AQ vs NL$5 table

NL$5 tables working off the InstantBankroll bonus (I moved to NL$10 to make the bonus go faster, and it's now complete!)

Anyway, tables were mostly loose-passive, and perhaps I started to take any fighting back as too much of a sign of strength. In general, bets of anything less than 4BB were getting lots of callers. This may be common on NL$5, but people seemed to respond more to the absolute size of a bet rather than to its size relative to the pot.

My image was LAG, with more emphasis on the Aggressive, boosted by a couple good hands in a row that went to showdown as winners during this session IIRC.

Anyway, too much preflop and too weak after the flop?

***** Hand History for Game 3620608047 *****
0/0 Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL) - Sat Feb 25 12:16:16 EST 2006
Table Beginners Legato (Real Money) -- Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: Seebas7 ( $3.64)
Seat 2: hosscatjr ( $5.36)
Seat 3: jackjonez44 ( $2.13)
Seat 4: jhgreene64 ( $4.60)
Seat 5: Poker_Meat ( $5)
Seat 6: WinningTeam2 ( $4.30)
Seat 7: gekkehuis ( $5)
Seat 8: hugohot ( $7.32)
Seat 9: Hero ( $4.58)
Seat 10: Daniel895 ( $7.03)
gekkehuis posts small blind (0.02)
hugohot posts big blind (0.04)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ Ad, Qd ]
Hero raises (0.12) to 0.12
Daniel895 folds.
Seebas7 calls (0.12)
hosscatjr calls (0.12)
jackjonez44 folds.
jhgreene64 folds.
gekkehuis folds.
hugohot folds.
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 9c, 2d, Jd ]
Hero bets (0.12)
Seebas7 folds.
hosscatjr calls (0.12)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 5c ]
Hero bets (0.08)
hosscatjr calls (0.08)
** Dealing River ** : [ Ah ]
Hero bets (0.40)
hosscatjr calls (0.40)
** Summary **
Main Pot: $1.57 | Rake: $0.05
Board: [ 9c 2d Jd 5c Ah ]

hosscatjr balance $5.42, bet $0.72, collected $0.78, net +$0.06 [ Qh Ac ] [ a pair of aces -- Ac,Ah,Qh,Jd,9c ]
Hero balance $4.65, bet $0.72, collected $0.79, net +$0.07 [ Ad Qd ] [ a pair of aces -- Ad,Ah,Qd,Jd,9c ]


a little later...

***** Hand History for Game 3620770381 *****
0/0 Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL) - Sat Feb 25 12:53:25 EST 2006
Table Beginners Legato (Real Money) -- Seat 5 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: cachucha752 ( $8.44)
Seat 2: nuffield ( $5.22)
Seat 3: shaggyone11 ( $4.86)
Seat 4: jhgreene64 ( $9.50)
Seat 5: Poker_Meat ( $8.31)
Seat 6: WinningTeam2 ( $2.68)
Seat 7: gekkehuis ( $6.62)
Seat 8: hugohot ( $7.12)
Seat 9: Hero ( $4.13)
Seat 10: paskanu ( $3.74)
WinningTeam2 posts small blind (0.02)
gekkehuis posts big blind (0.04)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ Ad, Qh ]
Hero raises (0.16) to 0.16
paskanu folds.
cachucha752 calls (0.16)
nuffield folds.
shaggyone11 folds.
jhgreene64 folds.
Poker_Meat folds.
WinningTeam2 calls (0.14)
gekkehuis folds.
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 4d, 7c, Jh ]
WinningTeam2 checks.
Hero bets (0.24)
cachucha752 raises (0.50) to 0.50
WinningTeam2 folds.
Hero folds.
** Summary **
Main Pot: $1.21 | Rake: $0.05
Board: [ 4d 7c Jh ]

cachucha752 balance $8.99, bet $0.66, collected $1.21, net +$0.55
WinningTeam2 balance $2.52, lost $0.16 (folded)
gekkehuis balance $6.58, lost $0.04 (folded)
Hero balance $3.73, lost $0.40 (folded)

Hand 1

Your turn bet is horrible. Any good player will push you off that pot with a good raise.

