How's your SSNLHE?: TT

[ajmargarine]

Follow along in the hand. Take the poll as you go. Comments welcome.

NLHE .50/$1 Full Table, 10-handed. Hero's first hand at the table, no reads on anyone. Stacks of players involved:

SB ($77)
Hero ($100)
MP1 ($154)
MP2 ($11)
CO ($240)
Button ($38)

Here's how the hand starts:

Preflop: Hero is BB with T [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] T [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] . SB posts a blind of $0.50.
3 folds, MP1 calls $1, MP2 calls $1, 1 fold, CO calls $1, Button calls $1, SB completes, Action is on Hero...

[ajmargarine]

ANSWER RATINGS:










Answers are rated on a scale of 0-10. 0 being Donkorific. 10 being Kongo Totte-like excellence. Rating in parenthesis.

Question # 1 --

(7) Check- Reasonable. Play for set value, if overcards hit though, you're most likely done with the hand.
(0) Raise to $2- Call 1-800-DONKBUSTERS, get yourself some help.
(2) Raise to $7- Light on the 4xBB + 1BB per limper scale, plus not good because of the shortstack.
(9) Raise to $12- Best, IMO.

Right now, only 4 holdings beat your TT. It's not likely, given the action, that anyone holds one of these. The trouble with raising to $7 is if shorty pushes, the betting is closed as he doesn't have enough to make a real raise. You would like to be able to go over the top if you raise and shorty pushes and someone else calls, as your TT will be a better hand than anything caller will have. So a raise to $5 is superior to a raise to $7. The best play however, IMO, is raise to $12. You either take it down right there, or very often shorty calls and you are HU, all-in with the better hand.
-----------

Question # 2 --

(4) Yes (c/r)- A c/r usually shuts down the hand in limped pots.
(8) No- You got the best hand, bet it.
-----------

Question # 3 --

(0) planned c/r- ABC poker wins. Bet when you are best, avoid FPS.
(0) bet $6- too weak
(5) bet $12- better, but still too light.
(10) bet $20- best.
-----------

Question # 4 --

(3) c/c psb
(5) c/c 1/2 psb
(8) bet $20
(1) bet $50

As has been discussed on this board, the blocking bet is usually superior to a c/c in situations like this.
------------

Question # 5 --

(6)Call- Usually when you make a blocking bet, you fold to a raise. However, this is only a minraise so you should consider calling getting 6:1 on the call. With CO calling a flop bet, but folding to a turn bet, there was a chance he was drawing to a flush, decreasing the chances (slightly) that MP1 has a flush. A call might be best here.
(5) Fold- It's reasonable to think that villian chased and hit a flush, and is now only minraising because he thinks it's a sure Hero call.
---------------

Question # 6 --

(4) Value Bet- a VB happens when you are fairly certain you have the best hand. Here, we're not so sure.
(0) Continuation Bet- a CB happens after you make a PFR, and bet the flop when you miss.
(10) Blocking Bet- Correct. We aren't sure our hand is best anymore and make a bet that blocks the craziness that a check may induce.
(0) Semi-bluff- This is when you bet your draw, instead of just checking.
-------------

Question #7 --
(0) ~8%- nope
(10) ~12%- you flop a set 11.76% of the time.
(0) ~15%- nope
(0) ~19%- you make a set 19.18% if you stay through the river.

------------

Hand results: Hero called the river minraise. MP1 shows Ah Jd for two pair, and Hero's set is goot.

[yanicehand]

new to this side of the forum, but i find these posts extremely helpful. extremely.

[behemoth2006]

yep, its like the best part of HOH, but all interactive-like!

oh and to the first poster, could you put a rating for ending scores at the bottom?

I got a 45... Im a donk [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[pottie]

Good post again ajr.

Preflop: I check.
River: Check call/fold read dependant. I generally don't like blocking bets, at higher stakes they get run over.

[Neil S]

46 here.. I wasn't fearing a flush draw that stayed in way too long, so I bet $50 and called it a value bet, costing me a bunch of points.

Maybe I'm more fearless on a poll than I am when I'm actually playing, I don't know.

Maybe I'm off because I'm used to $25 tables.

[Hendricks433]

Yeah I think people give credit to flushes a little too much. You cant just assume someone hit the draw everytime the card hits. Why not check call the river? I prefer betting the $50 cause I think hes on the Ace calling such big bets. I also am aggressive and woulda like to bet more than $20 on the turn. I woulda liked to bet $25. Not that it probally matters all that much.

[fuzzbox]

[ QUOTE ]
Good post again ajr.

Preflop: I check.
River: Check call/fold read dependant. I generally don't like blocking bets, at higher stakes they get run over.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thats only true if you never make value bets that are the same size as blocking bets.

e.g. on the river you bet half pot with a set, planning to call any raise (on a fairly safe board).

In order to get blocking bets to work, you have to do the same when you are strong, so they dont just bluff-raise you all the time.

[DoomSlice]

Agreed about blocking bets. Against many opponents (who will think their AJ is good), you will face a much larger raise and have to lay down the winner when your blocking bet "works".

[Roy__Batty]

thank you for this very good post aj
on turn i'd rather bet more than the pot, 2 players called on flop vs 2 players.
Too many dangerous cards for river, people can have hands like KcJc
And if somebody slowplayed 444 (weird but possible), you want to make the pot as big as possible to shove on river.