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Pocket Rockets Vs Flush Draw?


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5nl

.02/.05

 

Hero: A A

115 bb

 

I'm in UTG+2 and I raise to 2x the big blind with my aces for $.10 , everyone folds except for the big blind who has about 50 bb behind. The flop comes Kh 7c 3c . Big blind checks and obviously this is a pretty good flop so I throw $.20 into the $.27 pot. The big blind smooth calls which leads me to believe he has a k low kicker hand, or maybe a flush draw or straight draw of some kind. The turn is a 4d and he checks again and I bet 3/4 pot again and then he check raises all in for a $1.20 more! I didn't have hardly any experience with this guy so I'm not sure how tight or loose his shove range is. I assume hes probly not the best player with only 50bb left and could be taking his chances with his flush draw but he's most likely either had pocket 44 or 77 and spiked a set or KQ or Kj of clubs. So I call, and he flips over 4c 7c for a two pair and the river is a blank. Should this be classified as a bad beat or is there something else I could've done?

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1) When you're describing your hand, consider not posting the result, at least in the original post. Instead, try posting right up to your decision point, and then asking for advice there, without posting the result. The reason for that, is so we can judge what the best action is, without being biased by already knowing the result. Foe example, in the OP, a better way to post about the hand would be to describe everything you did, but stop at when the Villain goes all in, and ask our opinion on what you should do, when faced with the decision to call the all in. That way, we can be process oriented, not results oriented, in judging the hand, and aren't biased by how the hand turned out. Ultimately, it doesn't matter what exactly he has, and it doesn't matter what the river result of the hand was. What matters is, your decision, the information you had when you made that decision (how he's playing, his range of hands in that situation, your history with the player, etc), and if it was the right decision based on the information you had in that moment, It doesn't matter, in our assessing your play, how the hand turned out. In fact, it can only bias us, and hurt (and never help) our analysis. , Question.. if the 3 would have paired on the river, would you have posted a question about this hand? If not, you're probably being too results oriented in general, in the way you look at the game.

 

2) Honestly, you'd probably be better off asking 2+2 strategy advice. The strategy portion of this site is really, really dead. If you went to 2+2, you'd have a number of players, for example, that played at your stakes or around them, on bovada. They can give you better advice on how that site plays specifically for your questions. This site's strategy forums have been defacto dead since there was a huge exodus of pro and semi-pro players to a private site, where 2+2ers couldn't read their strategy advice for free, and get a read on how they play. Since those guys all left, this part of the forum has been really dead. Better still, joining a quality coaching site and posting on their forums might be the way to go. I, for example, haven't played online NL in literally years, and when I did play online poker, the vast majority of it was limit. So my advice isn't really high quality, but you seem nice, and I'm bored, but take my advice with a grain.

 

3) I hope all of your opens are 2x the big blind, or close to it. Because if you raise higher when you're weak, and only do 2x when you're strong, you're inviting people to play garbage against what they already know is a strong hand. Assuming all your raises are 2, your flop play looks reasonable. I dunno if you can over bet in these games profitably or not. Him calling could mean a spectrum of things but if he does have a draw, you're making him pay painfully. So according to my math there should be 20+20+27=67 in the pot,, and if you bet 3/4 of the pot, we'll call that 50. so 1.67, and he bets 1.20 more, so you're getting like 2.4 to 1 on your money.. I think the chance you have the best hand, coupled with your chance to draw out to the best hand against his range ( the only thing you're drawing dead to is a gut shot), means you have to call. Kx is in his range. I would suspect Kx of clubs isn't in his range, because I'd assume he'd go apeshit on the flop. But all kinds of other flush draws are in his range. A 4 and a flush draw. Any flush draw that turned a gutshot. Random apeshit low level player shooting off the end of his bankroll. I don't think his range is as small as you're making it, I think there's at least some chance he has weaker hands than you suspect. The only thing that crushes you is a flopped (or turned) set, but he'd almost certainly have reraised pre with KK, and probably with 77 also, so 44 or 33 are his most reasonable hands that crush you ( and 56 suited). But there's so many other things he could have there, that you're ahead of, you have to call. And random two pairs you have plenty of outs to. Again, I don't know the meta of the current .2/.5 and maybe people are playing a lot tighter on the turn than I'm giving credit for, but I can't see how it possibly makes sense to fold. I think you played the hand fine, and got a bad beat.

 

The biggest question I'd have for you, is what is your preflop raising pattern like. Because if you only minraise with monsters, you're giving them incredible implied odd to play rags against you and stack you.

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If I am in early position I will raise 4x the bb with any hand I decide to play, with 7-8 people left to act behind because if I raise 2x everyone calls at these stakes. If I'm in middle or late, it's always 2x. I never limp except for completing in the small blind on occasion. I'm wondering if it would be a better strategy though just to raise 3x in all positions to keep it consistent.

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It seems like a lot of these people at these stakes really don't care/ pay attention that much so it's a decion between being consistent and not loosing an extra 5 cents over the long run due to not getting value when I have a good hand. These people at these stakes never really play tight though it's kind of a gamble fest. I'm trying to build my bankroll up to $100 so that's why I'm playing these stakes. I'm in a toughspot cause the lowest game they have is.02/.05 and my bankroll is 64.03 right now so I don't have the proper roll. Do you have any advice on the best way to build that up? I feel like I need to take shots and gamble to get to $100 at this point and then play within my role, but I want to do it the right way and grind it up without busting.

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1) Raising only 2 BBs is too low. You should have raised at least 3 BBs (although he probably would have called anyway).

 

2) One general rule at the micros: When your opponent is getting it all in, he almost always has the nuts. Aces are the best hand preflop, but that can change extremly quickly on the flop. Get used to folding AA, KK and stuff like that in those situations.

 

3) I recommend buying the book "Crushing the Microstakes" by blackrain79. Read it and immediately beat these limits.

 

Here are some general rules you should consider while playing the micros:

 

1) Play a really strong pf hand selection

2) Fold more!

3) Avoid marginal situations

4) Never bluff

5) If your opponent is going allin / betting super strong, he probably has you beat (unless you got the nuts, of course)

6) really: Fold more!

7) You win because the other players are worse than you. Wait for your spots and then bet strong!

8) Don't slow play!

9) Value bet a loooot!

10) Fold more

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You should generally be raising at least 3x at these stakes. People are prone to call, so you want to get value on your hands. The only time I deviate from a 3x first in open is if I'm playing HU, I have the button (you can go smaller since you'll have position and don't mind stealing cheaply or encouraging the blinds to play), stacks dictate it, or someone posts.

 

In your spot on the turn, I think I call AA by default. Probably sigh-call AK. Probably sigh-fold KQ.

 

Small point and as BigD mentioned, results don't fully matter, but was the 7c on the board or in your opponent's hand?

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He was holding 7 4 . Paired a 7 on the flop check called and got the four on the the turn then re raised all in. At that point the last hand I thought he had was 7-4. He was in the bb so I knew he'd probly have somethin weird but it's hard to tell on the micros sometimes

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These are the micros. Most players there don't know anything about odds and outs. They love their suited cards although they have no idea that they will fail to make a flush most of the time. And that's where you will make your money from. "Normal" playstyles don't apply at these stakes. That's why blackrain and me are saying that simply fold if they are going allin or betting super strong because they most likely have you beat. They are idiots, playing a ton of shitty cards. Keep calm, wait for your spots because they will come. Dont bluff, strong pf hand selection, dont slowplay, bet strong, find value and remember: When the guys at these levels are betting strong, they usually have the nuts. just fold. really. fold.

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