NL200 6-max Hands for Critique

[UG]

It's been a while since I've been able to have a TRUE session of NL200 6-max (like, more than an hour or so). I'm rusty and just feel a little "off." I'd like some input on these hands....A few of them I know exactly where I messed up on, and may say so in my explanation of the hand, but I'd like to hear other's thoughts. I warn you, some of these hands are bad bad bad, but I'm going to learn from this bad night. I lost 3.5 buy-ins, and 3.5 buy-ins isn't such a big deal anyway, I've had a ten buy-in downswing before....I just want to stop this one as soon as I can. Ping and anyone else, please chime in! Thanks!


#1 -- The villian in this hand has a 200bb+ stack, I have almost 150bb's. Villian is also a 15/9 which is tighter than me. If he's limp-calling a raise from UTG here he has a pocket pair (most likely). When he called my flop bet it signaled that I was probably beat right there......when the 3-flush came on turn I shut down. Any problems with this?

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

saw flop|saw showdown

CO ($218)
Button ($341.81)
Hero ($291.37)
BB ($230.59)
UTG ($431.73)
MP ($292.80)

Preflop: Hero is SB with K, K. Hero posts a blind of $1.
UTG calls $2, 2 folds, Button calls $2, Hero (poster) raises to $12, 1 fold, UTG calls $11, Button folds.

Flop: ($30) 8, J, 3 (2 players)
Hero bets $22, UTG calls $22.

Turn: ($74) 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $60, Hero folds.

Final Pot: $134

Results in white below:
No showdown. UTG wins $134.

#2 -- Relatively new at the table so no read on SB here. After this hand (and one other hand) I realized that he min-raised his high pocket pairs no matter how many limpers or what type of raises were in front of him. Without that knowledge, though, how do you proceed with this hand? I know I screwed this one up royally. Do I raise preflop with action in front of me (before it gets to the SB)? After SB min-raises everyone do I bother calling? Do I reraise flop, or stick in a reraise right there to find out where I'm at? Do I fold on turn, or is reraise okay? River seems like an obvious fold to me now, it was a bad bad bad call....but where was the FIRST place I went wrong on this hand?

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

saw flop|saw showdown

MP ($218.70)
CO ($104.51)
Hero ($201.15)
SB ($346.80)
BB ($141.97)
UTG ($192)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A, T. SB posts a blind of $1.
UTG raises to $6, 2 folds, Hero calls $6, SB (poster) raises to $9, BB calls $8, UTG calls $4, Hero calls $4.

Flop: ($40) 6, 6, T (4 players)
SB bets $17.95, BB folds, UTG folds, Hero calls $17.95.

Turn: ($75.90) Q (2 players)
SB bets $17.09, Hero raises to $75, SB calls $57.91.

River: ($225.90) Q (2 players)
SB bets $40.39, Hero calls $40.39.

Final Pot: $306.68

Results in white below:
SB has Jh Jd (two pair, queens and jacks).
Hero has Ac Tc (two pair, queens and tens).
Outcome: SB wins $306.68.

#3 -- Villian in this hand was terrible. He was like a 54/18 guy. With that said, though, he had made a lot of money just calling-calling-calling. I have seen him call down with huge hands, never firing in a raise. Should I have reraised preflop? Should I have led out on the flop? After I check-raise and he cold-calls, should I have led out for 3/4 the pot on the turn? I didn't do any of these and you'll see the results below...He sucks out on me in the end, but this is absolutely not a bad beat because I butchered the hand badly.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (5 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

saw flop|saw showdown

Button ($287.30)
Hero ($231.37)
BB ($234.84)
UTG ($526.19)
MP ($295.10)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 9, 9. Hero posts a blind of $1.
2 folds, Button raises to $6, Hero (poster) calls $5, BB calls $4.

Flop: ($18) 3, 7, 4 (3 players)
Hero checks, BB checks, Button bets $8.43, Hero raises to $25, BB folds, Button calls $16.57.

Turn: ($68) T (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks.

River: ($68) 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks.

Final Pot: $68

Results in white below:
Button has 6c 6s (three of a kind, sixes).
Hero has 9c 9d (one pair, nines).
Outcome: Button wins $68.

#4 -- Was I just scared of the ace here? Do I have to bet out in position on this flop and shut down if I get called here? That's gotta be right because leading on on the turn got me no where....do I have to call his river bet because it could be a bluff? This guy was pretty bad, he'd call-call-call but if he bet on the river he usually had something....I think by this point I was just scared *every* hand I was playing somebody out-flopped me, that's why I didn't bet the flop. Is that where I messed up?