Hand 2 standard.

I agree on Hand 1. The only possible thing I can say in my defence was that I was experimenting with the small bet feelers. At these NL$5 tables, it seemed that a decent number of people would fold to any bet, so a minbet was a way to limit my exposure when I have no hand.

Almost everything in your post confuses me about your play in Hand 1 (Hand 2 is standard, I won't talk about it):
1) You are holding AQs and you are raising from UTG. You said in your description that anything less than 4BB is getting lots of callers; you don't want lots of callers, so what do you do? You bet 3BB, why? Why not 4 or 5? Why not limp in and try to hit on the flop or get away since your position sucks anyway?

2) You describe your play as "LAG, with more emphasis on the Aggressive", yet, as others have already pointed out, your turn bet was questionable. Why would you make a turn bet smaller than your flop bet? This screms weakness (or to a thinking player might smell like a trap but we are talking $5NL here so that isn't happening).

Yeah, I think the time between Hand1 and Hand2 is where I changed the style to get more and more aggressive, at least compared to the table. Good points... I am definitely learning to be more sensitive to position.

And of course any "Agressive" tag here is mild compared to the better players on this board.

I dug up some other AQ hands for comparison

#Game No : 3626928522
***** Hand History for Game 3626928522 *****
$5 NL Texas Hold'em - Sunday, February 26, 10:50:48 ET 2006
Table Beginners Chant (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 4: Hero ( $10.89 )
Seat 10: sharijo ( $14.70 )
Seat 2: accahome ( $5.83 )
Seat 8: MrJakeSkins ( $4.40 )
Seat 6: Fox_Reynard ( $4 )
Seat 1: marko102 ( $4.90 )
Seat 9: Lokus85 ( $5.23 )
Seat 3: RrredHead ( $5.74 )
Seat 7: troy0084 ( $5.54 )
Seat 5: hms99 ( $4.96 )
RrredHead: nh, np
hms99 posts small blind [$0.02].
Fox_Reynard posts big blind [$0.04].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ Ah Qc ]
sharijo: n1
troy0084 folds.
Hero: thx
MrJakeSkins folds.
Lokus85 folds.
sharijo calls [$0.04].
marko102 folds.
accahome calls [$0.04].
RrredHead folds.
Hero raises [$0.12].
hms99 folds.
Fox_Reynard folds.
sharijo: got me good lol
sharijo calls [$0.08].
accahome calls [$0.08].
** Dealing Flop ** [ Kd, 8d, 4c ]
sharijo checks.
accahome checks.
Hero bets [$0.12].
sharijo calls [$0.12].
Hero: happened to me earlier too
accahome folds.
** Dealing Turn ** [ Kc ]
sharijo checks.
Hero checks.
** Dealing River ** [ 6h ]
sharijo checks.
Hero checks.
sharijo shows [ 6c, Ad ] two pairs, kings and sixes.
Hero doesn't show [ Ah, Qc ] a pair of kings.
sharijo wins $0.66 from the main pot with two pairs, kings and sixes.


So I basically raised the white flag after betting with the king on the board and getting callers. Standard?


Note: Now looking at NL$10 Hands, as I switched over to clear the raked hand requirements faster.

***** Hand History for Game 3647292996 *****
$10 NL Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, March 01, 16:31:06 ET 2006
Table Beginners Heathen (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: thebronda ( $9.40 )
Seat 2: masarules ( $7.80 )
Seat 3: PandaOnFire ( $11.08 )
Seat 4: KISSArmyEC ( $4.65 )
Seat 6: Magnerius11 ( $8.35 )
Seat 7: TigerCatSim ( $10.95 )
Seat 8: DonnieDeuce ( $5.72 )
Seat 10: HoodyHoo14 ( $1.88 )
Seat 9: Hero ( $9.55 )
Seat 5: KramerAA ( $0 )
masarules posts small blind [$0.05].
PandaOnFire posts big blind [$0.10].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ Ad Qh ]
KramerAA has joined the table.
KISSArmyEC folds.
Magnerius11 folds.
TigerCatSim folds.
DonnieDeuce folds.
Hero raises [$0.20].
HoodyHoo14 folds.
thebronda folds.
masarules folds.
PandaOnFire folds.
Hero does not show cards.
Hero wins $0.35
Game #3647295932 starts.

