I just have watched the video #13 and have some questions about 3 hands

AKo raised and the check with 2 oop? A standard move or read depended?

JTs btn. flopping straight! Everybody limps.......Raise the btn getting the pot right there? A good option?

A4s UTG open raise? Is this a standard move or more or more balancing strategy move?

As always thanks for the comments.

icon11 wrote:I just have watched the video #13 and have some questions about 3 hands

AKo raised and the check with 2 oop? A standard move or read depended?

JTs btn. flopping straight! Everybody limps.......Raise the btn getting the pot right there? A good option?

A4s UTG open raise? Is this a standard move or more or more balancing strategy move?

As always thanks for the comments.

Sorry I missed this!

AKo in the 3bet pot 3-way - I checked behind because on that dry of a flop (I think 366), I don't think anyone's folding any pocket pairs, and given that two people called my squeeze, I'd imagine at least one of them is likely to have a pocket pair. I can take a free turn card with the hopes of hitting my AK, or perhaps my AK is even the best hand. If I bet, I'm only folding out worse hands and getting called by better hands (or potentially raised by a flush draw off the best hand), so all things considered I do think a check is best. If it were heads up on that flop I might bet depending on my read of my opponent and how wide I think his range is, and what he'll fold.

JTs: First of all looking back I should've probably raised this hand on the button. It plays decently against anything the weak player is calling with OOP. But as played, I like a raise on the flop because I want to start building the pot so that I can potentially get the stacks in versus Haribo_Kid given that we were 200 BB's deep. If I smooth call, I lose the ability to build the pot, which is very important if I want to get maximum value with this hand. Giving the two opponents a free card on the turn doesn't accomplish much - I given them an easy chance to fill up to a boat if they have a set and if a scare card comes on the turn (say they had AQ and a T dropped), they might be afraid to put more money in because there's 4 to a straight. Slowplaying is almost always a worse option at the microstakes unless you have serious meta game going with your opponent and you can induce a lot of incorrect decisions on your opponents' part with a slowplay because of your deception. It's definitely not worth it at all in this case - growing the pot is the most important so that I can get all the money in on later streets.

A4s - I opened this hand because of a few reasons. First, it was 5-handed, so I was actually in MP, so there are only two behind me with position. Secondly, there was a really weak player in the blind who I don't mind playing a pot against with position. If there were solid aggressive players in the blinds I might choose to fold it. You are right - it's a balancing move - I don't want my opening range in MP to be too narrow so that it's weighted heavily toward pocket pairs and broadway cards.