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

saw flop|saw showdown

BB ($38.59)
UTG ($365.53)
Hero ($265.60)
CO ($320.59)
Button ($431.63)
SB ($220.20)

Preflop: Hero is MP with K, K. SB posts a blind of $1.
UTG calls $2, Hero raises to $10, 4 folds, UTG calls $8.

Flop: ($23) 3, 8, A (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks.

Turn: ($23) 9 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $15, UTG calls $15.

River: ($53) 5 (2 players)
UTG bets $20, Hero folds.

Final Pot: $73

Results in white below:
UTG doesn't show.
Outcome: UTG wins $73.

#5 -- Set over set.....Absolutely no way I can fold here, right? Could easily have QQ/KK/AA here. This is the only semi-bad beat I have in this collection of hands, just want to make sure there's no way I fold to his over-bet on the turn. I repped it like I had a flush-draw, so QQ/KK/AA plays it like this enough to make this a profitable call. (EDIT -- Reading back over this it's kind of silly to even put this hand in here but I guess I won't delete it)

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ Hero (5 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

saw flop|saw showdown

MP ($198)
Button ($234.10)
SB ($381.10)
Hero ($200)
UTG ($188)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 5, 5. SB posts a blind of $1.
UTG raises to $4, 1 fold, Button calls $4, 1 fold, Hero calls $2.

Flop: ($13) 8, J, 5 (3 players)
Hero bets $9, UTG raises to $28, Button folds, Hero calls $19.

Turn: ($69) 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG calls $156 (All-In), Hero calls $156.

River: ($381) K (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $381

Results in white below:
Hero has 5h 5s (three of a kind, fives).
UTG has Jc Jh (three of a kind, jacks).
Outcome: UTG wins $381.

#6 -- Bluffing is bad when the other guy won't fold. My read on this guy was solid, that he had 77. That's what he ended up having. I repped an over-pair the entire way. I should have just folded this preflop, but with my read being as it was.....I thought I could win this one. Just a bad move against a bad player, right? Don't try this at PP NL200?

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

saw flop|saw showdown

SB ($233.72)
BB ($145.85)
UTG ($224.47)
MP ($200)
Hero ($213)
Button ($115.01)

Preflop: Hero is CO with T, K. SB posts a blind of $1.
1 fold, MP calls $2, Hero raises to $9, 3 folds, MP calls $7.

Flop: ($21) 6, 4, 4 (2 players)
MP checks, Hero bets $15, MP calls $15.

Turn: ($51) 8 (2 players)
MP checks, Hero bets $39, MP calls $39.

River: ($129) 6 (2 players)
MP checks, Hero bets $100, MP calls $100.

Final Pot: $329

Results in white below:
MP has 7h 7s (two pair, sevens and sixes).
Hero has Ts Ks (two pair, sixes and fours).
Outcome: MP wins $329.

#7 -- I'm kicking myself on this one. This was one of this guy's first few hands at the table, so no reads. He over-bet the crap out of it preflop, then bet HUGE on the flop. My mind said he had absolutely nothing, but being rusty I couldn't pull the trigger on this. Against an unknown is this an easy fold? I just don't see a very strong hand betting so damn strong at NL200 like this.....I have QQ, a K drops on the flop.....so obvious fold, or should I have trusted my read? (this is where I'm rusty)

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (5 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

saw flop|saw showdown

SB ($174.10)
BB ($210.10)
UTG ($371)
Hero ($210)
Button ($195)

Preflop: Hero is MP with Q, Q. SB posts a blind of $1.
1 fold, Hero raises to $7, 2 folds, BB raises to $25, Hero calls $20.

Flop: ($55) 3, K, T (2 players)
BB bets $45, Hero folds.

Final Pot: $100

Results in white below:
No showdown. BB wins $100.

#8 -- Good up until the turn.....but I've gotta fold this turn after being mini check-raised on the flop, right?

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

saw flop|saw showdown

UTG ($206.75)
MP ($413.27)
CO ($400)
Hero ($201.40)
SB ($316.15)
BB ($99.45)

Preflop: Hero is Button with Q, Q. SB posts a blind of $1.
1 fold, MP calls $2, 1 fold, Hero raises to $10, 1 fold, BB calls $8, MP folds.

Flop: ($23) 5, 8, 2 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $15, BB raises to $30, Hero calls $15.

Turn: ($83) 6 (2 players)
BB bets $35, Hero raises to $70, BB calls $24.45 (All-In).

River: ($212.45) 9 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $212.45

Results in white below:
BB has Ad Ac (one pair, aces).
Hero has Qs Qd (one pair, queens).
Outcome: BB wins $201.90. Hero wins $10.55.

