The water is warm, come in with weaker hands.

[Wada]

Two hands, live 10/20, with regulars. 1.5 hours into the session.

Two lags to my left. LAG 1 has said over a year ago to me "your solid." LAG 2 has said to me "oh no my nemesis, I can never beat you." They have a good idea of my raising range especially LAG 1.

Hand one.

MP with A5s. I limp, LAG 1 raises, folded around. I call.

Flop 469r. I check, LAG 1 bets, I raise, he calls.

Turn is 7. I bet he calls.

River is 9. I bet he calls.



Hand two 15 mins later.

UTG with KK. I limp. (okay I am sure you guys will say raise, and I do 99% of the time, but like I said LAGs 1 and 2 know my range when I raise. I want them in the pot with me. But they folded anyways.

Folded around to the button.

Button (have played with this guy before on several occasions) a solid thinking player raises. Blinds fold. I thought about reraising but decided I would check raise on the flop or turn. I call.

Flop A, 4h, 6h. I donk, he raises. I call.

Turn 9h. Check check (huh??)

River J. I bet he calls.


Thoughts? Lets hear it.

[James.]

if you are openlimping in hand 1 i don't like it. raise or fold. on the river, i would check. sometimes with the intention of calling, sometimes to fold, sometimes to c/r. are you betting because you think you have the best hand or to fold him out? a true LAG would bluff a worse hand more often than call with a worse hand so i tend to lean towards that option.

hand two. ugh. trying to get too fancy. occasionally LRR preflop is acceptable under certain conditions. but when it gets raised behind you and you forget to do the reraise part of the limp reraise it loses most all merit for me. postflop, since you've underrepresented your hand you must showdown. also in an effort to stimulate action(i guess that's your reasoning for playing it as such) i think you actually have the opposite effect. your wider range could actually scare button into shutting down earlier than he may have otherwise done. think about it and you'll understand why.

[*TT*]

Hand #1 - A5s is a good hand to play from middle position in a loose and passive game. if you sat to the left of the lag and you felt there would be no raise after you, or you expected a large field then I'd like your pre-flop action. I'd open raise with A5s one or two positions to your left, but where your sitting its a bit too loose. Remember A5s wants to play either in a large multi-way pot for minimal investment, or in a HU scenario.

Now the problem occurs post flop. You have A high, and the hand is likely dominated by your opponent. Any overpair to the board leaves you with 3 outs to the A and a backdoor draw (worth about 1 out), and if he holds a hand like AK or even A8s you see nothing but pure domination. Check-fold. Your trying to out-lag the lag, thats a waste of time.

Hand #2 - raise. KK plays best in small fields. LAGs think only about their holdings, when you raise if they want to play a hand with you they will re-raise - a very good situation for you. You have no idea if the LAGs will be in the pot, therefore limping in to induce action isn't a good idea.

Since you limped, your goal should be to 3-bet pre-flop, get as much money in there as you can now because you have a significant pre-flop equity advantage!

Post flop - I dont know what to tell you because you mangled it preflop, its hard to give good advice from this point forward. Because you are out of position the hand will be harder to play - check-call all the way down is probably the best solution, I can find a fold vs most passive opponents if they bet on the river.

As played he checked behind because his A is small and he doesn't know where he stands. Some might disagree, but I check the river to induce a bet. often times if he holds a hand like A9s he might check behind, a bet is likely wasted because he is folding hands that wont call a river bet, and calling river bets when you are beaten.

[DeuceKicker]

If you want to trip them up as far as your raising range, open up a little and raise with weaker hands. Don't start limping KK. Make them question what you're raising, not what you're limping.

[ProfessorBen]

Hand 1: Raise preflop or fold.
As played, peel the flop if you have the BDFD. Otherwise, fold it.

Hand 2: Raise preflop.
As played, C/R flop. It gives you more information than your donk.
As played, bet/fold turn unless you have Kh.
As played, river is standard.

[*TT*]

note - my advice for hand #2 missed the 3-flush, this changes a lot. Does the hero hold the Kh?

[Wada]

Hand 1 - LAG shows 87s

Hand 2 - None of us have a heart. Button shows A8o

[*TT*]

[ QUOTE ]
Hand 1 - LAG shows 87s

Hand 2 - None of us have a heart. Button shows A8o

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds about right. 87s is exactly within the LAG's range, and how he would play it post flop. Doesn't seem to laggy, if anything I'd say you were in that hand. His pre-flop isolation is weak, you can take advantage of that again in the future.

Hand #2 - thats why you don't bet the river the way you played the hand.

[Wada]

So given LAGs hand in hand 1, the check raise on the flop is not plausible? His preflop raise was putting in more money when he's behind. I check raise when still ahead. The check raise of mine was laggish?

Plus if I raise with A5s like you and James advised, he will fold that hand.

Hand 2, what do you mean by don't bet the river given the way it was played? Him checking the turn to me tells me hes afraid of the Ace and the 3 hearts. Had he bet the turn it would indicate he has the ace and does not want me to draw out on the river with any heart. Just felt his flop raise was nothing but a small pair playing at me and then me calling stopped his aggression. And then him checking the turn through? I bet the river for value.

Hypothetically, lets say he bets the turn, would a check raise here be plausible. (without the Kh) If hes a solid thinker his Button raise could very well be Axo but also a wider range and pairs.