Heads-up/Short-handed Limit Holdem (long post)

tereg · #1 10-14-2005, 02:21 AM

Hey everyone, I'm going to be touching on a lot of different things in this post, so please, try to be patient since I'm trying to work all of this stuff out.

What I'm wanting is some input from players that are either props that can multi-table short-handed or people that are familiar with Limit Holdem concepts on short tables.

The stakes that I'm really targeting is 2/4... but I'm pretty sure this can be equally applied to 1/2, 3/6 and 4/8.

Basically, my question goes something like this. I've been having an extremely bumpy run at 2/4 playing shorthanded. And really, my instincts tell me that the bumpy run is just the natural variance do to the escalated number of decisions you have to make over a given period of time. Making more decisions than its full-table counterpart is going to cause a lot more fluctuation. However, at some point, there is pause for concern because when I analyze a sample of about 8000 hands (which, granted, is not really THAT many hands)... When I see consistent losing, I start to wonder if I'm just making too many poor decisions.

Before I get into specific hand situations, I want to point out some things that I'm curious about, but I'm not sure if it really contributes to the problem I think I'm having. When I play full tables (again, limit holdem), a lithums test that I use to kind of tell how things are flowing is my Won % at Showdown stat. Barry Greenstein said something I tend to agree with about limit holdem, in that, it tends to be a showdown game. You play hands that will tend to win at showdown. When I play full tables, my Won % at Showdown, just in general, tends to be in the 60% range. But when I'm playing Short-handed and heads up, this number is alarmingly less (due to the fact that you must play a wider range of hands in this particular situation).... but I wonder sometimes... how much emphasis should I put on that stat on short-handed tables, because, I often find that particular stat in the 35-45% range.... usually the sessions that are turning sour, where my hands are not holding up. And that kind of bothers me, because, if you are playing at a place that GENERALLY has loose calling stations, I find that the best counter-strategy against loose calling stations is to bet out your made hands and showdown with made hands (a straightforward approach). And if during the course of playing a series of hands against a certin player I find that they tend to be passive more often than aggressive, I would feel that I would have to showdown fairly often against them... i.e. I'm not going to be able to force them out of many pots pre-showdown.

Of course, that is a general case, like, for instance, if you are playing against someone tighter, that will only bet or raise with made hands, you can force them out of pots... OR... if you are playing someone loose and aggressive, you can show down more inferior hands (like A-high on a ragged board).... but of course, these are generic strategies against generic characterizations. And I say that because in heads-up/short-handed, you have to be able to see how your opponents are adjusting throughout the course of the session and adjust the correct counter-strategy against them.

But anyways, back to the showdown point... let me give you some more stats...

When it's 3-handed, on the button, I will tend to go to showdown about 30% when I have seen the flop. When I do see the flop, I win some money about 55% of the time after the flop (whether it goes to showdown or not), and at showdown, I win money about 45% of the time.

And, really, those stats aren't that much different than when I'm on a full table (at least with the went to showdown when I see the flop piece). But again, I ask the question, if I am generally seeing a fairly loose/passive kind of player, is it correct to rely on showing down rather than trying to steal pots away (and, as a result, if the showdowns are failing me, is it just something I have to grind out where knowing that if I play cards that will generally beat two random cards, say, against a player whose possible holdings are anything but the absolute worst hands... 23o, 24o, 25o, 26o, etc. that it eventually will work in my favor against that particular type of player.)

Ok now to specific situations...

Of course, my goal when I play short-handed is to make as many correct decisions as I can within the session. Because of the elevated number of decisions I have to make, that has to be priority for me to win at this in the long-run. I bring this up because, I find that when I analyze sessions (not limited to the losing sessions, but I do tend to emphasize analyzing the losing sessions) I find that I'll make maybe 3 or 4 mistakes in a two-hour period... sometimes more...

What I do when I analyze specific sessions or runs is I look at the hands where I lost the most money to find out where my mistakes are... for instance:

[ QUOTE ]

Absolute Poker 2/4 Hold'em (4 handed) converter

Preflop: tereg is SB with T[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 5[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
UTG calls, 1 fold, tereg completes, BB raises, UTG calls, tereg calls.

