Grinding poker level 2. 5 NL

Hi.

In future please post hand histories after using hand converters like handconverter.com. ot makes reviewing much easier. It also seems that u are not using tracking software. If u want to treat poker serioisly i suggest u get one asap. You will need it eventually.

For hand 1 i think calling AKo vs the open is fine and when a short stack squeezes he can show up with some worse hands for sure like AQ. Against a typical range of 99+/AQ+ i think you have to get it in.

Preflop - i think you can consider raising here to 20c. If he isnt super loose in terms of calling on the flop, raising becomes better for 2 reasons. Firstly we get it headsup which allows us to win the hand more often. Secondly i think we get to build the pot more and if we hit our set its much easier to play for stacks.

Postflop - in limped pots u should just pot every street with the nuts. When he raises you its close. If he is capae of showing up with enough worse hands like K2 then you could potentially shove over. But when the straight gets there maybe its more cautious to call. Note that your bet sizing is only halfpot which makes it more likely that he can call flop and turn with gutshots.

QQ in the Small Blind vs a Big Blind 3bet

Well we have completely no information about our opponent. What we do know is that this is a blind battle. It should be pretty safe to assume that ranges are much wider here. You are going to be stealing wider, and thus he should be 3betting you more to discourage you from stealing so much.

I think you can definitely 4bet QQ for value and expect to either take down the pot immediately or see some worse hands from our opponents from time to time, stacking off against us preflop.

Postflop: I think you should bet the River. You allow him to check back all his worse hands. Also, both the turn and river are more or less blank cards. This guy shouldn't suddenly start bluffing out of nowhere when you are probably rarely folding on the River given that the board did not change in any way.

Limping with KQo

You have a really strong hand here. We want to raise here for a few reasons

-Isolate the weak player and play in a headsup pot.
Against weak opponents, regardless of our hand, we should prefer to play in headsup pots rather than multiway pots. We can just bluff more effectively if we are only against one opponent

-Raise for value and build the pot.
I think it's safe to say that KQo dominates the open limper's range. And if we hit a top pair we can bet the Flop+Turn+River very comfortably on decent boards.

As played, I agree with squeezing Flop. I think it's hard to fold top two here when opponent can have K5/Q5 so I am reluctantly stacking off even when we lose to 55.

Ever heard of the rule "Don't go broke in a limped pot"? As stacks get deeper relative to the pot size, the required hand strength to go broke dramatically increases.

Min-raising from early position with 44

I have mixed feelings about the preflop play. Let's compare the various options

1) Folding Preflop
I don't think it's too wrong to fold a small pocket pair in early position. It just plays really poorly postflop

2) Raising to 3-4 big blinds
My preferred option in tighter games at small stakes (NL25-NL100). We rarely get more than one caller and it's much easier to win in headsup pots with the Flop continuation bet.

At microstakes, I think the average player is much looser and even if you open to 4BB you will often get 2 or more callers. And we can't really bluff on the majority of boards with only 2 outs to a set of 4s.

3) Open Limping
I am usually against open limping, especially from late positions or mid position. But I think it's a decent option from early positions in a full-ring game. As mentioned previously, Option 2 isn't too good for looser and more passive games.

The cons of open limping include getting raised by aggro players. But this isn't going to be a huge issue when the entire table is passive in general.

4) Min-Raise
This is the "in-between" option of 2 and 3. I also think a min-raise is less likely to get reraised, as compared to a limp. I think it's an acceptable option, but make sure you know why you are picking a particular option.

Postflop: I may c/c a small bet or just c/f. Nothing good comes from playing this hand. You have the bottom end of the straight and the board has a possible flush too. Best case scenario is when you get it in against a draw, and most of these draws have at least 2 over cards and a flush draw or open ender straight draw. These draws have 40% equity vs your hand. Vs the other made hands, your hand is completely crushed.

Slow-playing the Flopped Full house with TT

I think preflop and flop play are standard, we should definitely slowplay. Turn decision is based on a few things
-Would he continue barreling the River (if he had a bluff)?
-How weighted is he towards bluffs?
-Would he fold vs a turn raise (which is pretty much the nuts everytime, but this depends on how good he is at hand-reading)

1) If he likes to bluff the River, then c/c Turn c/r River makes more sense
2) If he is more passive and bets the Turn but checks back the River with some of his overpairs, then c/r Turn makes more sense
3) If his Turn betting range is more weighted towards value hands, I would prefer just check/raising right away. If a A or K comes on the River, he will probably be more inclined to check back the River with JJ/QQ.

I think your play is fine though given the lack of info provided. I think it's safe to assume that at lower limits, people just have much stronger turn betting ranges as they are less aggressive.

Best mbml,

Thank you for your reply. I have a day job, thats why my late reaction.

You're right i do not use programs like HM or PT because i was caught once by using that. My account was closed.

Hand 5 (44) i played as bad as i could and im not proud at all.
Hand 4 (KQ), i should raise preflop, but the resul will still remain same.
Hnad 3 (QQ) is a big cooler, but u are right i have to bet the river to minimize my looses/get paid from worse hands
Hand 2 (55). I know i made a mistacke, but i have a felling the result will remain same. Just watch his line:
Preflop limping with a4s (raising hand)
Check call flop with gs (sometimes calling/sometimes raising)
Check call turn with gs (most of the times folding/sometimes raising)

I think even by betting the pot this kind of player will keep on calling 2 streets because he feels ace is an out too.
I did put him on K and thougt he made two pair and i thought I could only get beat by the hand like 10 10. Will explain his call on the flop and big raise the river. Some players do not know how to play middle pair postflop and try to keep the pot small perflop by limping.

So i think i was destine to lose that hand.

Originally posted by pokerboy198229
Best mbml,

You're right i do not use programs like HM or PT because i was caught once by using that. My account was closed.

Get caught?

It is not against any GTC of any Pokerskin that i know.
On stars you can use it too, it is not on the list of forbidden software.

Which Pokerskin banned you for using HM/PT?

It happened on full tilt.
My account was closed and i had to wright an email to commit myself from using of PT program.

news to me...can't imagine that.

100% sure sth else was involved