[yeltzen]

I've been holding my own in the NL cash games, considering that I've never really played in them before. But here are the kinds of hands where I have no clue what the hell I'm doing. Help.

The two people I end up in the hand with are super-fish. hubba is like 81%/7%/2 and Harley is like 32%/5%/1.25.


***** Hand History for Game 5045589048 *****
$25 NL Texas Hold'em - Sunday, August 27, 23:40:30 ET 2006
Table Table 96646 (Real Money)
Total number of players : 9
Seat 6: hubba1111 ( $7.05 )
Seat 10: Harley_Dave ( $21.59 )
Seat 8: YOU_GAVE_ME_CRABS ( $36.05 )

costello691 posts small blind [$0.10].
YOU_GAVE_ME_CRABS posts big blind [$0.25].

** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to YOU_GAVE_ME_CRABS [ Th Td ]
Harley_Dave calls [$0.25].
bennettatbu calls [$0.25].
Pennypaker__ folds.
IUHockey1960 has joined the table.
CHECKADS calls [$0.25].
hubba1111 calls [$0.25].
costello691 folds.
YOU_GAVE_ME_CRABS raises [$1.25].
Harley_Dave calls [$1.25].
bennettatbu folds.
CHECKADS folds.
hubba1111 calls [$1.25].

** Dealing Flop ** [ 3d, 6c, 4d ]
bennettatbu: fold jj
YOU_GAVE_ME_CRABS bets [$4].
Harley_Dave calls [$4].
hubba1111 folds.

** Dealing Turn ** [ 9d ]
Now what?

[smoore]

Honestly I just push and see if he has the flush. I sure don't give the bare ace a card to catch with. He's 81 VP$IP, he could have a flush here but I doubt if he has a set or an overpair.

easy push, IMO. I'm however waiting for SpeakEasy's post as I consider him the local guru.

[yeltzen]

Originally Posted by smoore

Honestly I just push and see if he has the flush. I sure don't give the bare ace a card to catch with. He's 81 VP$IP, he could have a flush here but I doubt if he has a set or an overpair.

easy push, IMO. I'm however waiting for SpeakEasy's post as I consider him the local guru.

Actually the guy that called my flop bet was the 32% VP$IP. Not that it changes much, since they're both fishies.

[smoore]

OIC. Actually, that does change it some as the weird 2 pair possibility is probably nonexistant. The 81% guy could easily have some strange 2 pair.

32/noraise and that flop call? Probably Ax 66+. You're well ahead of that range.

edit: add in any two broadway to his range, I guess... "overcards" and all

[Brent]

Ok, first off if you raise here from the BB you have to raise more. If you were raising this in position after four limpers I would say make it a pot-sized raise ($1.85)...you, however, are out of position.....in this spot I normally make a raise a bit larger than the pot (probably about $2.25 to $2.50 in this case) to try to either take the hand right there or to get it heads up. You're rather lucky you didn't end up seeing a flop vs all four of those limpers, but two is bad enough.

As played the flop bet is good. On the turn I bet about 2/3 of the pot and then act according to what he does.

[SpeakEasy]

Raise more PF, since you're out of position. Now you've created a big juicy pot for the drawing hands.

Flop bet is fine.

On the turn, check and see what happens. Without more info, at this level of play, there is a decent chance that you are beat. This is not playing scared, this is just realistic. People love to draw to flushes, more so at the lower levels. At higher levels, a four flush draw on the flop is slightly more likely to raise then call. That's what I'd usually do, anyway.

I would want to see the showdown as cheaply as possible, which means no more betting. The risk of not pressing forward here is that you give a free card to the hand that is still drawing, but this looks more like you are beat here. You can find better spots for your chips later, when you are more clearly ahead.

[smoore]

no wonder I suck at NLHE. gonna write a book anytime soon, speak?

[uncleto]

Originally Posted by smoore

no wonder I suck at NLHE. gonna write a book anytime soon, speak?

Yeah, controlling pot size is a big deal, and one I consistently forget or willfully ignore. Right after losing a giant pot, I usually remember not to get involved in big pots without big hands.

[coyote]

I probably bet about $9 or $10 and fold to a raise. If he flat calls the turn, I'm kinda lost on the river if a blank hits. Check call?

Pushing on the turn seems like a really a bad play. When are you getting called? When you're way behind. When will opponent fold? When you're way ahead. (Although with this hand and board, there's not much chance you're WAY ahead)

[yeltzen]

Originally Posted by SpeakEasy

Raise more PF, since you're out of position. Now you've created a big juicy pot for the drawing hands.

Flop bet is fine.

On the turn, check and see what happens. Without more info, at this level of play, there is a decent chance that you are beat. This is not playing scared, this is just realistic. People love to draw to flushes, more so at the lower levels. At higher levels, a four flush draw on the flop is slightly more likely to raise then call. That's what I'd usually do, anyway.

I would want to see the showdown as cheaply as possible, which means no more betting. The risk of not pressing forward here is that you give a free card to the hand that is still drawing, but this looks more like you are beat here. You can find better spots for your chips later, when you are more clearly ahead.

Yeah, I am struggling a bit with preflop play in NL cash games. I have tournament raising so ingrained in my head that I think a 5xBB raise is pretty big, when it's not at all in a cash game, especially out of position.

I have managed to play pretty decent postflop, which is bizarre since a 2 year old could play better postflop in a tournament than me. However, I decided to bet here. It probably wasn't a smart play, but a lot of the players in the $25NL games will call flop bets with Ax and then fold to a turn bet. I bet about half the pot, got min-raised, and had to drop it. I was well aware of the "keep the pot small thing", but I couldn't imagine a non-scary river card.

I've only been playing NL cash games for a whoppin' 3 days now, so I'm not going to beat myself up over one mistake, but this situation seems to come up a lot. I see why no one wants to play out of position now. Thanks for the help.