Basically, I had a rough night at the tables (online) last night, and did the old questioning of my general play. Doing this, I thought it would be a good idea if I posted a rather general hand I have, and allow for others to comment on pretty much every aspect of it, in hope of improving my overall play.

For the first hand, it's Aces.

Relevant PokerTracker Stats.
Hero: 32% / 11% / 5 (PFA) / 65
Villain: 22 / 0 / .8 / 9

So basically, we have little read on the villain.


Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (9 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

saw flop|saw showdown

SB ($29.75)
BB ($24.40)
UTG ($34.45)
Hero ($28.50)
MP1 ($24.15)
MP2 ($45.60)
MP3 ($28.70)
CO ($24.40)
Button ($23.90)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with A, A.
1 fold, Hero raises to $0.8, 2 folds, MP3 calls $0.80, 4 folds.
Not quite sure what the standard raise should be at these levels. I go with .75 or .8 as standard raises, but can I get away with more? I figured that raising more in such an early position would give away too much strength.

Flop: ($1.95) 8, 3, 3 (2 players)
Hero bets $1.4, MP3 calls $1.40.
Is this a standard cont. bet? I expected this to end the pot, unless he's got a pocket pair or something like that.

Turn: ($4.75) K (2 players)
Hero bets $3.75, MP3 calls $3.75.
Looking back, I think this may be too small. However, if he's hit the flop, I'm going to give him credit for fearing this king. He could have KXc, but I really doubt that, and would expect a raise

River: ($12.25) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $5.25, MP3 calls $5.25.
The river bet is pretty much for value. I figured he's got to have hit that flop in some way, which meant that the King is going to stop him feeling totally secure.

Final Pot: $22.75

Based on this, what can we put the villain on?


All criticism is welcomed, and highly appreciated.

KcXc

pocket 3's. I'm only half kidding.


Honestly though, Kx (not even necessarily suited) is the only thing I can see your opponent calling and not raising you with on the river. Very likely has KQ.

I don't dislike the way you played this, but, an idea to keep in mind, is that checking the river here is sometimes better(a lot of times, IMO).

He's shown the willingness to call down, but, with what? If he whiffed his flush draw, we're not gonna get any money by betting the river, if we check, he might bluff his missed flush draw though. If he has us beat (flopped trips or a boat, maybe even KK?), then we don't get raised on the river, but can still check/call a bet, as our hand has a lot of showdown value. But, by check/calling, when we're beat, we don't bet the river, and then get raised, you know?

I personally advocate value betting the river. I think trips has to raise the flop (or more likely) the turn when the second flush draw appears. Looks like a wiffed flush draw with the Kc, but regarding the OP, sounds like a bad beat so I'm gonna go ahead and say a weak three here.

Not betting the river here would literally be criminal. We have 2 pair and no other 2 pair beats ours. He obviously calls too much and since all of the draws missed, we don't have to worry that he had a draw and got there. Would he check trips or a boat 3 times? It's so unlikely that I don't think we need to consider it.

I think the bet sizes are fine until the river. I bet closer to 3/4 of the pot on the river, like $8 or $9. If he has a missed draw, he can't pay us anyway unless it was Kxcc. If he has any other hand, he's probably calling since he called the turn. His most likely hand is a middle pair with the Kxcc in there too. These hands are gonna have a hard time folding the river based on how it was played.

EDIT: I thought we had position. This changes things slightly, but I am still betting here.

Your play seems okay. If he has trips or a full house, he clearly misplayed because at some point he should be putting a raise in to try to get more value on this hand.

BTW: the standard opening is usually to $1 or whatever bet pot button gives, and the standard bets post flop with a flush possible board are usually pot sized. If you were betting smaller than the pot, people will think you are continuation betting and give you more value on the flop. With Aces, this is a resonable line to take.

I like raises at 25 max to .85 from later positions, and as much as 1.25 from EP, but that's just me.

really? I don't change my raises at all. 3BB +1 for a limper.