Feedback on 2 hands

Hi there, I'm just starting out and trying to learn things. Still make a lot of fish mistakes, but try to play smart and read the tables. Not great at working out my card odds or pot odds on the fly, but do what I can.

These are two hands from the same table, where I beat the same guy (yes I won), but he seemed to think I played badly. Always after advice, so what do you guys think?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (9 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

UTG+1 ($3.74)
MP1 ($1.25)
MP2 ($3.25)
MP3 ($5.68)
CO ($5.89)
Button ($2.38)
Hero ($2.71)
BB ($0.70)
UTG ($2.97)

Preflop: Hero is SB with Jhttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...es/diamond.gif, Jhttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/heart.gif.
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.02, MP1 calls $0.02, MP2 calls $0.02, 1 fold, CO calls $0.02, 1 fold, Hero raises to $0.06, BB calls $0.04, UTG+1 calls $0.04, MP1 folds, MP2 calls $0.04, CO calls $0.04.

Flop: ($0.32) 4http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/heart.gif, 8http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...es/diamond.gif, 4http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/spade.gif (5 players)
Hero bets $0.1, BB folds, UTG+1 folds, MP2 folds, CO calls $0.10.

Turn: ($0.52) 8http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/spade.gif (2 players)
Hero bets $0.1, CO raises to $0.3, Hero calls $0.20.

River: ($1.12) 3http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...miles/club.gif (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $0.65, Hero calls $0.65.

Final Pot: $2.42

Now in this one, CO abused me for calling him at the end. His reasoning was that 9/10 times he would have had the nut. My thinking was that if he had a stronger pocket pair than me he would have bet harder pre-flop and on the flop. He could have had the full house, or even 4 of a kind, but his betting didnt seem to suggest that. I couldnt see anything on the river that would change my mind from the Turn.

Btw, he had pocket 9s, so basically the identical hand but mine was higher.




PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (9 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

MP3 ($2.23)
CO ($1.98)
Button ($0.97)
SB ($2.86)
BB ($4.59)
UTG ($1.95)
Hero ($4.58)
MP1 ($1.11)
MP2 ($2.71)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with 9http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/spade.gif, Thttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/spade.gif.
1 fold, Hero calls $0.02, 2 folds, MP3 calls $0.02, CO calls $0.02, Button calls $0.02, SB completes, BB checks.

Flop: ($0.12) 4http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/spade.gif, Qhttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/spade.gif, 6http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...es/diamond.gif (6 players)
SB checks, BB bets $0.08, Hero calls $0.08, MP3 calls $0.08, CO folds, Button folds, SB folds.

Turn: ($0.36) Jhttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/heart.gif (3 players)
BB bets $0.3, Hero calls $0.30, MP3 folds.

River: ($0.96) Khttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/spade.gif (2 players)
BB bets $0.45, Hero raises to $0.9, BB calls $0.45.

Final Pot: $2.76


In this one the same guy is now BB, he correctly accused me of getting a lucky River and said some unpleasant stuff :p. That said, I was chasing a flush the whole hand. After the turn, I also now had a possible straight with either 8 or K off suit. Like I say I'm not great at odds on the fly, but I figure 25% chance of a spade, and about 16% (8x2 + 1) of an 8 or nine, gives me high 30s % (some crossover). There was around 70 in the pot, so my 30 call would make it around 100 so 30% pot odds, which made it a decent bet.

Anyway, I'm happy to admit luck played a part in both. There are decisions I probably made badly, but I'm here to learn, so give me all your feedback, I can take it :).

I don't like your betsizes in 1).
The PFR is OK, if you plan to sweeten the pot and play it for setvalue, but if you raise to play the pair and narrow the field, you have to raise at least $0.1.
The flop is nice for your hand, so you should bet more (~ 3/4 pot) to protect it. Same for the turn, i would bet 2/3 pot here. After the raise I would really like to lay it down, since we can only beat a lower pocket.
Yeah, he will have 66 or 99 sometimes, but without reads or stats I would fold here to a bigger raise. Since it's only 0.2 more, you might call here, hoping he checks behind on the river or reraise to maybe ~0.7 and fold if he raises again.
If you have the incredible read that he is bluffing you might call the river, but I think you will loose money here over the long run.

