Live hand #2: Turned top two pair

[soah]

The hand prior to this one is very important for getting a read on my opponent so I'll start there.

I fold trash UTG. Shortstack UTG+1 minraises to $10. First time he's done that so not sure what it means. UTG+2 makes it $40 to go. He has a premium hand. Two folds. MP3 makes it $100. He has a super-premium hand. CO spends 2 minutes talking about how good his hand is and how it's the "hand he's been waiting for". My read is that he is sincere in his anguish. UTG+1 responds with something about how he'll call too if CO calls. CO finally calls $100 cold. UTG+1 calls exactly all-in. UTG+2 says "I know I must be beaten somewhere" and folds. Flop is rags, MP3 pushes for $160 or so, CO is not happy but decides "I think you might be bluffing" and calls. UTG+1 shows AA, MP3 shows KK, CO shows JJ. (I asked UTG+2 if he had QQ and he points to the AA and the KK and says "I had one *those* and one of *those*.)

Next hand, the player who was MP3 on the previous hand limps now from MP2, someone else limps, SB completes, I check in BB with AQo. Flop is QJ7 rainbow. SB checks, I consider checking to keep the pot small, but end up betting $15 instead. MP2 raises to $30. Fold, fold. I call fairly quickly. Mistake? Turn is an ace. I check, MP2 bets $50. I stack 10 chips, look back up at him, pause a couple seconds, and call. River is a blank. I check, MP2 quickly announces he's all-in. I ask for a count and it's something like $232. I think a few seconds, then I start stacking some chips, then I look back at him. During his KK hand when I looked at him he seemed relaxed/confident and was sorta looking away. Now he's watching me and does not seem relaxed. I call.

[okayplayer]

Sounds fine. I 'd put Villain on QJ here most of the time. I dobut he's limping KT, but he seems a little too scared pushing all of his chips in there. The hand I'd be afraid of is 77, but I would have expected more of a value bet of say $100 with a set - why would he want to scare you away?

[TheWorstPlayer]

Hand 1: Party is rigged. Oh, this was live?
Hand 2: Seems like this a is fairly read-based hand. Hard to give you advice on that side of it without being there. So, without the read that he was seemingly nervous, I would say that his play is extremely consistent with 77 or QJ (played poorly either way, of course - nice min-raise). Clearly you are now ahead of QJ and still behind 77. There are equal combinations of each hand (since you hold a Q) so calling the turn bet seems fine. I don't necessarily think calling the flop bet is right, but you might have to call it for meta-game reason alone. It is pretty unlikely he is raising a draw here or a hand you can beat, though. And you don't have odds to improve and might even be next to dead already to 77. So, ignoring meta-game, I would have folded the flop, but called the turn once you called the flop. The river seems almost purely read based. The nervousness and the quick all-in would lead me to call thinking that he likely has QJ and is trying to blow me off my hand. Very unlikely that he has 77 and is worried about AA, QQ, JJ in an unraised pot or the unlikely KT.

[soah]

I'll add some more detail.

As for my read. This is my third session playing live and I am a super-introvert. I have no ability to read people at all. It was more like, I'm sitting there staring at my chips when I suddenly remember that when I'm playing live and have a decision I'm supposed to be making "reads" on people to come up with the correct decision. I gave my read very little consideration in making my decision to call. It just made me feel a little better that he appeared to be a little worried.

Also, as for the speed. On his KK hand his all-in on the flop was also very quick. But on that hand it was painfully obvious to the entire table that he had CO completely crushed. Plus preflop took a good three minutes so he had plenty of time to think about what to do on the flop. And his all-in bet then was only about a half-pot bet so it was a pretty easy decision.

[TheWorstPlayer]

Well, okayplayer and I both put him on QJ, so that must be what he had. Only reason why I don't like that read is that in some ways KT actually makes more sense. In fact, if I had been the Villain in this hand, I have KTs and only KTs. I basically NEVER min-raise except, occasionally, when I have a draw and I use it as a free card play. If I were villain, I would be thinking
preflop - KTs is not too terrible, so I'll play it cautiously, after all it's a loose table with large implied odds
flop - I'll min-raise to slow him down maybe let me draw really cheap
turn - I hit, let's see what he has and try to build a pot
river - ok, seems like he has a decent hand and I've got the nuts, let's push it all-in. Any big bet without betting all-in would seem too obviously a value bet.

That all being said, I still think QJ is more likely.

[BobboFitos]

[ QUOTE ]
I'll add some more detail.

As for my read. This is my third session playing live and I am a super-introvert. I have no ability to read people at all. It was more like, I'm sitting there staring at my chips when I suddenly remember that when I'm playing live and have a decision I'm supposed to be making "reads" on people to come up with the correct decision. I gave my read very little consideration in making my decision to call. It just made me feel a little better that he appeared to be a little worried.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, my live game needs so much improvement. I miss the numbers showing pot size and opponent stack sizes...

[img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]

[TheWorstPlayer]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'll add some more detail.

As for my read. This is my third session playing live and I am a super-introvert. I have no ability to read people at all. It was more like, I'm sitting there staring at my chips when I suddenly remember that when I'm playing live and have a decision I'm supposed to be making "reads" on people to come up with the correct decision. I gave my read very little consideration in making my decision to call. It just made me feel a little better that he appeared to be a little worried.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, my live game needs so much improvement. I miss the numbers showing pot size and opponent stack sizes...

[img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Just ask the dealer for a count of everything on every street. That can be your little 'gimmick'. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[BobboFitos]

[ QUOTE ]
Just ask the dealer for a count of everything on every street. That can be your little 'gimmick'.

[/ QUOTE ]

maybe this is only the case at the casino where I play, (the only one I can, Turningstone... hah...) but they get angry when you ask them pot size. You're supposed ot keep track yourself, apparently.

Also, they keep the pot in a messy manner, (I guess it encourages gambling) as there were only a few who stacked chips. (I can count them when stacked, but in a pile.. tough)

[TheWorstPlayer]

Everyone gets mad when you ask for counts of stuff. You are supposed to keep track of these things, in general. That was why I jokingly said it could be your gimmick because it would definitely get everyone really pissed at you. It's not THAT hard, though. Just think preflop, what the raise was to and how many people called it (round up a little for blinds/limpers who folded). Then get the preflop total and remember that one number. Then on flop, there won't be that many people calling bets so you should easily be able to multiply and add to preflop number. Same for turn and river. I'm sure with a little practice you will get it.

[soah]

Several times someone asked for a count of the pot when faced with a decision and to my surprise, the dealers quickly stacked the chips and counted them.

So anyway... no one is going to tell me to bet the turn or the river?