#9 -- I shouldn't even bother betting the flop here, right? I raised preflop OOP, got a bunch of callers...Nothing hits me, yet a bet anyway. Is this a no-no? I'm sure it was a good fold, but should I even bet this flop? Should I have raised more preflop? This particular table there were LOTS of limp-callers, but this is a favorable flop for an over-pair (which is what I could be repping here), right?

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ Hero (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

saw flop|saw showdown

CO ($88.82)
Button ($313.07)
SB ($407.10)
Hero ($201.13)
UTG ($373.20)
MP ($146.05)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A, Q. SB posts a blind of $1.
2 folds, CO calls $2, Button calls $2, SB (poster) completes, Hero raises to $9, CO calls $9, Button calls $9, SB calls $9.

Flop: ($44) 5, 7, 5 (4 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $34, CO folds, Button folds, SB raises to $93, Hero folds.

Final Pot: $171

Results in white below:
No showdown. SB wins $171.

[bdawg56kg]

1) I'd bet this turn. You are ahead here a lot of the time, and he could easily be floating this flop.

2) Are you bluffing on the turn? What's wrong with just calling?

3) Against a 54/18, I reraise preflop everytime. Flop cr is okay, although I prefer leading.

4) I think you played it fine, although I don't mind betting this flop. I also might calling his river bet. You are getting good pot odds, and his line doesn't exactly look like aces up.

5) 3-bet flop. I also don't mind leading turn if this guy likes to raise on draws.

6) Eew. I like the aggression, but that river bet is spew. He's probably not on a draw, so he's not folding the river, since the 6s was a blank that probably didn't your hand.

7) Againt an unknown I'd play it the same.

8) 3-bet ai on flop. He has 50bb. No way do I get away from QQ here.

9) check/fold flop. I also raise more preflop with the limpers. 12-14.

[Lukie]

wheeeeeeeee i have 2 windows open so I'm just going to fire these babies away

1) I think bet/fold is better here, but I don't hate your line. I think he likely (certainly not always) raises a better made hand on the flop. The flush draw got there, so meh. But he probably doesn't have a flush.

2) First place you went wrong was calling the first raise with ATs, although I'm sure there will be some that disagree. If you even thought about folding to the 3-bet the 2nd time around, you should quit poker and get rid of your computer before you lose all your money (seriously). This is often a donkey's way of playing a high pair but i've seen a lot of random stuff too, so I'm probably calling the flop with no intention of taking it deeper. I don't understand your turn play though because I think it's awful.

3) Best play is to just to 3-bet here pf. I think leading is better then check/raising here as we're stronger then normal here but we don't want to bloat the pot OOP with no idea where we stand. I think turn and river are fine to be honest since the draw got there on the turn and any made hand he'd call with is almost always better then yours. This time it wasn't, but meh.

4) looks ok. I'd probably call the river. Not sure if that's a leak.

5) waaaaaaaaaah, this isn't even a bad beat. you were never ahead. 3-bet the flop and get the rest in on the turn if he calls. Obv call a push.

6)

Just a bad move against a bad player, right?

right. On the plus side, you keep guys like this in business so they can donate it back to the nits.

7) overbet huge preflop? It's a tad over pot. This hand is stupid. There is no other logical way to play it.

8)

but I've gotta fold this turn after being mini check-raised on the flop, right?

WTF!???
PUSH THE FLOP AND STOP BEING SUCH A PASSIVE LITTLE DONKEY. JESUS. I love you george.

9) spewwwwwwwwwwwww. check down preflop or raise more. I prefer a check at this table. check/fold flop.

[bdawg56kg]

Lukie, I think we're turning into the same player.

[jackvance]

My own analysis for practice purposes, will compare with other comments after I'm done:

hand 1: I lead out for $40 here because now you just don't know if he actually has something or that he simply jumped the sign of weakness..

hand 2: I might play it the same, or raise the flop to see what's going on and to protect your TP.
EDIT: didn't see that you raised the turn.. that was pointless imo, you only fold the nothing hands with that.. I simply call this down.

hand 3: I lead out here.. my hand isn't quite strong enough for a check/raise imo. Lol@his check behind on the river. I don't think you did anything wrong after the debatable play on the flop - I don't think it's bad btw, if you check, you have to raise a bet afterwards, no doubt.

hand 4: Crying call the river? I think he has a weaker ace though.

hand 5: Yeah I'm thinking AA/KK/QQ here.. Not that it matters for results, but I probably either push the flop after he raises me, or at the very least lead out on the turn.

hand 6: Yeah people like to call you down.. repping overpair doesn't really work imo..

hand 7: I lay this down too

hand 8: looks standard to me.. you had bad luck being dominated from the start..

hand 9: heh, I don't c-bet in a 4-way pot personally. My standard raise is 4BB, and I add one for every (non-blind) limper so here I probably raise for $12.

