold any K


second hand is a tough situation and a bit of a cooler
any time you have second biggest pocket pair and the flop is all smaller than your pair you are destined to lose money, how much depends on how well you can read your opponent
nitty opponents dont like to raise w/ medium or small pairs ir TT-, since you have TT unlikely nit has worse. Nits also dont Cbet too often w/o a hand and certainly dont like double barreling w/ A hi.
Given how you have played the hand the nit (they think more than maniacs, mostly scared thoughts) can be pretty sure you have a pair and dont have AA or KK, so he is just hoping you dont have QQ and has mustered the guts to risk it. I dont fault the flop and turn call, the river call is pretty much based on your read of the opponent, can he raise preflop w/ 88 and or can he 3 barrel a non pair hand here?

i know you have shown the results, so this kind of looks like 20/20 hindsight, which in many ways it is since i have made this call so many times vs a nit and found what you did. Of course the the bet size matters and here w/ the pot size/stack bet is typically a pocket pair, it aint easy lay this down, but i tried to. But then i decided to play these type of hands different, ie raise early and try to find out where i am at before i put myself in a tough spot after i call call and build a pot. If you raise on flop most nits at the micros toss A hi hands in muck, but call medium overpairs 99 TT JJ and shove AA KK and likely QQ- this costs less and gets you more info early in the hand

it wont kill you if you are wrong and lay down a hand to a nit, it wont happen to often since they dont play many hands, and you get better spots quite often vs looser players at the micros.

hope this helps HG

xavier wrote:Hi guys.


• In another hand, I 3bet AQo OOP pre-flop to BU raiser. He 4bet over the top therefore I mucked it due to positional disadvantage and that his 4bet was pathetically small; twice as large as my 3bet. The guy seemed to want a call. I figured against a random deep stack opponent this was a wise choice.

• Also by the way, if you have J4s in the small blind, it’s 0.01p to call into a pot of 0.07p, 7:1 pot odds, is worth the call? BB in this instance is a station, and it’s highly probable he’ll check.


I’d appreciate any comments or observations on how I played the hand, and all suggestions are welcome as well. It turns out the call on the river was bad and lost me quite a bit considering the blinds are so small, and would any of you guys make it, or was it just terrible play.

This combined with three bad beads, e.g. pocket kings loosing to pocket nines, top pair top kicker loosing to a draw vs. a short stack, has lost me all my winnings and just under 10% of my original buy in. It seems this is perfectly normal for someone starting out, but it is nonetheless aggravating. I have also had a couple of personal problems and this could possibly be handicapping my judgement.

sorry i didnt read entire post first time

the min 4 bet is strange play as even the biggest nit will bet AA or KK there
i would have to consider stack size, if opponent is deep (meaning over 20x the bet i must call)
i would call, if they are short (less than 10x at micros i think they are sloplaying big pair usually AA, even tho you have AQ) and i would probably just give unless i have a note on the yahoo'
I usually here atta22 in my ear saying, "wait for a better spot". if he has an in betwween stack they usally bet bigger and i fold

the j4s question is best to just fold at these levels, i think you will just develop bad habits

the beats are just part of the game, just remember if fish never won they would not come back. So if they win a stack today, they can convince themselves to lose 3 stacks tommoroow

gl hg

hockeyguy wrote:
second hand is a tough situation and a bit of a cooler
any time you have second biggest pocket pair and the flop is all smaller than your pair you are destined to lose money, how much depends on how well you can read your opponent
nitty opponents dont like to raise w/ medium or small pairs ir TT-, since you have TT unlikely nit has worse. Nits also dont Cbet too often w/o a hand and certainly dont like double barreling w/ A hi.
Given how you have played the hand the nit (they think more than maniacs, mostly scared thoughts) can be pretty sure you have a pair and dont have AA or KK, so he is just hoping you dont have QQ and has mustered the guts to risk it. I dont fault the flop and turn call, the river call is pretty much based on your read of the opponent, can he raise preflop w/ 88 and or can he 3 barrel a non pair hand here?

i know you have shown the results, so this kind of looks like 20/20 hindsight, which in many ways it is since i have made this call so many times vs a nit and found what you did. Of course the the bet size matters and here w/ the pot size/stack bet is typically a pocket pair, it aint easy lay this down, but i tried to. But then i decided to play these type of hands different, ie raise early and try to find out where i am at before i put myself in a tough spot after i call call and build a pot. If you raise on flop most nits at the micros toss A hi hands in muck, but call medium overpairs 99 TT JJ and shove AA KK and likely QQ- this costs less and gets you more info early in the hand

it wont kill you if you are wrong and lay down a hand to a nit, it wont happen to often since they dont play many hands, and you get better spots quite often vs looser players at the micros.

hope this helps HG

oops i didnt notice you were the bettor on flop and turn, however the logic i think is the same. I think by the time you get to the river you are pretty well committed, if you bet he will certainly call and may shove which you are pretty much priced in, if you check you pretty much force him to shove any pair he has, but may frequently induce a bluff shove w/ AK AQ etc even from a nit and are still stuck making a crying call as you will snap off a good number of bluffs. Bottom line is it is going to be tough to not get it in here vs this type opponent. These type hands bascially even out over time, but if you try to play this type hand too cautiously to prevent losses you will develop habits that cost you more value in the long run, i chalk these up to my quota of coolers

sorry for confusion hg