2 situations

[amoeba]

I fully agree with this logic.

[gol4pro]

Keep in mind people, this is Pacific. 5xBB won't go far.

Results--
hand 1: Villian had Q [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]T [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]
hand 2: Although my gut said call, I felt like playing weak-tight and folded. Villian had A [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]K [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. I thought with an overpair he'd have raised more preflop, and bet 2/3-4/5 of the pot on the flop.

[overtly spruce]

Hand 1 is horrible for a number of reasons. First off, even though you have position 9xBB is way to big for a PF raise, try 3-4xBB. The only situation in which you would want to make a raise like that preflop is when you are acting behind a number of preflop raisers that have raised in front of you and you are holding a big pair. With a drawing hand like AKos the only thing that you are going to do is get worse hands to fold and better hands to call, unless you get some loose callers, but even so, an uncoordinated board that you have paired is still not going to make up for the long term losses accrued in the previous situation I mentioned.

Secondly, your play becomes markedly worse when you get to the flop. You have 14 outs on the flop, either to pair the board, make your backdoor flush, or complete a streight, so you are looking at roughly 2:1 odds, discounting that if you make your TP his streight may also be made, or you may both draw a flush, him with the nuts. In either case, you are way behind, possibly drawing dead, and should have been out of the pot long ago.

Thirdly, your turn call is ridiculous, and is no where near passive but lands flatly on loose. Calling a huge bet like that on a coordinated board when you are holding only TPTK facing two possible flushes and a streight is horrible.

Finally, your river play was definately passive. That 7 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] is a scare card that you should use when acting after a check with a board and betting like that. Make a nominal bet, try and steal the pot, or get yourself a little ahead if you do have the best hand... for all the other times you raise 9xBB with AKos and get the blinds folded to you or don't pair the board. IMO
[ QUOTE ]
I'm still getting used to a deep stack, and I find that I'm a bit hesitant to contest large pots with only moderately strong hands when I'm new to the table. Is this normal?

Hand 1:
Hero is dealt A K on button
-- UTG opens 2xBB, 2 calls, hero raises to 9xBB, UTG calls, others fold.

Flop Q J 3 (pot 21)
-- UTG Donkbets 10$, hero calls

Turn K
-- UTG bets 21$, Hero calls

River 7
-- UTG checks, hero checks

-- Did I play this too passively? Without a note on the guy, I didn't want to go crazy with just TPTK. Value bet the river? I thought he had KJ/KQ.


[/ QUOTE ]

[xcrack999]

[ QUOTE ]
Hand 1 is horrible for a number of reasons. First off, even though you have position 9xBB is way to big for a PF raise, try 3-4xBB. The only situation in which you would want to make a raise like that preflop is when you are acting behind a number of preflop raisers that have raised in front of you and you are holding a big pair.

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
UTG opens 2xBB, 2 calls, hero raises to 9xBB, UTG calls, others fold.

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[BigSteve894]

i agree with the first hand but not with the second. in hand 2 i would have tried a reraise there to see how strong your opponant's hand is but if he bets big on the turn, and you're not getting good pot odds, then i would fold.

bigsteve894@yahoo.com

[overtly spruce]

xcrack, fyi: AKos is not a big pair, although you may be a preflop favorite, your are still holding a drawing hand... meaning you are even behind an opponent holding the most mediocre of pocket pairs. Additionally, SSHL: if it doesnt hit on the flop, fold it.

[bkfizz02]

In the OP, you put him on KQ/KJ. Why did you call the 21 bet (into 41 pot) on the turn if that's what you thought he had? I'm curious where this read comes from, because it's giving the donk a lot of credit...

[xcrack999]

[ QUOTE ]
xcrack, fyi: AKos is not a big pair, although you may be a preflop favorite, your are still holding a drawing hand... meaning you are even behind an opponent holding the most mediocre of pocket pairs.

[/ QUOTE ]

So where do you draw the line between a "drawing hand" and a "made hand" preflop. By "drawing hand," maybe you mean you need to improve to win. What if ace-high is good enough to win the pot. (for example, you have AK against QT as in this hand) Would you still call AK a drawing hand? But the real reason you would reraise in this hand is not because you're a preflop favorite. It's because you have position on the original raiser, and the original raiser seems weak with his 2xBB raise, and you know you can take the pot away from him if you're aggressive on the flop. Let's just say the original raiser had 33 and he raised 2xBB, and you have AK. By your logic, you shouldn't reraise because your AK is a "drawing hand" to his 33 pre-flop. Say, you reraise, and he calls, and the flop comes three overcards to his 33. (which will happen a vast majority of the time) If you bet out strong, he can't feel too happy about his pair of threes now and will mostly likely fold. You don't always need the best hand to win pots; you just need to make your opponents think they have a worse hand. Pokernicus also made a good post about why reraising is not bad here. Read that over.

[ QUOTE ]
You have 14 outs on the flop, either to pair the board, make your backdoor flush, or complete a streight

[/ QUOTE ]
You have nowhere close to 14 outs here. Your heart outs might not be clean, and you might be reverse-dominated by hands like AQ and KQ here, so you cannot feel too safe about your overcard outs. Even if all your straight and overcard outs are clean, you have at best 10 outs.

[orange]

I personally don't understand hand 2. Maybe I'm wrong, but why call a re-raise PF, then fold a nearly perfect flop for your hand? If you think he has a big pair, then why not just dump it PF? Unless you put him on a big pair or a set, I would probobly raise the flop.