10 NL

I've been reading the forums for a little while now. I think its time to post some hands to try to improve my game. I've only just started to play 10 NL on UB and so far have found a couple of situations where i'm left wondering what to do. I was just wondering what do you do in these situations.

Sorry about the format. I don't have 10 posts yet lol.

For the first hand i've only been at the table for about half a dozen hands and i didn't have any reads on anyone.

Ultimate Bet No-Limit Hold'em, $.10 BB (10 handed) Ultimate Bet (Format: Plain Text)

MP1 ($14.51)
MP2 ($12.31)
MP3 ($11.38)
CO ($6.15)
Button ($1.85)
SB ($10.25)
BB ($11.19)
UTG ($12.50)
UTG+1 ($1.85)
Hero ($18.86)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+2 with Kd, Kh.
2 folds, Hero raises to $0.4, 2 folds, MP3 calls $0.40, 4 folds.

Flop: ($0.95) Qd, 8d, Ad (2 players)
Hero bets $0.7, MP3 calls $0.70.

Turn: ($2.35) Ts (2 players)
Hero bets $2.35, MP3 calls $2.35.

River: ($7.05) 6h (2 players)
Hero bets $1, MP3 calls $1.

Final Pot: $9.05

#2. I flopped King high flush and had no idea how to play it. Didn't know whether to play it slow or force some ppl out. UTG+1 has been 34/6.3 over about 30 hands.

Ultimate Bet No-Limit Hold'em, $.10 BB (9 handed) Ultimate Bet (Format: Plain Text)

UTG ($5)
UTG+1 ($5.07)
MP1 ($8.78)
Hero ($9.64)
MP3 ($5.38)
CO ($3.11)
Button ($9.02)
SB ($4.47)
BB ($16.40)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with Jh, Kh.
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.10, MP1 calls $0.10, Hero calls $0.10, MP3 calls $0.10, 2 folds, SB completes, BB checks.

Flop: ($0.60) 2h, Qh, Th (6 players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG+1 bets $0.1, MP1 calls $0.10, Hero calls $0.10, MP3 folds, SB folds, BB folds.

Turn: ($0.90) Ts (3 players)
UTG+1 bets $0.1, MP1 folds, Hero raises to $0.3, UTG+1 calls $0.20.

River: ($1.50) 7c (2 players)
UTG+1 bets $1.5, Hero raises to $6, UTG+1 raises to $7.5.

Final Pot: $13.50

Hand 1: I would try to play very passively after this flop, because we are not worried about a flush draw, and there is an Ace on board. It's really difficult to get the max out of weaker hands on this board, so ease up on the aggression for a bet and see if villain is will to take a stab. If villain has a weaker hand than us, they have a maximum of 4 outs, so don;t worry about them catching up.

betting the flop is not that bad, but i'd be betting more like half pot. when villain called your flop bet, expect villain to either have a better hand, or to have a weaker hand.... which means that potting the turn accomplishes nothing. stronger hands will not be pushed off and weaker hands will surely fold.

hand 2: i don't like to slowplay against a lot of players like this. someone might have the Ah, or someone might have also flopped a big hand.

take a look at your turn raise. ignore the fact that you tripled villains bet. this is betting poorly imo because the pot is $1 and you are making it another $0.20 to call. bump it up to $0.7 - $1. what if villain has a ten or the Ah? you are giving villain like 6 to 1 pot odds to chase. Play this hand aggressively trying to take an opponents stack.

In summary, reverse your strategy for each hand.

Hand 1: I like pre-flop and flop. Check the turn, you're playing for the flush only now I think. If villain bets, then call if you have pot odds, otherwise fold.

Hand 2: don't slowplay at this level, unless people are betting pot into you. And even then don't slowplay too much. Oh, probably fold pre-flop. As played I hate your turn raise, raise to $1 or don't bother. And your river overbet reeks, I unhappily flat callvillain's pot-bet, hating my slowplay earlier.

Originally Posted by daven

Hand 1: I like pre-flop and flop. Check the turn, you're playing for the flush only now I think. If villain bets, then call if you have pot odds, otherwise fold.

Hand 2: don't slowplay at this level, unless people are betting pot into you. And even then don't slowplay too much. Oh, probably fold pre-flop. As played I hate your turn raise, raise to $1 or don't bother. And your river overbet reeks, I unhappily flat callvillain's pot-bet, hating my slowplay earlier.

I pretty much agree totally. On hand 1, here's my approach. With a premium pair like KK - TT where I open-raised and got a single caller, I'm worried about overcards. Typical calling hand at NL10 are things like AK and AQs - even AJ and ATs. So, I put in one pot-sized bet to see the reaction. Here, he calls, and that worries me, so I probably check the turn, and then want to vomit if he bets half the pot on the turn. It's tough - maybe a hand, maybe not. I want to call, but I hate doing it. Hopefully, he just bets right out so I can fold.

To flesh out the range of hands, if I have 99 with a Q T 4 flop, I bet the pot. If he calls me, I'm likely behind, but I'll likely still call a bet after I check the turn. But if the board is A K 4, I fire in one bet and then I'm done. The kinds of hands likely to be out against tend to have an A or K in them.

That's my approach with overcards - one pot-sized bet to see where I am. You will be amazed the number of times you win it right there. Think about it this way: you're likely to get smooth called preflop by broadway connectors, medium and small pp's, and (of course) better pp's. But the broadways that miss and weak ones that hit will probably fold, as will the pocket deuces. The hands that won't fold are the premium Aces and big PP's. They'll probably smooth call and let you trap yourself. So I'm one and done when facing overcards to my pp.

Hand 2: I am learning to slowplay, like, never. I just bet out and hope someone has something to call with. Very occasionally, I slow play ONE betting round. Example: last night I have AA and the flop comes A 6 3 rainbow. No one's calling a bet there with any reasonable holding, so I gave one free card, hoping someone could catch something interesting to bet with. Almost every time I've slow played more than one round, I've regretted it. If they have a hand that might improve enough to beat me, I don't really want them getting cheap cards. By the way, you get called enough with pure garbage that the "fast play" (about half the pot, minimum bet) is great value.

Good work on these hands. Keep posting stuff. It's chess, not checkers, but it gets easier after a few thousand hands.

Hand 1: The river bet here is really bad. I don't mind the rest but I probably don't bet the flop or turn quite as hard, say around 2/3rds of the pot on the flop and half the pot on the turn.

Hand 2: I might raise preflop here but limping is fine. You need to raise the flop to protect your hand just like you would against any other made hand protecting against a draw. Anyone with the A , two pair or a set has outs against you, so make them pay to draw. Also people who have also flopped a flush will have a flush lower than yours a majority of the time, so if you don't raise you can't take advantage of that.

With the 2nd hand, you'll learn that there are times when it's good to slowplay, but when your hand is likely vulnerable is not a good time to do so.