Online $10-20, two hands.

[LarsVegas]

Hello. Here is two hands in which my aggressiveness varied quite a lot and there were a few debateable plays. Reasonable or strange? How big difference does being first to act make when pondering a river value bet? Or coming into the river the intiative?

$10-20, 9-to-10 handed. Unknown opponents.

Hand 1.

I haven't played a hand for my first 2.5 orbits at the table when I am dealt KsKh UTG+2. UTG raises, fold by UTG+1, I reraise, rest folds and we take the flop heads-up for three bets each.

Flop: 6c-3s-2c. Check-bet-call.

Turn: 5c. Check, I bet, he checkraises, I just call.

River: Jd. Perhaps a bit "lazy" by me, I immediatly press the auto "check-call" button. Lazy/weak? He checks...

Hand 2.

I am dealt QsQc in the small blind. There is a cutoff blind-post. Folded to cutoff who checks, button who seems like at least a decent player (big stack, chats some sense) raises, I threebet, big blind cold-calls, cutoff folds and button calls.

Flop: Jd-8s-6d. I bet, big blind raises, button folds, I threebet, big blind caps.

Turn: 5s. I check, bet, I checkraise, big blind calls.

River: 6h. I bet.

Comments?

Results in a while.

Lars

[Yeknom58]

Hand 1: I probably would have 3 bet the turn. I don't think you missed any bets by being lazy. I suspect he had AK/Q/T with the Ac.

Hand 2: I think I would have led the turn and if raised again I would have called down. It's sort of hard to put the button on a hand because he could be raising with a whole range of hands on the button. In addition he could be overplaying his hand because he might have seen your 3-bet as a re-steal attempt.

[bad beetz]

1. this guy does't have a 4. he raised UTG. He has the Ac. Unlikely he has the nuts cause you have the Kc. You could 3 bet the turn and check behind on the river. On the river, bet when checked to.

2. fine.

[LarsVegas]

Look again. I don't have the Kc. That, of course, makes a huge difference. With the Kc I would almost definitely threebet the turn. I think I will sometimes without it too.

Without the Kc, I am only about 65%-35% favourite over Ac-xx (12 losing cards, 3 ties= 13.5 outs against). Furthermore I would have a real problem if he fourbets the turn. Spend two more bets calling down probably drawing dead? With the Kc I could at least call a turn cap comfortably knowing I will be winning enough pots by the river to get my share of the 11.5-to-1 odds I would be getting, and then perhaps spend one bet on crying river calls unimproved. Feels a bit of long road to begin at the turn if capped and without the Kc.

While raising the turn and sometimes folding to a threebet is something winning players might advocate, I really don't want to put myself in a situation where I am threebetting the turn and pondering to fold for a cap too often.

[astroglide]

hand 1 i reraise the turn because he most likely has AK with the Ac. i won't vomit if he 4bets. this is ONLINE poker.

hand 2 i would bet the turn and call a raise back. opening yourself up to a turn 3bet with the worst possible overpair is not fun.

[LarsVegas]

Hand 1: Opponent checks, I check (had already pushed the auto-button as mentioned). He shows red TT and I drag the pot. Not three-betting the turn cost me one or two bets depending on whether I would then choose to value bet the river too. But more worringly, it potentially costs me the pot if a club hits.

Hand 2. I bet the river, my opponent calls and my hand is good. I do however believe the check-call line might be better here. I will pick up a few diamond bluffs, and to be fair this seems like a more likely holding for me to be beating, given the action, than a Jack. Maybe he got counter-feited on the river?

During quite a short while around these hands, I played several pots with big pairs where I took an aggressive, but almost certainly correct approach. This included seeing the flop five-way with KK, flop T-2-2 two spades, called by one, turn 5, checkraised, I threebet and valuebet on a river 9. QQ, taking the flop four-way, 9-6-3 (rainbow I think), one caller, checkraised on a turn 3, I threebet and valuebet a blank river. TT fourway, flop 9-9-7 rainbow, bet, all call, turn 3x, bet, one call (bb), river J, check, I bet, I am called and my hand is good.

These may seem like standard hands, but even then when several people see the flop, ever so often, someone will actually make a set or even freak trips with a low pair on the board. In these pots I am opening myself up to lose 5 large bets on the two big streets whenever I am losing, so I still think, given the number of people seeing these flops, that some of these plays are marginal.

I have become much more aggressive these last few months, I think it comes from playing in some really soft online games and gradually losing almost any respect for what the opponent might be holding. I am leaning more and more towards "any two" in most situations. ;-)

lars

[Zele]

[ QUOTE ]
Look again. I don't have the Kc.

[/ QUOTE ]

Which, in a sense, gives you even more reason to 3bet. You are much more vulnerable on the river. Protect your hand while you can.