[rando]

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I only raise with hands like AA2K suited, then when the 8-9-10 suited flops come I back off and get mugged. ... Is KKJ10 any good with a K-3-4 flop? ... I'm confident about where I stand postflop. But with so many cards dealt out in OHL I'm always assuming somebody's got something better than I do when I don't have the nuts either way.

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There's a lot to digest there. Do not only raise with hands like AA2x, because good players will know your pattern and refuse to give you action, and when they do they will have an easy time determining when they've got you over the barrel post-flop. What if you only raised with AA and KK in NLHE and nothing else?

Set of Ks is nice there, but vulnerable. Build the pot on the flop in a multiway hand, or pot it to pressure opponent heads up. Reevaluate if a straight card (also by definition here a low card) and/or flush turns, if a blank apply lots of pressure to either push them out or play their draw -EV. You're looking to trap sets and busted draws (str8, low, and flush) but that's a lot to fend off which is why top set on even a mildly coordinated 2-low flop is very vulnerable. Still, you can't let people make hands for free. That's the essence of this being a 'drawing game.' You need to hold on to the bull's horns in that spot. Build the pot, apply pressure at the right time, and the winnings from dead chasers and trapped hands will more than offset the losses when you have to hit eject on scary turns and even rivers - if someone is going to call a huge bet on the turn (All in in this spot on a turn brick) then play against them all the time because they are eventually felting themselves. The tough spots here are when you are raised on the flop by a wheel/other wrap and you don't know if a flush draw is also there, which is why you can consider just building the pot on this street so folding to action is cheaper for you.

You may not be as confident as you think post-flop. With so many cards dealt the paranoia complex is justifiable in multiway hands, but heads up you need to know how to see through the fog. Raise a few lesser hands preflop here and there. A24K ss is worth a raise, and if you brick the flop it's still cheap to dump it. Mix up your play and raises. You are very smart to focus on nuts, high and low, just remember that if you're heads up your requirements should be a little less provided you either have decent hands both ways or a very good hand one way (especially high if a made low isn't possible). Since we're talking NLO8, you're bound to get stuck either stacking off on questionable calls, or dumping very good hands against bluffing donkeys... now and then, especially while you're learning the ropes. This is NLO8 we're talking about.

Hands:

1 - I like it, made nut low can definitely bluff the naked ace, great way to steal money from the lesser flushes and any high hand.

2 - Agreed, especially dumpable when bet and called in front of you.

3 - feel free to pot flop

4 - no, it's not that you got lucky, it's that you "didn't get unlucky" ... you had 8 hearts (9 if you are counting the J but you might undercount to allow for broadway drawing to fill up) and he had 3 Js and a K... your odds of improving are twice his. Not that you could know this, but broadway with a flush draw is pretty darn good here, so don't question your approach too much.