Line check. Help me fix my game.
Posted by Jay Blue
Posted by
Jay Blue
posted in
Low Stakes
Line check. Help me fix my game.
I'm getting back into poker after a decade long break and plan on working really hard at improving my game. I just purchased From the Ground up and will be putting in some decent volume and posting lots of hands. I'm getting lost in some pretty routine spots. Please critique my play and thought process. I think its possible that I misplayed every street.
No reads on villain but he's also on my other two tables so I will assume at least somewhat competent.
GG Poker - $0.10 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4: http://www.pokertracker.com
CO: 64.3 BB
BTN: 122.3 BB
Hero (SB): 102.2 BB
BB: 79.5 BB
UTG: 102.7 BB
MP: 164.6 BB
Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB
Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has Ad 9d
fold, fold, CO raises to 3 BB, fold, Hero raises to 10 BB, fold, CO calls 7 BB
Flop : (21 BB, 2 players) 2d 4s 2h
Hero bets 7 BB, CO calls 7 BB
Turn : (35 BB, 2 players) 8c
Hero checks, CO bets 17.5 BB, fold
CO wins 32.3 BB
Preflop: I think I'm ahead of villains range and also have a reasonable chance to take the pot town pre. I will obv fold to a 4 bet.
Flop: No reads but villains range could look something like like 22-TT, A2s+, ATo+, KJo+,QJ+ and suited connectors. This board is unlikely to have improved villains hand and I am likely still ahead.
Turn: I have no idea wtf I should be doing. His hand looks like it should be more 22-TT, or maybe A highs. He should also be floating pretty wide on the flop though right? I don't know so I check fold.
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To be honest, I think preflop is debatable with A9s against a broken stack. If you are somehow mixing it as a 3b/fold, its fine.
Post flop seems fine. The A9s with the BDFD are going to be the best bets here on the flop. I would mostly check A9cc and mostly bet the other 3 combos of A9s.
Seems fine.
I honestly didn't consider stack size during the hand but I definitely should be.
Why might it be bad against this stack size? Is it because of SPR making post flop play difficult? Or because I could get jammed on more often pre and have to fold?
Pre is fine, but at low stakes where rake is high and you potentially are not playing well you could maybe fold I guess. Something like A8s should be close to 0ev theoretically, so if you're making a lot of mistakes and rake is high, then A9s might turn negative, but defaulting to 3betting with this hand is likely going to be a good idea. Sizing for your 3b is on small side, but because he has a shorter stack it makes the sizing actually good.
It should be noted that when playing against weaker opposition their fold to 3-bet when they have position is generally speaking going to be low and they will also not have many/any 4-bet bluffs. Our opponent having a lack of 4-bet bluffs allows us to 3-bet slightly wider. Conversely, the majority of our EV when 3-betting OOP for our weaker hands (i.e. weaker suited hands, weak aces, weak pairs, weak suited connector hands) comes from our opponent folding preflop. I wouldn't really put A9s in this bucket (though it is close) under the assumption our opponent is likely calling all of his weaker aces. That being said the weaker hands in our preflop 3-betting range would include weaker aces, hands like QTs, 66/77, weak suited connectors. Those hands would lose EV assuming our opponent is overcalling preflop and also played perfectly postflop. Under those assumptions our weaker hands would go from very slightly +EV to likely negative.
Because we're in a 3bp with a linear range and on a very dry and static board most of our strong hands will continue to stay strong. There are not any flush draws, 2's shouldn't be in our opponents range, and there are not many relevant possible straights on future streets. This leads to a situation in which we are relatively polarized from the flop and the likely preferred and optimal sizing will be close to a geometric one. Geometric means that it will be a sizing that allows us to bet the same % of the pot on all three streets (or two streets) to get all in by the river. This maximizes the EV of our range in situations where these variables are true because it forces our opponent to defend the maximum number of combinations while also retaining our ability to get it all in by the river. Because the stack depths are short in this hand you have the option of a geometric sizing to get it in on three streets or over two and both are probably good strategies for most hands in your range.
Betting the flop is good and you'd probably want to bet all/most of your range vs. a player that is likely wide from preflop.
As played on turn, you actually have decent showdown with your hand vs. some weaker hands that would have peeled the flop. So this is sort of a classic spot where you won't get better hands to fold and you won't really get worse hands to call. When that is the case typically checking is usually a good idea, so checking turn is correct. Now, facing the bet I think you also have a pretty easy fold. A lot of weaker players (though certainly not all) generally opt in to a more passive play style where if he did call the flop with some hands like K high they don't always bet when checked to on the turn, so when you face the bet on the turn there really isn't much to do other than to fold.
All in all, well played!
Thanks for the clear and detailed reply. I feel like I’m starting in the right direction but have a ton to learn.
Regarding the high rake and this being GG which also rakes preflop, along with not so great fold equity, push this closer to a fold or did you consider that in your response?
What adjustments should I be making preflop in this environment? I guess I should tighten up significantly preflop and squeeze less?
I did consider it. I wouldn't make deviations based on the fact they rake preflop at this moment in time.
Here is a preflop sim vs. a CO RFI of 27.7% and 2.5bb sizing. Rake is allowed preflop and rake is 5% capped at 3bb and here is SB response:
if he is not topping up then he is not competent, so he is either raising very tight or very loose here
with no hud stats you ought to think about if 3betting is good vs those two tendencies and if your 3bet is +ev in both cases
vs very tight your 3bet is going to be close to 0 ev at best, vs very loose your 3bet is ok but you are better of merging and 3betting AJo/KQo
calling vs very tight is -ev, calling vs very loose is probably slightly ok but 3betting is better
if you put that analysis in a 2x2 pro vs con chart then its easy to see this calling is the worst option so 3bet or folding are your choices with folding being just slightly better
but you elected to 3bet which is reasonable and cbetting this flop is going to be +ev in a vacuum and check folding turn is fine, but with no reads we cant really learn anything from our line nor how to adjust since we dont have a baseline for comparison
your on the right track on the turn with your reasoning - you have no idea wtf is going so you check fold
but it seems like you had no idea what his range was preflop as well with no hud or reads, so use logical continuity and fold there as well until you have the information to deviate
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