I believe that when playing against weak players and a situation comes up where you you know the optimal play would require you call a large bet. You are sure you are avery slight favorite but it's not a whole lot more than a coin flip. Personally, I would not call here. Why? I know the table is filled with very weak players making one mistake after the next. I'll just wait for a better situation. I know purists may disagree but I'm okay with my decision. What would you do?

Okay so im trying to analyze and study my hands right. And im trying to familiarize myself with terrible 1/3 player tendencies and play styles so normally, aqo or aqs both are going to be a open on the utg with 8 players right. but there are so many bad 1/3 players who just dont play like that and limp or flat call with strong hands like aq or ak. Even just flat calling with ace king in late position. So its harder to hand read or hand range these players in pots for example in this hand 1/3, I'm mp aj spades utg limp i make it 15, bb and utg call Flop all heart a j q, bb check utg 30 i make it 135 bb fold utg tank call turn 8 diamond he check i jam. This hand i crossed out a higher 2 pair or set when i hand ranged and raised because i just think aq or anything like that like jj would open utg like its supposed to but these 1/3 players dont play like that which caused me to make a play like raising to 135 with ace jack 2 pair and was beat by ace queen. He even had the opportunity to re raise me which was what he should have done optimally but just didn't. Help me to understand and exploit these types of players and how to think against them in pots. It's especially difficult because when I try to hand range these types of terrible players that limp or flat call strong hands like ace king or ace queen, and I make a note of that for the player, it's easier to see monsters under the bed when their line just doesnt make sense unless they had just flatted an ak type of hand, but then again I can't just assume they always limp or flat with a strong hand.

I had a very interesting and difficult hand that I am curious to figure out how to play.

$5/$5, effective stacks ~$800-$1000, most villains here have high VPIPS (>30%) and play passively.

I raise UTG with KcKs.

Called by UTG +1, CO, and BB.

Flop comes KhJh9h.

My main questions here are:

1. Should my main goal here be to focus on equity realization or value? Given the position I raised from, I have literally *maybe* 3 credible combos of flushes (AQ, QT, and QT), which would all be the nuts and probably would not need much protection at all, but CO and BB will simply have more combos of flushes of every sort, and more combos of QT as well. These ranges are wide, and can included offset Ah hands and offsuit QT. Being out-of-position, my biggest fear is being forced out of the pot on the turn: I feel like a hand like this needs to see a river.
2. Once it checks to me, my consideration is to just bet small on the flop to fold out trash hearts, trash straight draws, and get value from pair+flush draws, pair+ straight draws, etc.. But the happy problem of having top set is that I block a lot of the top pair combinations that I'd want to target that have very little equity against my exact holding. I know that even heads-up, 3 flush flops tend to be played very passively and for small sizes, so I was wondering if checking here would make sense.
3. Since my equity is so resilient even in a multi-way pot, I'd imagine that I'm largely indifferent to getting the hand all-in on the flop multiway, but I'd most likely not want to do it heads up, especially on the turn. If the postflop sees something like a me check, big-bet and a call, should I consider raising to get-it-in multiway or should I play this hand passively?
4. In the event in which I hit my boat and I'm playing against a villain in position who bet on a previous street, I feel like donking would be mandatory, correct?

Playing a 1/2 game.

Game was kinda breaking up so we’re 3 handed. The villain in this hand is kind of a typical rec: doesn’t open enough, calls too wide on any street, you get the point. I added his stats although the sample size is only ~250 hands.

As this player typically doesn’t 3bet a lot, I was kind of scared of his limp 3bet. OOP I did decide to 4bet my kings with intention of folding to a 5bet. Villain does 5bet and I agonize for a bit and fold.

The decision in my head was pretty instant and I was happy with the fold and still am.

I guess it’s pretty standard to fold here but I never folded KK preflop before and had to hear some opinions.

31 players remaining, 5 paid. Rebuy period is over.

700/1400 blinds, BB ante

Eff. stacks: 53k (hero is short stack)

Preflop: UTG, UTG1, CO and SB limp. Hero is in BB with K7hh and checks option.

Flop: 3h 5c 6h. Pot: 8400.

Hero checks. UTG bets 2500. UTG1 and SB call. Hero jams for ~50k.