Flop: (6 SB) 2[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 6[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (3 players)
tereg checks, BB bets, UTG folds, tereg calls.

Turn: (4 BB) K[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)
tereg checks, BB bets, tereg raises, BB 3-bets, tereg caps, BB calls.

River: (10.75 BB) A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (2 players)
tereg bets, BB raises, tereg calls.

Final Pot: 14.25 BB

Results below: 
tereg has Td 5d (flush, king high).
BB has Ad Qd (flush, ace high).
Outcome: BB wins 14.25 BB. 

[/ QUOTE ]

Here, I can point out a few mistakes that I made. I think here that check-raising the turn was mostly incorrect... although, check-raising might not be as bad of a play as capping was. If I put him on top pair, but only one diamond (like AQo or KQo), it might have shut him down. My capping on the turn was certainly incorrect. It probably would have been best to just bet out the turn to see where I was. If I'm raised on the turn, in hindsight with this kind of hand, I would probably call and act accordingly to what the river is. However, with the river being what it was, I might have bet out again after the river.

So here, in my estimation, I've made a 2 big bets worth of mistakes in this hand.

And then there are hands that aren't quite as clear, like this one:

[ QUOTE ]

Absolute Poker 2/4 Hold'em (3 handed) converter

Preflop: tereg is SB with 8[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
1 fold, tereg completes, BB raises, tereg calls.

Flop: (4 SB) 8[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 3[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)
tereg checks, BB bets, tereg raises, BB calls.

Turn: (4 BB) 2[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)
tereg bets, BB raises, tereg 3-bets, BB caps, tereg calls.

River: (11 BB) T[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)
tereg checks, BB bets, tereg calls.

Final Pot: 13 BB

Results below: 
tereg has 8c 9h (two pair, nines and eights).
BB has 2h 2c (three of a kind, twos).
Outcome: BB wins 13 BB. 

[/ QUOTE ]

Here, I wanted to fast play with a vulnerable top two with a straight draw and flush draw on the board. On the turn... I felt that maybe that the raise on the turn indicated a possible pair+flush draw combination... so, 3-betting the turn, at least at first glance, does not seem that wrong. Folding would have been ridiculous. When I get capped.. I felt the pot was simply too large to forfeit without a showdown.

And then... there are hands like this:

The BB I recall from this hand was extremely loose and aggressive, liked to raise and re-raise preflop with a wide range of hands, and very aggressive post-flop as well. So I knew that if I could showdown a top pair/good kicker I would catch him.

[ QUOTE ]

Absolute Poker 2/4 Hold'em (3 handed) converter

Preflop: tereg is SB with A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
1 fold, tereg raises, BB 3-bets, tereg caps, BB calls.

Flop: (8 SB) 7[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], T[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (2 players)
tereg bets, BB raises, tereg 3-bets, BB calls.

Turn: (6.50 BB) Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (2 players)
tereg bets, BB raises, tereg 3-bets, BB calls.

River: (11.50 BB) J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (2 players)
tereg checks, BB bets, tereg calls.

Final Pot: 13.50 BB

Results below: 
tereg has Ad Jc (two pair, aces and jacks).
BB has Ks 3c (straight, ace high).
Outcome: BB wins 13.50 BB. 

[/ QUOTE ]

Against an extremely aggressive player, I felt I played this hand fine. Even on the river... the pot is laying me 12.5:1... the pot is just too large to forfeit to one bet.

It's hands like these 3 (and, of course, there are a lot of them that I can spot) that just makes me question IF I can learn from the mistake hands, and when things are really crappy, hands like hand #3 just take the wind out of my sails.

I honestly feel that my approach to playing shorthanded and heads up is a good one... I feel that I can read patterns well enough to know what a player's tendency is. And I also feel that I understand generally what specific counter-strategies work against different types of players. If you are wondering, I have read through Jason Pohl's Short-Handed articles on PokerPages.com: http://www.pokerpages.com/articles/a...content=1#pohl

The advice he gives is definitely a good foundation for what I typically do in shorthanded games.