EDIT: read the other replies now.. seems you guys reraise preflop a lot more than me..

[Lukie]

Lukie, I think we're turning into the same player.

lol yeah, whats funny is that i didn't even look at anything you wrote while I was making my reply. Then I looked at yours and i was like, wtf, I pretty much said to do the same thing for all of them.

[aislephive]

Hand 1: Seems fine, you don't beat much and if he is a 15/9 I think he has the hand he's representing here.

Hand 2: I'd fold the flop unless he was a real donkey who would bet here into all these players with nothing, in which case I'd raise. Calling down gets expensive and waiting till the turn to raise is more expensive than raising the flop. You pretty much have to call the river here getting almost 7-1. It sucks but it's a pretty standard river call.

Hand 3: I like the way you played it actually, on every street. Sometimes I lead the flop but a c/r lets you know where you stand in the hand. After I get called I'm pretty much done with it.

Hand 4: When he limp-calls a raise from UTG he is likely holding a PP and not an ace, so I bet the flop and go from there. I may or may not call the river, I think it's borderline.

Hand 5: If you fold this then poker is not the game for you, very standard call of his push. JJJ is definitely very unlikely.

Hand 6: I wouldn't advise making too many stone cold bluffs at PP200NL. I've made the same mistakes before and people have called me down with very speculative hands even though I was not out of line. It's hard to critique a bluff since there is so much that goes into it that we don't see on the HH. Still, it's better to be bluffing something like a flush draw and overs than just total air.

Hand 7: Your standard 200NL player's reraising range is probably something like TT-AA, AQ-AK. Here we beat pretty much nothing of that range, only JJ and AQ. I think there are better spots to be in. You might consider calling the flop and folding the turn if he fires big again, but that's about your only alternative. This is a WA/WB situation.

Hand 8: Push the flop when he minraises you, I don't generally give shortstacks much credit. You're way ahead of his range here.

Hand 9: I like to bet dry flops into two players in position after I raise preflop a lot, but this board isn't all that dry and you're facing three players and not two. It's best just to check/fold here.

Hope this helps.

[SmackinYaUp]

#1. That was an extremely shitty turn card, go ahead and shut down. Since he was so tight, I don't see anything wrong with your reasoning. If it was against anyone else or on a safer board I'm either firing again and folding to a raise against a tightie or I'm checkraising everyone else allin.

#2. This hand got a little weird and his pathetic river bet makes me want to rub sand in his vagina. When he calls $75 on the turn on a paired board with basically no draws, you should give up. Its not like you have pocket aces. But I would have raised the flop to about $40 and then seen what he did on the turn. He probably would have bet like a bitch and induced a raise from me and maybe gotten a big pot outta me too. But at least you could have raised the flop and made it cheaper to find out whether he's sticking with his hand or not. Then when he leads the turn again at least you have options and a smaller pot.

#3. I don't see how you butchered this hand so badly. Him being 54/18 definitely makes a preflop re-raise a good idea. Then you can lead bigger on the flop and take a decent pot. Other than that, your play looks ok considering the board.

#4. Its funny how we get with kings. I catch myself doing the same thing sometimes. But then I think how much easier it would be to make the cbet if I had 67s and was repping the A. Bet the flop and take it down, he probably limped a pocket pair or some other crap. If he calls the cbet, shut down. Your river fold is ok but its hard telling if he even had the ace. I probably would have called it since its only 10BBs to see.

#5. The only problem I see with this hand is the fact that you posted it and are in a bad state of mind.

#6. Turn bet is ok, if he was on the FD he should give it up. If he calls turn, give up. If he was chasing the flush draw still, you know what to do for the rest of the session.

#7. Your thinking on this one scares me. He didn't overbet the crap out of anything; he played it just how it should have been played. He has AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AK, TT in that order. The only hand he might fold here is JJ since its not likely he has the other queens. Unless you want to bluff and represent a set but good luck with that.

#8. I agree with gabe. If he had a deeper stack, I would have played it how you did. Big deal, a shortstack gets aces and slowplays them and you get queens on a safe flop. Don't 2nd guess yourself.

#9. Check the flop. As played, what can you do? Not a big hand.

Good luck with your comeback man. As soon as your start feeling confident again, move up to 400NL. At party its easy with a little table selection. Online poker won't be around forever so make that money while you can and quit playing with 70 buyins.