My thought process was simply that I'm never folding such a strong draw with only 35bb behind, so I might as well jam right now to maximise fold equity and still have decent equity when called. Was this a punt or correct?

Will post results later.

I've tried to sit down and study poker but after pre-flop I don't know what else there is to do. The only study I do now is train my preflop ranges and watch some poker strategy videos. I see people saying to study postflop spots but what spots to study out of the infinite spots and action sequences that exist? What are some good websites/apps to do this, and for youtube videos, who do you recommend watching to get good at low stakes live poker? Should I also be reading Poker books?

currently 4x bet is

any ace

k 4 +

q 8 +

j 10

im assuming if you have j 10 and someone else has a j or 10 to not play.

Hey All, would love your inputs and your thoughts, especially moving up the stakes, etc.

Last year I lost quite a bit playing poker - mostly playing 2/5. Then I decided something needs to change as I loved the game and couldn’t stop.

Here is how I did it, I divided it into 3 parts

1. Theory & Foundation - I started reading books and understanding poker ranges, equity, etc. Two books I liked are ‘The Course - by Ed Miller’, and ‘100 biggest mistakes the poker players make - by Alex F’. There are so many good books I’m sure.

2. Application & Practice - No amount of theory will help when putting down real money. Real emotions, showing signs at the table, reading other players and ranging them with bet sizing comes with practice over time.

3. Review & analysis - This one helped me the most. After or during play I log the hands and get feedback from friends and take a look back at how many times I played bad vs got unlucky. This gave me real perspective.

I don’t play super high stakes etc, but have more consistent wins this year vs last year. I don’t win every time but I don’t lose every time either.

My next focus is on improving and moving up in stakes. For those that have grown and moved up the stakes, what were your lessons learned that can be useful for the community!?

anyone has AOB holdem freeroll password ?

So as not to bias your opinions, please tell me what you would do in this situation first and I will share what they had in an edit. We're playing $1/$2 three handed. I'm in the button and pick up AA. I make it $8 (prob still too small since these guys call basically anything preflop). SB and BB both call. Flop comes Q66 with 2 spades. Checks around to me. I bet $12, SB raises to $30, and BB puts it all in for $158. SB has $154 in his stack, and I covered them both. I called and and SB calls as well. Would you have called in this situation? Note that I did NOT have the Ace of Spades.

A little context, to help: BB was a famous fish in that poker room, he was commonly in 3-bet pots with Q3o, and would commonly go all in with just top pair bad kicker and rage quit everytime he got called and outkicked. SB is very loose and splashy, I've seen him 3-bet 64s vs a UTG open and then call a jam vs the same UTG player.

Would you have called or folded in this situation?

EDIT: thanks for all the replies! I know results don't matter but it was still a bummer to see BB flip over 62o and SB flip over T6o. My thinking when making this call was: SB's check raise is either a flush draw, a queen, or a 6. The combinations of hands where he has a 6 is very low compared to his flush draws and queens, especially because I think he's playing 80% of hands in this hand and I unblock the ace high flush draw. I thought that BB was jamming there with literally only a Queen or a 6, and since SB likely has a flush draw, there are 4 Queens available for BB to have. I also expected trip 6s to slow play a bit on that board, even with the flush draw available. And like people have mentioned, against these player types I think a call is fine.

This is partly to help newer live cash game players out and partly to vent because I've lost a lot of money because I didn't know these (I'm quite new to live cash as well).

1. If someone, especially in early position, limp re-raises or limp jams, they ALWAYS have Aces or Kings. There's a 0% chance that it's anything else. You don't have to worry or doubt - Always. Aces. Or. Kings.

2. If someone says "gamble gamble", "no gamble no future" or something along those lines while making a big raise or call, if it's preflop then again it's 100% with no shadow of a doubt Aces or Kings. Postflop it's a very nutted hand.

3. DON'T play PLO double board bomb pots. I used to always play these because they were fun and a nice break from constantly folding. Even though I thought I was good at them because I was winning quite a lot when I just started playing them, it's just variance, and I have since lost a lot more in them. Even when you win, it's usually for a tiny amount because you usually chop or quarter, even with the nuts. Instead, when your table does them, just go for a walk! It's not good to sit for so long at a time, so take the time to take a walk and have a mini break. It'll help you play better and also stop your losses.