***** Hand History for Game 3655284773 *****
$10 NL Texas Hold'em - Thursday, March 02, 20:36:14 ET 2006
Table Beginners Bendigo (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: littlemona21 ( $14.83 )
Seat 2: jernoble2727 ( $10.15 )
Seat 3: HelenS1 ( $5.36 )
Seat 4: troybart ( $9.90 )
Seat 5: ciorillian ( $0 )
Seat 6: jhillz11 ( $2.63 )
Seat 8: bzyczek24 ( $15.91 )
Seat 9: Teaser1982 ( $2.83 )
Seat 10: nataliejones ( $9.70 )
Seat 7: Hero ( $11.13 )
HelenS1 posts small blind [$0.05].
troybart posts big blind [$0.10].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ As Qs ]
jhillz11 folds.
Hero raises [$0.30].
bzyczek24 folds.
Teaser1982 calls [$0.30].
nataliejones folds.
littlemona21 folds.
jernoble2727 calls [$0.30].
HelenS1 folds.
troybart calls [$0.20].
** Dealing Flop ** [ Qc, 7h, 9c ]
troybart bets [$0.40].
Hero raises [$1].
Teaser1982 calls [$1].
>You have options at Beginners Sonoma Table!.
jernoble2727 folds.
troybart folds.
** Dealing Turn ** [ 6h ]
Hero bets [$4].
Teaser1982 folds.
Hero does not show cards.
Hero wins $7.50

Too much?


***** Hand History for Game 3655335229 *****
$10 NL Texas Hold'em - Thursday, March 02, 20:42:56 ET 2006
Table Beginners Bendigo (Real Money)
Seat 8 is the button
Total number of players : 9
Seat 1: littlemona21 ( $21.42 )
Seat 3: HelenS1 ( $5.31 )
Seat 4: troybart ( $8.60 )
Seat 5: ciorillian ( $3.85 )
Seat 6: jhillz11 ( $4.73 )
Seat 8: bzyczek24 ( $19.32 )
Seat 9: Teaser1982 ( $0.83 )
Seat 10: nataliejones ( $10 )
Seat 7: Hero ( $13.13 )
Teaser1982 posts small blind [$0.05].
nataliejones posts big blind [$0.10].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ Qs As ]
littlemona21 folds.
HelenS1 folds.
troybart calls [$0.10].
ciorillian raises [$0.20].
jhillz11 folds.
Hero calls [$0.20].
bzyczek24 folds.
Teaser1982 folds.
nataliejones folds.
troybart calls [$0.10].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 6c, 7h, 7c ]
troybart folds.
ciorillian checks.
zer0logic has joined the table.
Hero bets [$0.25].
ciorillian calls [$0.25].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 2d ]
ciorillian checks.
Hero bets [$0.50].
ciorillian calls [$0.50].
** Dealing River ** [ 5s ]
ciorillian checks.
Hero checks.
ciorillian shows [ Kd, Jd ] a pair of sevens.
Hero shows [ Qs, As ] a pair of sevens.
Hero wins $2.15 from the main pot with a pair of sevens with ace kicker.

Enough straight or set possibilities there that I was okay with taking the check-check on the river in case he was just counting on my betting to make him money... too weak?

Originally Posted by Bo G

Hand 1

Your turn bet is horrible. Any good player will push you off that pot with a good raise.

agreed it was a terrible bet but how many "good" players are gonna be playin the $5NL?

I also 2nd the fact that you need to be betting more preflop or limping.