But again, I find that when I enter a session with the attitude of making as few mistakes as possible against my opponent just really isn't cutting it.

When my trendline looks like this:

Granted, it's only 6000 hands... that's not really a large sample size... but it concerns me because of the amount that I've dropped in that short time. That's why I feel like I have to post this, because, I feel like this is a problem that's more than just simply a bad run... there's something else going on.

I understand that the problems I might be having are most-likely multi-dimensional... which is why this post was so difficult to write. My problems might be coming from preflop play, post-flop play, my general stop strategy when I've dropped a certain amount of big bets on a single table.

I recall David Tuchman (on Live at the Bike) referring to an interesting point, specifically about limit holdem. I remember he said something to the effect of, if he's winning 65% of his sessions, then he's doing really well. When he isolates single sessions, ideally, if he wins while playing limit holdem, he wants to be up big. In other words, being up big for his current session instead of focusing on just being up at the end of a session for the stats.

I often find that a lot of my winning sessions are very marginal (like, I'll be up 10 big bets, 15 big bets at the end of a session before I take a break) But my losing sessions can be as steep as 40 big bets before I take a break from the pounding. I haven't really been able to have what I would call "break-out" sessions.... where I'll finish a session up even as little as 30 big bets before I finish.

And especially with the nature of heads up and short handed, I find it's difficult to "play catch-up".... like, with the swings as they are, I might find myself in a 10 big bet hole after 10 minutes.

Now, some of you might just suggest to me to play at levels I'm comfortable with. 2/4 is a level that I'm comfortable with. But my attitude in making this post is one that knows that despite the large variance in short handed limit holdem, that short handed can be beat long-term. I know that I can beat it... I know I have the skills to beat it. It's just a matter of fine-tuning what I learn from my mistakes and recalling my experiences in future play that will determine my successes.

If any of you guys have any input, or suggestions, or maybe a poker coach that maybe specializes in this type of holdem, I would greatly appreciate it. If you want me to elaborate more on any of my points, please don't hesitiate to ask me, I'll be more than willing to share as much as I can. I mean, if that's what it takes to learn and to beat it, then I'll do it.

Thanks again!

tereg · #2 10-14-2005, 02:55 AM

I need to correct something I just realized.

On Hand #2 I incorrectly said fastplay... what I intended to say was I wanted to press the flop with the flush and straight possibilities on the flop (despite the added value of being shorthanded)

wackjob · #3 10-14-2005, 03:02 AM

FYI, Absolute is rigged!

105s - never playing this unless I'm in BB or I'm stealing with it versus 2 rocks.

89o - raising this SB vs BB every time. I think the way you played the rest of the hand was OK.

AJ - I think you get a little crazy on the turn with this one. I would pop that river.

#4 10-14-2005, 06:08 AM

disregarding minor flaws in your game that i will address later, i think your play seems be quite ok.
but your approach to analyze your downswing doesnt sound very good to me. you took the hands where you lost the most money on, which is quite idiotic. in all your 3 expamples you were the victim of major suckouts, and thats a good thing. you want players to make those suckouts, cuz they will keep staying in the pot with their 2outers. they donate their money to you. instead try to focus on analyzing hands that had tricky decisions (the hands you posted didnt have many of those). post them on 2+2 or just think through them.
downswings happen, but dont let them affect your play.

a w$sd of 45 is very low. i came from full ring and the range there was about 55-59. at SH it seems to be more like 52-56. but 45 is very low. it either has to do with your play or it is an indicator of bad luck. in order to find out you have to analyze your play with the above mentioned methods.

regarding your hands:
#1 - poor preflop call. complete suited trash only after several limpers. 1 is not enough. also, i CR this flop with my draw, to put pressure on nonmade hands like AT etc. turn is fine the way you played the flop. if you CR the flop you just bet out to hope that you get raised. you must not worry about a higher flush as it happens too rarely. river is fine.

