Did I misplay here?

Sometimes, even when you win, you might have played wrong. Background: I'm a limit player, almost totally; I'm good at the math of limit, and not so good at the psychology and "touchy-feely" nature of NL. However, with the new poker laws in Florida, no-limit is the game (the law says that the maximum bet in limit can be $5, but no-limit with a max $100 buyin is fine, so $1-$2 NL is becoming common, and is supposedly fishy).

So, I sat down to get some cheap NL practice, playing 5¢-10¢ NL, with the basic strategy of "any 21 in blackjack, any connectors totaling 17 to 20 in blackjack, any pair, and suited connectors as low as 56 for a limp. Tighten up a lot to preflop raises -- AA, KK, QQ, AK and that's about it, unless it's a small raise and there's calling action already" (is this a viable basic strategy? I know it ignores position, but is it a workable baseline to start from?) when I was dealt the following hand (immediately after trapping the best player -- who I call Tight Winner -- with top 2 pair against his overpair for $5; 87s holds up to crack JJ!):

DeadMoney is at seat 1 with $5.34.
TylerDurden is at seat 2 with $14.98.
NewPlayer is at seat 4 with $6.
Loose-aggressive is at seat 5 with $10.92.
Tight winner is at seat 6 with $11.06.

(There are actually 10 players, but since only 4 took the flop, those are the ones I worred about)

The button is at seat 3.

NewPlayer posts the small blind of $.05.
Loose-aggressive posts the big blind of $.10.
DeadMoney posts out of turn for $.15($.05 dead blind).

Dealt to TylerDurden: 2

Pre-flop:

5 players fold, including Tight Winner. DeadMoney checks. TylerDurden calls. 1 fold. NewPlayer calls. Loose-aggressive checks.

Flop (board: 2

):

NewPlayer checks. Loose-aggressive bets $.40. DeadMoney folds. TylerDurden raises to $1.65. NewPlayer folds. Loose-aggressive calls.

Turn (board: 2

):

Loose-aggressive checks. TylerDurden bets $3.75. Loose-aggressive goes all-in for $9.17. TylerDurden calls.

River (board: 2

):

(no action in this round)

Showdown:

Loose-aggressive shows A

.
Loose-aggressive has a pair of tens.
TylerDurden shows 2

.
TylerDurden has three deuces.
$1.10 is raked from a pot of $22.09.
TylerDurden wins $20.99 with three deuces.

I mainly wonder:

1: Should I have raised on the flop, with 85¢ in the pot?
2: Should I have raised the value of the pot? Or more/less? If so, why?
3: Should the check-raise on the turn indicated a TT or KK, or even 44? Was it worth calling $9.17 in a total pot of $16.67 (less rake)?
4: Should I have overbet the pot to try and take the hand down on the turn? At that point, there's $3.75 in the pot, and my only opponent has enough in chips to hurt me, so I should try and win right then and there, right?

4 Comments

Comments

lakong says

I started to try and understand your strategy and got a headache. Why don't you just read a few good books to get a basic understanding of how to play NL? You say that your strategy ignores position, and ask is it workable. This is like explaining to somehow how to use the gas, break and wheel in a car and think that you taught them how to drive even though you didn't mention how traffic lights work, which side to drive on, etc. You must understand position and why it's important. Limping is also not a good way to go in NL, especially if you are new and don't have the post-flop experience. I would suggest that you virtually ALWAYS raise when you play. This is more important when you're just starting out then when you have some more experience.

On to your hand... You should mostly raise with 22 when first in, but the limp isn't terrible. Raising the flop is fine, especially at these stakes. I would guess that most people are going to call you here and since you most likely have the best hand, let's not be too tricky. The goal is to get the most money possible in the pot.

The turn is a good card for you. It likely helped someone catch up a bit by giving them two pair or perhaps just top pair. No draws were made which is also good -- not that there were many draws to begin with!

Your bet on the turn is fine; looks like a little less than a pot-sized bet. There's never a good reason to bet more than the pot. You feel you have the best hand and want to get your opponent to call. You also want to make it bad for him to call if he has a draw. A bet of 1/2 to 3/4 of the pot is good, and up to a pot sized bet is fine. When he pushes you have to call since you are still very likely to have the best hand.

Read a few good books. The Sklansky books are the best for beginners in my opinion.

08/20/07

TylerDurden says

I'll say I didn't completely ignore position (ie, I wouldn't call with 87o UTG), but the basis of my strategy was "play big cards, pairs that can turn into overpairs or sets, connected cards that could turn into a middle 2 pair, and suited connectors that can turn into nut straights, and the latter two only with more than 1 player in the pot already." I'm aware of the importance of posistion, in limit, and understand that in NL the hand values get wonky (due to the implied odds nature of the game), so I also understand that the positional things I've learned already are wrong for NL. Hence, partially ignoring (for a session or two) the preconceived notions I have about position, to help learn the new values.

Part of the thought on pushing the turn was that he might have a hand like A

, so offering him poor odds to draw would make sense; the player was loose-aggressive, so betting out with 2 overcards and a backdoor flush draw wasn't beyond him.

What books has Sklansky written about NL? I'm aware of (and own, and have absorbed) Theory of Poker and Holdem for Advanced Players.

Thanks for the advice!

08/20/07

Anonymous says

Harrington on Hold em, the best book I am aware of (1&2). Play big pairs in any position, lower your hand values in late position, be careful with kq, aj. etc oop.

08/20/07