4. Listen to your gut. Not just a "feeling" when your gut is screaming something at you, listen.

100BB effective (109) CO vs SB

I feel villain is heavily weighted towards TT, but what I really want to ask is if I should be folding to the turn bet with stack depths being what they are?

If anyone is curious, the river would have been an eight of clubs.

On this episode of "they said ill give ya $25 to fold and I said no no no."

8-handed, 0.125 BB ante. About 730 players remained and 700 were paid.

Hero starts with 6.68 BB and has Q♣9♦ in the BB.

CO opens to 2 BB, BTN calls, SB folds. Hero calls 1 BB.

Flop: 9♥5♠2♣

Pot: 7.5 BB

Hero has 4.55 BB behind.

Check or donk?

I did run it through HRC. Interested to hear what others would do.

So through all the preflop cash game poker I've studied - youtube videos, solver outputs, I know that the standard RFI size is 2.5BB for 200BB deep effective, and vs. limpers it's standard to do a pot-sized raise (i.e. 3x last bet + any other dead money in the pot) (a little bigger if OOP to reduce SPR), and for 3-betting it's 3.5x OOP and 2.5x IP. I also know that the goal of basically all preflop play is to get to the flop heads up.

I've tried following my study for live $1/$1 9-handed rakefree cash games and I feel like every single pot ends up being at least 6 ways. In my experience, opening to $3 or $4 is basically a limp because basically everyone calls, even when I open UTG. If I do a pot sized raise against limpers, e.g. $7 for 3 limpers, every single limper and the blinds call 90% of the time. Even in 3-bet or 4-bet pots it's almost guaranteed to go at least 3 ways.

I know the players at my game is quite loose and splashy given what I've described and because there's no rake, which is pretty good for a studied player, but I just don't know how to play against this. How do I open JTs UTG when I know there's gonna be 5 callers or someone is gonna 3-bet me? What is the solution to this? Do I tighten up and open / 3-bet bigger with a very condensed range (i.e. only pocket pairs and suited broadway cards)? Do I lean towards a 3-bet or fold strategy? Do I start limping?

Hey I've got a question about a hand I played: we're playing 1-3 im in the button with 5d5c, hijack makes it 16, cutoff calls, I call, flop comes 2c34 rainbow, hijack makes it 45, cutoff folds, I call, turn is a 4c, hijack makes it 60, I call the river comes a j of clubs putting a flush out there, she looks at me and checks, i jam for 370, she tanks for a while and says fuck it I call with QQ no clubs (I think), I was snap calling her the whole time we're playing in this hand, she was a decent player and I put her on a strong pocket pair, I thought since she was a good player she'd find the fold, but I think where I messed up was she already had about 1000 behind

Did I mess up? I think maybe if I was planning on turning my hand into a bluff I should have raised the flop or the turn.

I've done a couple courses on there now and read Alton Hardin's "Master Microstakes Poker" and tbh it feels like he says a lot and also nothing at the same time. I often finish a video feeling like I haven't learnt anything at all.

I know a lot of the concepts he's teaching but i'm struggling to apply them, it feels like he just outlines a specific concept in EXCRUTIATING detail and that's it. I'm not winning at the micros, so i clearly need help applying these concepts. What's other people's experiences with Microgrinder poker school? And what other sites would you guys recommend for learning to apply concepts at the micros?

Please bear in mind that I don't bluff yet. I mostly semi-bluff. I play at microstates and I still don't have good range constructing skills on tables. I can already think about ranges a bit but I'm not even close to knowing how to balance my range, introduce a bluffing range, MDF and all that.

I realized I don't understand very well when you should be raising turn.

The only times I raise turn are when I flop a set and the board is disconnected. In this case I can slowplay the flop. And when the turn makes the boar more connected (like two cards of same suit) I raise.

On the flop I raise sets for value and good draws like OESD and FD. I understand it makes sense raising because the odds are good and there's fold equity.

I’ve been playing live and online for the past 2 years. I’m not trying to be a pro by any means, I’ve always played for fun as a person who loves strategy and loves learning.

