Please let me know how I could have played these hands differently.

Blinds 300/600, I have about 12,000.
I limp in the CO with K Q . 5 players.
Flop A K 9

Button is aggressive. It checks around and I check.
Button bets 1,200. All fold. I call.

Turn A K 9 3

I know he is going to bet (because he always does), so I check. He bets 1,600. I raise to 4,000. He calls.
Now, I put him on the J or 10 .

River A K 9 3 X

My thinking now is that I have about 7,000 left and he has a bit less. Even though he is aggressive, I'm not 100% sure he's betting if I check.

What's my play?

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A few hands later, I limp in the BB with 10 10 . With 5 limpers before me, I know this is bad. I should have raised it.

Flop J 2 2

I check. Player bets 1,200. Folds back to me. I call (2 players).

Turn J s 2 2 7

Check. Check.

River J 2 2 7 10 (I don't have the nuts, but for sure have the best hand)

What's my play?
Keep in mind, this play may or may not be affected by what play I made on the last hand above. It is against a different player as well.

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A couple of levels later. 500/1000
I have about 22,000. I'm the SB.
Short stack to my right goes all in for 3600.
I have 6 6 . I call.
BB calls.

Flop 9 7 2
I check the dry side pot.
BB bets 3000.

1st question: Should I have pushed all in preflop to get heads up with the all-in player?

2nd question: What do I do now?

Hand 1: Raise pre. On the river, um, you have the nuts, I guess you should bet?

Hand 2: I assume you mean you check your option? Yes, that is laughably bad. Bet flop. Bet turn. River is like most obvious bet ever.

Hand 3: Yes, you should have iso'ed the shorty. As played this is an easy fold.

Am I being leveled with all this? It sure feels like it, this is pretty elementary stuff for someone who's been around and posted as much as you have.

Let me get some more answers and I will reveal what I actually did. I will say that I did some things in this tourney that was a little out of line of how I usually play.

Hand 1: you played it perfect and on the river im putting it all in... he has so much in the pot, hes not going anywhere with his flush... he is gonna call your bet, if you check he might check behind on the safe side, the river card didnt change a thing...

Hand 2: bet the pot on the river, maybe a lil more, hopefully he has a decent jack and you get paid off.... or better yet, he has A2 and thinks hes golden and comes over the top lol... he might even put you on a missed flush when you bet the river and call with small pocket pair... either way your winning this pot.... the question is how much are you gonna get out of him lmao

Hand 3: you might have missed your raise preflop... but since you called, i think its an easy fold, i dont think hes gonna bet 3000 with not having your 6s beat so might as well get out of the way.....

theres my 2 cents....

Hand 1: So, the pot is 9,400 and you've got 7000 behind (villain has less). You're holding the nuts and putting villain on 2nd or 3rd nuts? Time to put it all in and hope villain can't lay down 2nd/3rd best hand. Anything less puts him in effectively anyway and looks way too obvious.

Hand 2: Nothing to add on top of Swolys. Gotta bet that flop, turn, and blast at the river if anyone is left. As played, value town the river.

Hand 3: Yes. Fold.

The question here wasn't really whether or not I should bet. It more more asking how much is a good value bet.

When you have less than a pot sized bet left on the river, there is no question about sizing.

I actually did push all in and he folded and showed the J .

I'm just thinking is I did bet something smaller, he may have called.

sure there is.

will he fold the 2nd or 3rd nuts for his whole stack if it seems obvious we have the nuts?
if not will he call for like 3-4k
would he raise a smallish/weak looking bet?

really, though, if you raise preflop like you should the river probably doesnt matter b/c were in by the turn

There's only a question because we try to convince ourselves, as the player holding the nuts, that there is one.

If we have < PSB left on the river and do not shove, it is the most obvious value bet ever, and I will argue that a player holding the 2nd nuts is more likely to fold there. A shove can look equally like a value bet or a bluff, and looks more "normal." Therefore villains will call wider.

And OP yes, this really shouldn't matter too much because as RISE and I both said, you raise PF and this problem goes away.

He folded b/c your line to that point made it obvious you had the nuts, not because you shoved the river instead of betting 4k. I'm fairly sure he would've folded to a smaller bet as well if he folded here.

Raise PF, bet flop, shove turn, and you would've stacked him. Your trickiness cost you chips here.

you nailed it man

Thanks...I'm still trying to work on this. One of my bigger problem is raising PF. It's very difficult for me to raise PF with 5 limpers and me holding K-Q os. Maybe live it's different, but online I can't every get anyone to fold and everyone calls, or worse, someone pushes...then what? I can't call off my stack with K-Q.

I hardly ever raise preflop; and again, I know this is a problem, because when I do raise, everyone knows I have Qs, Ks or Aces. I am aware that I need to open up my raising range, but I just can't bring myself to do it.

