Down about 200BB within past week - is this why?

[bighomage]

I'd play both of these hands the same way, except I think I might 3 bet the turn on hand 2. He certainly could have AJ, but I'm not convinced.

[aK13]

In response to the other 2 hands you posted:

1. A cap on the flop pretty much tells you you're probably behind two pair or better (I'd say 55, even though you hold a 5, if he had KK, AA or AK he'd raise preflop most likely), so you're probably drawing to 2 outs (2 aces). I'd probably call the flop cap and fold turn UI (I'd call because I think your implied odds for hitting are big enough to make up the difference, you're likely to score 6-8 big bets from him if you hit on the turn - he'll have fives full while you have aces full, so he won't hesitate to keep raising you given his aggression already).

2. Looks perfectly fine.

[JC_Saves]

Hand 1: Typical Bad Beat hand--No comments necessary.

Hand 2: He called your preflop raise, your flop bet and reraised you with the Jack on the turn. Do you think that he is really playing J2 or J4? I think if he has AJ he would have probably raised you on the flop. I am suspecting that he has JJ. He was afaid of the Ace on the flop so just called you.

River bet is a wasted bet, given you are probably beaten here.

[JC_Saves]

Hand 1: I don't think that you should have reraised the flop after he reraised you already. you are not making him fold and the bigger the pot the more likely they will stay to the river. His flush came in on the turn. I would have folded the turn to a bet as you are not getting the proper odds to draw to a FH. Would have saved 3BBs on this hand alone. Flop reraise and cap(1BB) turn (1BB) and river (1BB).

Hand 2: This is a poor hand to be raising with EP after one limper in the pot. You overvalued AJ offsuit here. I am thinking that UTG limped with pocket 4's and then caught the str8t with the Ace on the turn and that is why he reraised here to protect his hand against a flush draw and to get more money out of you.

[aK13]

I fold the river in Hand 1, as I doubt A high is holding up against MP2's aggression (I face this decision quite frequently, and I think you don't win often enough to warrant this call).

In Hand 2, I check/call the river, as I want a cheap showdown and don't want to risk getting raised again.

[Nomad84]

I haven't read the other responses yet, but here are my thoughts.

Hand 1: I think I pretty much play it like you did. When you get raised on the turn, it looks like you might be up against trips, but when the 3rd J falls on the river, I consider that to be a relatively good card. If he had the case jack, you were beat already. It is possible that his 6s full just got counterfeited. I probably still just call the river. There is a pretty high probability that this will be a split pot anyway, right?

Hand 2: Based on the turn raise, I put him on 2 pair or a set of 2s or 4s. Hopefully he would have raised pf with AA or JJ. That leaves A2, A4, AJ, J4, J2, or 42 for two pair. So after seeing the river 4, there are 4 ways he could have had a set on the turn. There are 6+4+6+3=19 (edited; see footnote) ways he could have 2 pair. You now beat him if he has A2 (edited; see footnote). That is only 6 of the 23 "likely" hands that he might hold, so it looks like it is about 3:1 against you holding the best hand. I think I might check/call this river. If you are behind, I think you are unlikely to get him to lay his hand down with a bet, and I think you are unlikely to get called by a worse hand, given the action. I think that the odds of getting raised by a monster outweigh the slim odds of getting called by a worse hand at this point, but I think that a call is good based on the pot odds, even if I think I might be behind here.

Alright, now rip me apart [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

*[edit] Hopefully he doesn't play j2 or 42 preflop. I'll just assume that he folds these and 50% of the time, j4 is possible. Not sure how well he plays (or doesn't), so I'm just making assumptions here. I'm assuming that he might play any ace. I'm used to the party .5/1 game, so I might not be giving him enough credit here on starting hand selection. [/edit]

[PokerProdigy]

Hand 1) Looks good.

Hand 2) Looks ok, but a read on UTG would be helpful, because with certain players a re-raise on the turn would be pushing a pot equity edge (when MP3 also called). Also, if you feared you were beat by UTG on the turn, why even bet the river?

[sweetjazz]

[ QUOTE ]
Hand 1: I don't think that you should have reraised the flop after he reraised you already. you are not making him fold and the bigger the pot the more likely they will stay to the river. His flush came in on the turn. I would have folded the turn to a bet as you are not getting the proper odds to draw to a FH. Would have saved 3BBs on this hand alone. Flop reraise and cap(1BB) turn (1BB) and river (1BB).

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd have to have an awfully good read to know that the flop raise represented a flush draw or a hand that beats two pair. In fact, the raise makes me think he has a made hand. The flop cap suggests his hand is at least as good as K5, so he likely has us beat. Against a straightforward opponent, check/folding the turn is probably the right play. If the opponent has shown any signs of LAGginess, then I'm calling down here.

[ QUOTE ]

Hand 2: This is a poor hand to be raising with EP after one limper in the pot. You overvalued AJ offsuit here. I am thinking that UTG limped with pocket 4's and then caught the str8t with the Ace on the turn and that is why he reraised here to protect his hand against a flush draw and to get more money out of you.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is playing scared. First of all, UTG posted, so he has a random hand. He also posted 1.5 SB UTG, when he could have waited one hand and took his BB. So he's not exactly a poker expert. Not trying to isolate raise him with a strong hand like AJo is simply a big mistake. The fact that several other donks might cold-call with weak hands doesn't change anything.

That said, folding the turn is probably right, since you're most likely behind a straight here. That said, calling down isn't horrible, as you'll find some the occasional donk-raise here. But you really need a read to know what to do; the default play probably should be to fold; any signs of LAGgishness would lean me to calling down.

[MooFrog]

*Grunch*
I don't see anything wrong with the way you played those hands. Seems like you'll be best most of the time.

[yellowjack]

You played those two hands normally by 2+2 standards, which are normally fitted to party. I found stars to be much tighter so I'd be inclined to fold hand #2 since AK & AJ now beat me. Only because it's stars.

I suggest you join us on party.