#2 - simple rule: if your first in raise or fold. never open complete. i vote for raise w/ 98. postflop is fine. you just got sucked out on a 2outer. turn cap is right in my opinion.

#3 - i think you played this fine until the turn. i call his raise and c/c UI, bet/call the river when i improve, which you did. he played his hand more like a made hand, which makes a K more unlikely, but unfortunately he did have it, [censored] happens [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

hope this helps

Notorious G.O.B. · #5 10-14-2005, 06:21 AM

[ QUOTE ]

regarding your hands:
#1 - poor preflop call. complete suited trash only after several limpers. 1 is not enough.

[/ QUOTE ] I disagree. Just holding cards is valuable in a three handed pot.
[ QUOTE ]

#3 - i think you played this fine until the turn. i call his raise and c/c UI, bet/call the river when i improve, which you did.

[/ QUOTE ]
Except he's extremely laggressive, so I'd say three betting the turn is good.

mex78753 · #6 10-14-2005, 06:23 AM

I agree that you're posing suck-outs only where you lost the most ammount of money. Barring some questionable preflop plays (like open-limping in the sb with 89o or completing the sb with 105s after only 1 limper) I feel your play is just fine.

It would help if you looked through your hh files and found some more marginal hands. Check some of your wins and see if you could have possibly extracted more from your opponents.

#7 10-14-2005, 06:45 AM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

regarding your hands:
#1 - poor preflop call. complete suited trash only after several limpers. 1 is not enough.

[/ QUOTE ] I disagree. Just holding cards is valuable in a three handed pot.

[/ QUOTE ]
hmm i ran some simulations in poker stove w/ T5s. against a 30% hand (i approximated a somewhat loose UTG limper) and a random hand you have an edge of slightly below 25% which is better that the 5-1 odds you are getting on your call, but it still ignores, that the hand will be tough to play due to often having weak pairs and kickers.
after the BB raise which i approximated to about 15% the edge is well below 20% which dictates a fold.

tereg · #8 10-14-2005, 07:54 AM

I understand what you guys are saying specifically with those three hands... the point I was really trying to make was that, even though some of those were suckouts, I can look at a hand (win or lose) and spot small mistakes where I lost bets.

I mean there are hands where I really drop the ball and it's obvious that what I did was terrible. Case in point:

[ QUOTE ]

Absolute Poker 2/4 Hold'em (5 handed) converter

Preflop: tereg is Button with K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
2 folds, tereg raises, 1 fold, BB calls.

Flop: (4.50 SB) 2[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 7[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 5[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)
BB checks, tereg bets, BB calls.

Turn: (3.25 BB) 8[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (2 players)
BB checks, tereg bets, BB calls.

River: (5.25 BB) 4[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)
BB checks, tereg bets, BB raises, tereg calls.

Final Pot: 9.25 BB

Results below: 
BB has 7c 4h (two pair, sevens and fours).
tereg has Ks 9s (high card, king).
Outcome: BB wins 9.25 BB. 

[/ QUOTE ]

In this hand, the BB was a fairly loose/passive calling station. And again, I touched on this on my initial post, but when I see this typical loose/passive calling station type, after analyzing a hand like this, I tend to just check/fold this down after the flop if I don't improve. I should have realized after the flop that he probably would call me down with any pair in this spot. Even with a 4-liner to a straight on the board, I should have realized that he most likely would have called me down with top pair on the river. And calling a raise on the river with K-high... I mean.. I'm just bleeding money all the way through the hand.

Ok, let's look at hands that I won (of the marginal variety)...

[ QUOTE ]

Absolute Poker 2/4 Hold'em (3 handed) converter

Preflop: tereg is BB with K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
1 fold, SB completes, tereg raises, SB calls.

Flop: (4 SB) T[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 7[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (2 players)
SB bets, tereg calls.

Turn: (3 BB) 4[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)
SB bets, tereg calls.

River: (5 BB) 5[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)
SB bets, tereg calls.