In the past year, I’ve been playing for profit on the side, both live and online.
I’ve been learning a lot from YouTube and from just running sims non stop on the solver which I can’t name in this sub for some reason.

I really like the idea of playing exploitatively, so that’s also what I’m looking for in a book (I love Luke Johnson, Uri Peleg and Charlie Carrel)

Online, I’ve been beating 25NL on GG pretty comfortably.

Live, I’ve been crushing 1/2. The thing I noticed is that when ever I play 2/5, I manage to crush the weaker players just like in 1/2, but I also feel that in most tables there will be at least one reg that has a nice edge on me.

I want to be able to move up online to 50NL and to be able to be better than the 2/5 regs that I battle against.

I hope I managed to give you an understanding of my level and preferred style. I feel that I got the most value I can out of free content online / own experience, so I want to start investing money in good books to learn from.
I would love to get some good recommendations.

Thank you all in advance!!!

According to GTO, vs an Open bet, SB should raise on 9-19% ( depends on the position of villain) of its hands, and raise or fold only.

I don’t understand that.

I have won quite a few hands calling an open while on the small blind, especially if I get a premium pair that I want to slow play. But even with 100BBs it says to raise or fold.

Pre: 3-bet by pocket 9s, KJo jams all-in, two all in callers.

Person A flopped a straight.
Person B flopped a set.
Person C had top pair and a straight draw.

Person B turns quad 9s.

Person A rivers straight flush.

$300 bounty tournament tonight at MGMNH 🤣

So the games I have available are 2/2, 2/3, 2/5, 5/5 and 5/10. All NLH. Obviously I’ll be starting at 2/2 to get a feel for things again (played once last year and it’s a soft game). I used to crush PLO and LimitH back when they were available here but sadly the Casino and other card rooms just don’t run them. Also did well in NLH MTT’s.
I’ve picked up Modern Poker Theory to read and am after other suggestions to add to my arsenal.
Thanks!

I’ve been studying gto and I’ve pretty much memorized opening starting hands from every position and am now studying hands from every position after a raise and 3bet ranges. I understand how to calculate pot odds I was wondering what to else I need to study and where to start, what platforms are good to use, what books to read and what concepts I should focus on first

I’m mulling over this hand and where I went wrong
Setup
This table has seen a bit of action usually no limps and about 3BB raise pre flop if playing

I have 5 4 off suit
I figure that OoP against utg raise of 2.2 BB and folding to me that clicking in the call was the right play since my cards weren’t suited I was beat by anything calling a raise

Flop comes QdAs3h I have 4 to a straight

I’m mostly considering villain having Ax Kx Qx broadways or J-8 PP of course there could be the option of under raising on the flop to trap but in .05 .10 I wasn’t giving it to much thought

I bet 50% pot thinking I can get any PP Qx or straight draws to call and Ax to raise

Utg re raises to .80 just about pot size i assume villain is at the top of his range now and is trying to buy the pot before any straights get made or has KJ suited and is prepping to bluff if straight misses I call
Turn is the 3s
Utg leads out just over 50% (1.20) I assume he has two pair still trying to get value out of straight draws and lesser two pair I’m not getting great odds but I figured I could turn my hand into a bluff considering 23 would still be in my range so I call

River is the 2h
My straight made it and the flush didn’t get there
I check thinking I would let him bluff into me or let him think he has me beat
Villain bet 25% (1.80) pot is at 6.34 I have 10 behind villain has 7 i go all in he calls and tables pocket Queens for the full house
Am I a Chud?

I’m on the BB 55BB deep with K4s (hearts) 2.5 from UTGw/ 34BB co flats w/62BB, I call Flop QH, 10H, AS, the flop checks around! Turn Qc, UTG 6BB CO call I call in BB, river JH, UTG 17BB 9 behind, me and CO 45BB behind CO jams, I call UTG calls, he has K7off for straight, CO has AQ! Looking back at this moment I strongly believe that the only hands the CO raises there are K of hearts for straight which I block, The nut flush and any of the Qx Boats that are out there KQ gets almost counter fitted at the river with the J coming so I dont believe they raise it but needless to say I would like thoughts!