on 28 May I realised bills were about to be paid and I didnt exactly have enough cash, so I decided to go on a 3 day intensive grind. It was been about 3 months since I last touched poker due to my commitments as a financial advisor, and luckily it turned out pretty okay.
this was my first time playing 8 tables of zoom across NL50 and NL25. i have tried many times and failed to focus, but this time round i did not have a choice, either i was going to make some money at the lower limits, or i was about to get kicked out of the house by my parents and have my health policies lapse. i fear that no insurance company will want to cover me again given that i have already made a claim previously on my hospitalisation bills. i forced myself to keep grinding, in my mind was the fact that my loan from my friend was going to expire in a week and if i dont make some money i might never have the chance to again.
somehow all the videos i watched and strategy i learnt seemed to pop up in my mind and i was making many moves that would not be so obvious to me. i thought its good to discuss a hand i felt was common enough yet many people play it wrongly.
Poker Stars $50.00 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 2485379
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter
BTN: $34.32 - VPIP: 35, PFR: 33, 3B: 22, AF: 5.3, Hands: 187
SB: $50.00 - VPIP: 20, PFR: 15, 3B: 11, AF: 1.9, Hands: 324
BB: $51.73 - VPIP: 26, PFR: 19, 3B: 7, AF: 4.7, Hands: 1171
Hero (UTG): $67.56 - VPIP: 23, PFR: 19, 3B: 8, AF: 3.7, Hands: 1289323
MP: $50.00 - VPIP: 23, PFR: 15, 3B: 9, AF: 2.5, Hands: 280
CO: $50.00 - VPIP: 21, PFR: 19, 3B: 8, AF: 3.5, Hands: 2223
Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is UTG with A 
Q
Hero raises to $1.50, MP calls $1.50, 4 folds
Flop: ($3.75) 7 
A 3 
(2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $1.82, Hero calls $1.82
Turn: ($7.39) 4 
(2 players)
Hero checks, MP checks
River: ($7.39) 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $6.00, MP calls $6
This is a common situation where Hero opens from (EP MP) early positions and then gets called by a later position (MP CO BU) with a somewhat tight calling range and then the flops comes an A with 2 disconnected cards. The common strategy here is to bet for value.
However a review of my previous hands played this way together with professional advice shows that it is more profitable to check and call all streets and then bet if villain checks back any street.
The reasoning is this, his range is very tight and with a hand like AT AJ AQ we are not always very far ahead, because his calling range on this board is usually AJ+ 77 33 and middle pocket pairs like 88-KK. for 88-kk middle pocket pairs he is calling a maximum of 2 streets, so bet bet bet is the same as check bet bet because hes only calling 2 streets. against AJ+ value is very thin so betting and checking makes no difference. against sets like 77 33 betting always loses money. I'm leaving out the flush draws since they represent a very small part of his range.
however if we check, he could now bet AJ+ 77 33 and a tonne of bluffs that we can call down for 3 streets, essentially now we face a weaker range than betting all streets.
In conclusion with AJ+ oop against tight ranges on dry Axx board its better to check/call and bet when checked behind.
However for fishes this is not the optimum strategy, because their ranges are much wider and they are also willing to call much wider. fishes meaning their calling range is something like 10-15%+ and fold to CB less than 65%. their calling range will consists of many more worse Ax, and worse pairs and gutshot draws and flush draws so ill bet 3 streets for value against a fish.
Almost the same value, vulnerable to his Ax bluffs, but blocking his gutshots/oesd outs cancel this out. QQ works ok to bet I think.