Final Pot: 7 BB

Results below: 
SB has 2c 9c (high card, ten).
tereg has Kh As (high card, ace).
Outcome: tereg wins 7 BB. 

[/ QUOTE ]

I knew that the SB tended to bet quite often on a variety of coordinated and un-coordinated boards, and I actually felt in this particular hand that my hand was good on both the flop and the turn. The SB frequently made blocker bets out of position with both made hands and draws. The call on the river was harder for me to make, but given the SB's history of betting out OOP consistently, I felt a call here was ok to showdown. I remember actually considering raising the flop here, but generally, I don't like raising the flop on a coordinated board like the one above. If the player had been slightly less aggressive post-flop than the SB in this hand, I would have raised the turn.

But, again, the point I'm making with these hands is not really the main focus of what I'm looking for here. I posted the hands to make a point that, I know that even though I'm sucked out on in some of those hands... I can still find the mistakes I'm making when I go back and analyze the hands.

I wanted to point out something else that I found quite alarming as I was evaluating my overall play in poker tracker

All hands:

Heads-up:

3-handed:

4-handed:

Now, granted, the sample size is again, not really that large... and maybe I'm just stressing way too much about this... but I just have this feeling that when I play heads-up and 3-handed, I'm making WAY too many mistakes... more mistakes than can be cast off as just a run of bad luck.

Again, it is very possible that I might be just blowing this way out of proportion... but I just have this feeling that just in general, I'm not playing properly from the blinds or the button.

If you're curious about my blind defense, I generally defend anywhere between 35-40% from the BB. I've gone through other posts in this forum about stats and all that... and from what I gather, stats are useful, but doesn't really answer the fundamental question.

It just feels like I'm doing something fundamentally wrong when I get into 3-handed and heads-up situations... but the problem is either multi-dimensional (as I believe is most likely) or, it's more subtle.

I have people that live in my apartment that are also good poker players that analyze my play as I play (for an unbiased opinion of how I'm doing)

Again, I think that the problem I have is most certainly fixable... it might be that just the experience of being in those kinds of hand situations is what will ultimately help me to figure this out. I sense that while posting specific hands will help me to some degree, the crux of the matter is more fundamental than anything. But, not so difficult that I won't learn what it is that's causing this.

Maybe I'm just nuts... I don't know...

If you want me to post more specific hands, let me know... and specifically, maybe something that is a common mistake in small stakes HUSH limit holdem that a lot of players make. Just let me know and I'll be glad to elaborate more.

Thanks again for your time and responses.

tereg · #9 10-14-2005, 03:16 PM

Ok, here's a hand situation that comes up a lot for me on short-handed tables. And I'll explain exactly what I mean after I post the hand.

[ QUOTE ]

Absolute Poker 2/4 Hold'em (4 handed) converter

Preflop: tereg is UTG with A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
tereg raises, Button calls, SB calls, BB calls.

Flop: (8 SB) J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 2[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 5[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, tereg bets, Button calls, SB folds, BB calls.

Turn: (5.50 BB) 6[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (3 players)
BB checks, tereg checks, Button checks.

River: (5.50 BB) T[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (3 players)
BB checks, tereg bets, Button calls, BB folds.

Final Pot: 7.50 BB

Results below: 
tereg has As Ah (one pair, aces).
Button doesn't show.
Outcome: tereg wins 7.50 BB. 

[/ QUOTE ]

What I want to focus on is the turn. A lot of times what I'll do with made hands is if multiple people call me on the flop, I'll usually put one of them on a draw and the other on a pair. When a scary turn card comes, I ususally go to check/call mode and see what the river brings. In this particular case, even with the Button behind me, a value bet seems automatic here. I know this is pretty much a straightforward hand, but I go back and forth sometimes between analyzing this as a hand where I either missed a bet on the turn, or I gained a bet making it more likely that someone with an inferior hand calls me on the river since I checked the turn off.

Should I see these situations as missed bets, or a gained value bet?