2) is very OK to me, although I don't like my position on the flop. But I would have called, too ...
I don't think you can make him fold with a raise on the turn, so I call here, too.

OK, thanks.

My betting does need some work. 3xbb is basically trying to get people to sweeten the pot for me. I keep getting worried I'll scare the money off if I raise too high. The flop bet was probably more indecision, combined with again trying to keep people playing for me. Probably something I need to work on that, last thing I need is for too many people to stay in and risk improved hands.

At that point the guy hadnt been at the table long so I didnt have a good read on him. From memory I was working on the assumption that to still be with me he likely had pocket pairs smaller than mine, and got excited when he saw the 2 8's instead of 2 4's on the table.

Calling on the River was basically based on the thinking that nothing had changed since the Turn, so if I went with him there, I should go again now.

I do have a habit of betting, and particularly calling more than I should. I'm trying to work on it, but its a hard habit to break.

G'day mate, I see you're a fellow Aussie, welcome to FTR, it's good to have you here!

First hand: A good rule as to how much to raise is 3-4x BB plus 1x BB for each limper, so in this case with four limpers in front I would make it $0.14-0.16 preflop. You have bad position postflop so I would really want to narrow the field.

As played, on the flop, I bet the pot here, so $0.30. As Gritho said, I'd bet 2/3 pot on the turn and if opp is still in the hand, check/call the river.

If players abuse you, just ignore them and take their money.

Second hand: I think your line is fine. At a higher buyin where opps would fold a one pair hand I would put in a big raise in on the turn with your monster draw.

No worries, I dont pay attention to what others say, just wondered since he was so adamant what others thought.

Thanks for welcome, good to be here :). Thanks for the advice, I think I read the 3-4xBB + 1BB per limper, but forgot the last part of it. I'll bare that in mind from now on. Appreciate it.

It looks and sounds as though you have a great deal to learn. The first thing you should learn in poker regardless of what game you play, i.e. stud, omaha or holdem you must be able to compute pot odds. Pots odd are very easy to learn all that is involve is figuring out what it costs you to call in relationship to the total amount in the pot. example: the preflop pot is 500, a play bets 200 after the flop raising the pot to 700 it costs you 200 to call to play a pot of 700 which computes as follows 700/200 or 3.5 to 1. Now you have to look to your hand and figure out your outs. Lets say you have a four flush with one over card i.e. A7 spades with two spades on the flop, if you consider your A may give you the winning hand then there are three outs in addition to the 8 remaining spades thereby giving you 11 outs of the remaining unseen 47 cards, hence 11/47 is slightly more then 4 to 1 odds (about 23%) to hitting your hand on the turn. Ideally, you want your pot odds to be greater than your hand odds. Incidentally, in this example your hand odds are slightly worse than the pot odds and based on a purely statistical basis you would fold. However, in this situation I would call based on the implied odds that I would get if I were to hit the turn or river and be able to intice further pot action improving my pot odds. Although there are several other more advance factors you would want to consider (i.e. your ability to read the other players and ability to intice action after you have made your hand) This should give you a good basis to understanding what is meant by Hand and Pot odds. If you would like some recommended reading and are willing to be very attentative you the task I would strongly recommend reading Sklansky's Theory of Poker (ToP). It is some what difficult to read as it may put you to sleep, but it is very through and informative on poker basics.

Good Luck, see you at the tables

In hand 1 I would raise a hell of a lot more, You don't want that many callers comming along for the ride. Any A, K or Q will be paired so you need to get this HU, I would of raised it at least $.10 and $.02 for each limper. You got lucky with the flop and made a bad bet and let them stick around. Try to always bet at least 2/3 to 3/4 pot on the flop, 1/2 the pot on the turn and then really start to think about betting on the river for what you want to pay or how much you think a lesser hand will call. On the second hand, FOLD, FOLD, FOLD. Don't play hands like this for a limp from early position, you wil get raised way to often and be playing against a much better hand from better position.