Spot the (Many) Mistakes

[shipitfish]

This is an online hand that I played very poorly. (Maybe I should post the good hands once in a while, but what's the point of talking about the right things one does? Focus on the mistakes to get better, right?) There are so many mistakes in this hand, I'm not sure which one to focus on. I will just lay them all out to you.

In a six-handed NL HE $.50/$1 game. I am in the $.50 small blind with $218, Jagsmith84 (with $42) is is in middle position, followed by BigGross ($99), followed by rotncotn ($473).

Jagsmith84 limps, BigGross min-raises, rotncotn calls, and I call with A K . I usually call with AK out of position rather than raise, as I don't want to build a big pot preflop.

The flop was T 9 A. Checked to BigGross, who bets $9, and everyone calls. Perhaps I should have bet out. I know there is a heart draw out, but I don't know where, and check-raising is going to built the pot too big if aces-up are out (people on this site generally overvalue weak aces). I decided to take a turn and see if it's a safe card. Probably a mistake.

The turn was K with a pot of $47. Something possessed me to check-raise. I figured that if I had one bettor into me, and only callers behind, a check-raise would clear the field of draws and isolate me with a weaker two pair most of the time. I'd learn quick if something better than that was out. Again, probably a mistake.

This time, BigGross gives up, rotncotn bets $24, and I make it $60 to go. Obviously, I have to put more in there, but rotcotn is deep, I think, so I figure even a small raise will put him off most hands. He calls relatively quickly. Ok, a flush draw is his most likely holding, right? Other possibilities are AT and T9, and he want to see the river too without committing too much more. The river falls 9, pairing the board and getting the flush draw there. I bet $50 into $167, hoping that I can get called by AT. He check raises all-in (another $97 to me), and I fold.

I probably should have led for the pot size on the turn, but given that I didn't, I should have considered seriously check-folding the river. But, I probably made more mistakes too. I figure some will say reraising from SB with AK is correct, but I really don't like that play most of the time. Any other things I did wrong? (There have got to be tons; I am really unhappy with my play here.)

Comments

[swolfe.livejournal.com]

i would make a huge reraise preflop to isolate and squeeze. you're not trying to build a pot, rather you're trying to take down a decent sized pot immediately with low risk with a hand that figures to be best most of the time given the action.

on the flop, i'm betting out most of the time. just because someone minraised doesn't mean that they'll follow up with a continuation bet. it's a very coordinated board, so i'm going to pot it, or maybe even overbet it.

having checked the flop, i'd check-raise big...to $50-55. the board is too coordinated for me to want to continue with this pot.

as played, i think you have to bet out pot-sized on the turn, and having checked, i'd probably just check-raise push. a pot sized check-raises makes it about $125, so pushing isn't an unreasonably large overbet and will hopefully get paid off by a worse two pair. the risk of playing this one soft are too high, i'm happy to push out the draws and take it down.

river...i think check/folding the river is the best play. i think $50 is too small to make a good blocking bet and anything more pot-commits you. given the action i think it's unlikely that you're ahead of any hand that bets the river. unless you have a specific read on this guy bluffing, he's going to have top two beat most of the time.

another line...having check/called the flop, i might be inclined to just check/call the turn...for stack/pot control. it gives the other guy a decent price, but any brick on the river makes it likely that your hand is best and you can check/fold without having committed too many chips if it's unfavorable.

[shipitfish.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm starting to go with you on the value of reraising from the blinds with AK and AQ; I've been doing it more often and, at least against tight-weak competition, I'm a huge favorite to win preflop. I started that whole “don't make the pot big preflop out of position with AK/AQ” playing in extremely loose 1/2 games where a rereaise from the blinds, unless you overbet the pot by 3-to-1 or so, is going to get everyone calling. It's a question of game texture, really.

Having looked it over again, I think I prefer a big check-raise on the flop over everything else. Someone has a weak ace and will bet at the flop and I'll probably take it down there. I probably should go for that check-raise half the time and lead for the pot half the time.

I'm not a fan of overbetting the pot with one pair, as you suggest, when out of position.

[swolfe.livejournal.com]

"I'm not a fan of overbetting the pot with one pair"

I'm not a fan of check-raising with one pair :)

[shipitfish.livejournal.com]

Ah, I do agree with you in most games. This particular site (Ultimate Bet) has such tight-weak competition, though, that I tend to check-raise more often. The players there aren't terribly afraid of betting a weak pair on the flop, but won't call a bet with the same. So, by check-raising some of the time with TPTK, you pick up flop bets that wouldn't have called had you bet out. If they do call rather than reraise, it's usually a draw and you can play the turn correctly most of the time (except those rare instances when the draw is deceptive). If they reraise, well, they have you beat and you just fold.

As I said, I think the play works in these particular games but is probably horrendous in others.