Troubles in early position 25c/50c LHE

[TheCroShow]

I'm having TONS of troubles in early position. It's my biggest leak in my game and talking it over with a friend of mine I am making a lot of errors. I will post a few hands here:

Hmm...so I'm having troubles with the following situations.

Hero is SB with 99....*edit* LHE, $0.25/$0.50

like 6 ppl limp in, do you: a)complete? b)raise? Why do you just call? Why do you raise? I hate getting mid pocket pairs in early position, especially if there are several players involved already.

If you are raising you are merely raising for value, not to eliminate other players. If you are just calling you are hoping to get a miracle set, or an overpair to a board of small cards.

In late position it's INSTA raise for me, but in early position it makes me wanna pee! (to quote a friend)

This hand came up tonight. I will share how the hand went down, how I played it and which option I chose preflop. The table is obviously loose, with players chasing like mad..they love their SOOTED cards.

[TheCroShow]

It's clear that early position is the weak link in my game. I'm not just springing a leak, the pipe has burst and I'm looking up a plumber to fix it!

In early position I'm referring to: SB, BB, UTG and UTG+1.

LHE $0.25/$0.50 Tables are quite loose, quite common for 4-6 to see the flop.

Hero is UTG+1 with :ah:js, Hero raises, Button calls, SB calls.

Flop: :2s :5c :ks check check check (probably should have bet out right?)

Turn: :6s SB checks, Hero bets, Button calls, SB calls.

River: :qs SB bets....Hero?


Hand #2 I always feel uncomfortable in this situation

Hero is SB with :ts:th 4 limpers to Hero (MP, LP, CO, Button) Hero raises, all call including BB.

Flop: :4h :qh :5c Hero bets, all call (EW!)

Turn: :3h Hero bets, 1 fold all call.

River: :7h Hero bets all call. Is hero good here? Did I draw out on someone? TT is a hand that makes me feel extremely uncomfortable with any overcards out there, so I'm thinking with guys ONLY calling behind me they must have Q low kicker or 2nd pair on the board..or they are chasing the flush, when they hit it on the turn, why not raise??? this hand is confusing.