2/5 NL Foxwoods: Did I screw this hand up?

[kak1154]

Live 2/5 NL at Foxwoods, last night about 1am. A little background: MP1, an older guy, has a little more than $200. He has bought in for the minimum $200 and has been playing pretty weak tight. I am in the CO with about $1700. Button has been there with me for about 10 hours and has managed to amass a stack of about $5000. Good LAG, sees most flops, and has been getting kinda lucky. He is starting to use his stack a little more to push people around lately.

I open for I think $30 with KhQc. Button calls and MP1 limp/calls. Flop comes ThQh9s. Check to me, I bet somewhere around $60. Both call. Turn is a blank of a third suit. Check to me, and I check in the interest of keeping the pot small. Button bets $250. MP1 puts his stack in (less than $200).

I think for a bit, then fold, mostly because I don't want to face a thousand dollar bet on the river and lose my profit for the day. I was about to leave and didn't really want to tangle with this guy. Was this too weak/tight? In retrospect, maybe I should have bet the turn for $100?

[JP OSU]

Standard..

[The Man]

I would say lead turn, and call the shove by the shortstack. you have a gutshot and a flush draw, and a pair. most likley your gutshot and flush draw are live, and the shortstack or CO could have AT Ah.

[jerseylimit]

The fact that you have another motive other than playing the hand optimally is gonna screw things up (not losing your profit before you leave). It's a draw-heavy flop so it's definitely too weak tight just to check-fold the turn. Especially against a short stack and a LAG. The fact that it's a multi-way pot with a shortstack and a LAG behind you makes it very interesting tho. I think cases can be made for a couple of plays. I'd lean in the direction of leading turn and folding to a raise by the LAG. Result?

[kak1154]

[ QUOTE ]
The fact that you have another motive other than playing the hand optimally is gonna screw things up (not losing your profit before you leave).

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with this, but it's the reality of the situation. I even knew it was affecting my decision at the time. Another thing that swayed me to fold, which is also incorrect play, is that I was going to see his hand anyway.

I'll wait a bit more to hear some more opinions before sharing the results. So far I've got one "fold," one "lead turn," and one "maybe lead turn."

Oh, and @theman, I don't have a flush draw, there are two hearts on the board and one in my hand on the turn.

[wesrwood]

when did they change the min buy in at 2-5?thought it was 300

[llleisure]

From the LAGs perspective is it possible he took the $60 bet into a $90 with an incredibly drawy board as weakness from you? Followed by the turn check, are you waving a red flag in his face to bet the pot there? If that is the case you may need to call or raise his bet, painful as that may be.

Better would have been to bet $75 on the flop and then lead the turn for $250 had they both called? If the LAG comes over the top of the $250 at that point, you know you're beat.

[Poshua]

I think you should bet bigger (about pot-size) on the flop here, because the board is so draw heavy. This would have made it more likely that one opponent would fold on the flop, and would also discourage the button from making a hard-to-call bet at you with a marginal hand.

[kak1154]

To be honest, I don't exactly remember what I bet on the flop, but a $60 bet by me would have been consistent with my play that day, and not likely to be read as weakness. Come to think of it, I may have actually bet $70. Not quite sure. I can see how my turn check would be read as weakness, though, definitely. I just didn't expect him to bomb for $250 after it. I thought he'd check behind 50% of the time and fire out $100-$150 the other 50%.

[RR]

I just moved this over from B&M. I don't play/read NL, so if this is the wrong forum it was my doing, not the OP.

[hkrumnow]

It was a little weak. The short stack could've easily had a small piece and a draw so he wants to see all 5. So, there is some dead money in there. The LAG read your flop bet as a standard continuation bet and decided to call since it was multi-way and there were lots of implied odds. Your check on the turn invited a big bet by someone. I feel like you were probably ahead at this point. I'm interested to hear the conclusion.

[kak1154]

Oh well, I guess since this has been moved, it's not really going to get any more discussion. With all of the discussion of B&M vs. Strat forums going on, I had/have no idea where this belongs, but I'm pretty sure it's not Micro Stakes. If strat posts aren't allowed in B&M, I would have put it in Full Ring.

Anyhoo, results: I fold, Button has KTo, MP1 has JTo, neither improve on the river. So, I guess I messed up. KT was definitely squarely in his range, along with QT, JT, QJ, TT, or maybe JJ. I was fairly certain he didn't have AK or QQ, and I didn't even care what the short stack had.

I actually considered pushing on the turn as well, to show him that I had a real hand, but couldn't quite do it, in case he had a set of tens.

[llleisure]

Why would live 2/5 be considered micro stakes? I've played .5/.10 up to 3/6 online and live 2/5 isn't really anything like .5/.10! I'd say this is clearly mid stakes if it gets moved to a strat forum. Yes, internet is different and maybe harder but not 2 grades of stakes harder. Aa a minimum this is small stakes and similar to internet 1/2. There are some good players at internet 1/2 sure, but it's not like theres a ton of geniuses that could go sit in any casino and kill a live 2/5 game there. Some yes, but not the majority.

[kolotoure]

Anybody who beats 1/2 online can beat 2/5 live

[fish leader]

[ QUOTE ]
Anybody who beats 1/2 online can beat 5/10 live

[/ QUOTE ]

[Ace0fSpades]

I think the general rule of thumb is that 25NL online plays like 100NL and 200NL live.

[Poshua]

[ QUOTE ]
To be honest, I don't exactly remember what I bet on the flop, but a $60 bet by me would have been consistent with my play that day, and not likely to be read as weakness.

[/ QUOTE ]

My suggestion isn't that you should have bet higher to show more strength. Rather, it's that you should have bet higher so that an opponent holding JTo (or any other open-ended straight or flush draw) would have either (1) folded or (2) paid too much to draw. As it stood, MP1 was quite correct to call you there, and to call all-in on the turn.