One of my biggest issues is the game I play in. It's a weekly Monday night tournament, $125 buy-in (rebuys for the first 3 levels). Usually about 25 to 30 players. The problem is that I am EASILY the least funded guy there. Some of these guys can go in for 4 or 5 rebuys and not even blink an eye. I have a hard time coming up with 1 buy-in each week. So, I don't have the luxury of pushing small edges and rebuying if I get beat. I know this is stupid; playing out of my financial league. So, I try to play super tight and limp with K-Q and A-J and such, and keep the pots small until I have a real hand. I know I'm playing scared money. But this is the only game I have been able to find.

Even though I'm out of my league financially, I know I'm not skill wise. The thing is that most of the time I KNOW the correct line, but can't pull the trigger. I'm playing scared money. This past week, I actually had the money to do a rebuy if I needed to, so I felt like I was playing differently. After pushing with the nut flush draw (and hitting), the guy commented that it was unusual for me to play that way, compared to how I have played previous tournaments.

I have played this tournament 6 times now, and have placed 4th twice and chopped once; so 3/6 isn't a bad start.

Sorry, I know this is a little rambling. Any thoughts / comments / advice?

I will probably have some more hands from next tourney to ask about; so maybe I'll get some advice then. I was hoping someone would have something.

I don't think it is stupid at all. I think the absolute best way to play poker is within your financial means. Whether you are on their level skill wise or not, you still have to have some luck to win at this game. To me, it's a matter of what you do with the money that you win. I keep my poker money separate from my household money. I make a bit over 100K a year. But none of that money goes into poker. And I play small stakes poker. The most that I have paid for a buy in in a little over three years of playing is $220.00. And that was money that I had won at the tables. Part of what is intriguing about the game to me is the idea that I'm making money at it. Very little money but I am not losing money. I want to get better and stretch myself but I will not risk my home life for it.

Knowing what the correct line is means absolutely nothing if you don't do it. If you are playing scared money, then you shouldn't play these tournies, plain and simple. BR management is extremely important in poker, and if you make even one decision differently because of the stakes, then you're playing too high - and it doesn't matter what your skill level is, really.

And I'm not trying to be a dick here - really, I'm not, because I know how this will sound - but from the questions you are asking I don't believe your skill level is as high as you believe it to be. There is no excuse for limping KQo behind one limper in the CO. There is no excuse for not raising your option when you hold TT in the BB and it's limped to you.

Hand 1: Shove

Hand 2: Brag? j/k...value bet 1/2 pot, pray for rr

Hand 3: RRAI...I think you can get the BB off this hand. He didn't re-raise you to ISO and it's a good time to fake him out. I mean, what can he possibly have that he can call with and then make a bet? A 9 or a 7? A high pair (TT+)? Yes, you should have raised to ISO, but I've seen people with AA/KK flat in this situation (1 person behind) and then shove the flop or RRAI to trap.

Then you obviously fold and show the table you bluffed them, you seem to be very afraid for your chips.


You should get pokerstove/HUD/pt to track leaks like this and do something about it. If you never raise pre-flop with nothing but monsters, you're making the table very aware of your extremely tight game and you lose a lot of value when you hit something. Try polarize your range once in a while as well.


Then you're playing too high stakes.


If you can't pull the trigger do you really know the correct line? I'm just asking, cause to me that's a bit like saying "I know he has air, but I can't call with my one pair" or after losing "Damn, I Knew he had that!!"

Like SwolyswoND said this is all very basic. You should read one of the Harrington books, I've never read them but I've heard many say they're the best.

Brutal honesty is fine. I understand. I'm certainly not saying my skill level is super high, I'm just saying it is still higher than most of the moneybags in this tourney. Yes, I am playing higher than I am comfortable with; but there are no games smaller in my area.

I will definitely take these comments to heart and keep working. I just got the Harrington books, so I will read those as well.

Do you think that playing some of the "play money" tourneys online, and trying to be more aggressive with the raises and such will help, or do you think it will be pointless because it's free money and they action in the tourney will be too skewed because of it?

Play money tourneys wont do anything to develop your skill - do you have anything you can deposit to play low stakes SNGs? Like $5 ones even? That should be a good level where people will at least attempt to try to play well, but low enough that you can be comfortable pushing small edges.

The Harrington books are a very good starting point - I read them myself when I first started. They are a little outdated maybe, but will give you a great mindset.

actually the idea came because i just finished the small ball section in DN's book which I just got. He specifically talks about betting less on the river with the best hand b/c people are afraid of losing all their chips w/o the nuts, but might call off 1/2 of them if they think they have the best hand.

obv this is player dependent. but just because you or i would see that as "obviously the nuts" doesnt mean this player would. maybe he thinks you wouldnt bet all your chips on a bluff. but if you bet less maybe he thinks youre saving some chips if the bluff doesnt work. maybe he thinks were thinking this and calls an all in but folds for smaller. maybe hes not thinking at all and will fold or call no matter how much we bet. but i dont think that just because we have less than a PSB left we have to shove regardless of the player and circumstances.