If you don't really see what I'm talking about, I'll post another example:

[ QUOTE ]

Absolute Poker 2/4 Hold'em (3 handed) converter

Preflop: tereg is BB with Q[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], Q[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
Button raises, 1 fold, tereg 3-bets, Button calls.

Flop: (6.50 SB) 6[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 3[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)
tereg bets, Button calls.

Turn: (4.25 BB) 5[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (2 players)
tereg checks, Button bets, tereg calls.

River: (6.25 BB) 2[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (2 players)
tereg checks, Button checks.

Final Pot: 6.25 BB

Results below: 
tereg has Qc Qd (one pair, queens).
Button doesn't show.
Outcome: tereg wins 6.25 BB. 

[/ QUOTE ]

Here, the situation is a little different on the turn, but the question is the same...

And it goes to the heart of what I'm asking at the beginning of the first post. Am I relying too much on just going to showdown by going into check/call mode when I'm short-handed in situations like this.

Sometimes, checking a "scary" turn card, often allows my opponent (if I read him as the following) to bluff at the river with inferior hands and allows me to extract an extra bet out. Case in point:

[ QUOTE ]

Absolute Poker 2/4 Hold'em (2 handed) converter

Preflop: tereg is Button with A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
tereg raises, BB calls.

Flop: (4 SB) 4[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], Q[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 7[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (2 players)
BB checks, tereg bets, BB calls.

Turn: (3 BB) A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)
BB checks, tereg checks.

River: (3 BB) 9[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)
BB bets, tereg raises, BB calls.

Final Pot: 7 BB

Results below: 
BB doesn't show.
tereg has Ah 8s (one pair, aces).
Outcome: tereg wins 7 BB. 

[/ QUOTE ]

Of course, I don't always check the turn when a "scary" card comes on the turn. Sometimes, I'll bet out top pair/overpair, just depending on the texture of the board

[ QUOTE ]

Absolute Poker 2/4 Hold'em (4 handed) converter

Preflop: tereg is UTG with A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
tereg raises, 1 fold, SB 3-bets, 1 fold, tereg caps, SB calls.

Flop: (9 SB) 7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 2[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)
SB checks, tereg bets, SB calls.

Turn: (5.50 BB) J[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (2 players)
SB checks, tereg bets, SB calls.

River: (7.50 BB) 4[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)
SB checks, tereg bets, SB calls.

Final Pot: 9.50 BB

Results below: 
SB doesn't show.
tereg has Ah As (one pair, aces).
Outcome: tereg wins 9.50 BB. 

[/ QUOTE ]

But the real question I have is that, when I go into check/call mode and decide to call it down, how much is too much?

Obviously, situations like the following happen when I do that. In this particular hand, the villain is a LAG, extremely LAG, the same person, in fact, that was in the AJ vs K3 hand above.

[ QUOTE ]

Absolute Poker 2/4 Hold'em (2 handed) converter

Preflop: tereg is BB with K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
Button raises, tereg 3-bets, Button calls.

Flop: (6 SB) J[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 7[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 5[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)
tereg bets, Button raises, tereg calls.

Turn: (5 BB) 9[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)
tereg checks, Button bets, tereg calls.

River: (7 BB) 8[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (2 players)
tereg checks, Button bets, tereg calls.

Final Pot: 9 BB

Results below: 
tereg has Kh Ac (high card, ace).
Button has 5h Qs (one pair, fives).
Outcome: Button wins 9 BB. 

[/ QUOTE ]

In the face of aggression from someone that tends to be more aggressive post-flop, and moreso when I'm heads-up or 3-handed, I tend to just check/call down big cards and show them down. And remember this is Small Stakes... Is it correct for me to tend to go to showdown in these kinds of situations? (If I feel that I cannot steal the hand away from him, but want to show that in SOME situations, I will not be taken off a hand easily... i.e. becoming a sort of calling station myself against LAGs)

Thanks again!

EvanJC · #10 10-14-2005, 03:55 PM

please bet and raise the turn in the aa/qq hands. you're giving your opponents too good of a reason to raise any scare card if you make turn checks like that