A question about some hands

[stuck]

Did I play these right? LooseAgg I had seen call with a PRF Ax, Kx, Qx, Jx, connectors, and a few other things, so when I hit something, I was feign to believe he could have held much better.

No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t15 (9 handed) converter

saw flop|saw showdown

MP2 (t775)
MP3 (LooseAgg) (t1930)
CO (t745)
Button (t715)
Stuck (t770)
BB (t785)
UTG (t755)
UTG+1 (t755)
MP1 (t770)

Preflop: Stuck is SB with Jd, Td.
UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, [color:CC3333]MP3 (LooseAgg) raises to t90[/color], CO folds, Button folds, Stuck raises to t165, BB folds, MP3 (LooseAgg) calls t75.

Flop: (t345) Jc, 6h, Ac (2 players)
Stuck bets t150, LooseAgg calls t150.

Turn: (t645) Ts (2 players)
Stuck bets t150, LooseAgg calls t150.

River: (t945) Qc (2 players)
Stuck bets t305 (All-In), LooseAgg folds.

Final Pot: t1250

Results in white below:
Outcome: Stuck wins t1250.

He commented I was 'lucky' for hitting the straight. Was I playing this too aggressively? I knew that he was very loose and aggressive and I didn't want to show weakness. Was that the right play? In any case, this happened a few hands later:

No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t30 (8 handed) converter

saw flop|saw showdown

SB (t610)
BB (LooseAgg) (t1080)
UTG (t415)
UTG+1 (t715)
Stuck (t1220)
MP2 (t655)
CO (t1100)
Button (t2205)

Preflop: Stuck is MP1 with As, Kh.
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls t30, Stuck raises to t225, MP2 folds, CO folds, Button folds, SB folds, BB (LooseAgg) calls t195, UTG+1 folds.

Flop: (t495) Kc, Ah, 7h (2 players)
LooseAgg bets t855 (All-In), Stuck calls t855.

Turn: (t2205) 5h (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t2205) 9d (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: t2205

Results in white below:
LooseAgg shows 7c 7d (three of a kind, sevens).
Stuck shows As Kh (two pair, aces and kings).
Outcome: LooseAgg wins t2205.

I'm pretty sure I made the correct play on the last hand (afterall, if you're not going to play AK when it hits *twice* why bother playing it at all?), but it's still rather annoying.

[DrNoChance]

2nd hand you played AK a bit more aggressively than I do from the front of the table pre-flop (almost 8xBB raise). That being said, he was foolish to call that kind of a raise with 77. He lucked out. Tough break.

1st hand I don't care for your play much, even if he is loose. JTs a re-raising hand pre-flop? Not respecting the ace post-flop? No offense, but you were quite lucky with the outcome here IMO. I understand you were trying to play the player somewhat in this situation, but in a raised pot I normally respect the ace when it flops (or MAYBE represent it if checked to me).

[stuck]

2nd hand you played AK a bit more aggressively than I do from the front of the table pre-flop (almost 8xBB raise). That being said, he was foolish to call that kind of a raise with 77. He lucked out. Tough break.

AK almost never works out for me; i would have just been happy with the blinds, low though they might have been.

I normally don't play that loose or aggresively at all in the early game. You were right, I was trying to play the player a bit. I was also trying to see how successfully I could amalgamate Rippy's philosophy of "it's okay to take a risk early in the game if you can double up, because then you have leverage and it's much easier to be assured you will get ITM and you're not wasting your time"

I'm obviously still a beginner, but he had been in on nearly every hand up to that point, and when (if) it got to showdown, it would turn out he limped in UTG with 82o and hit two pair. Or raise from MP with 87s. Or he was just able to buy the pot outright from the rest of the (tight) table.

For the 1st hand, I probably would have backed off a bit on the turn had I not hit my two pair.

[pokerfanatic]

Your first hand I’m not a fan of that play. Yes I might bet it pre-flop but I wouldn’t re-raise with it. it's too variable, and when the A came on the flop and you didn't respect it or you were representing it one of the two, is the only things i can think of for that bet, personally the guy was right you got lucky with that out come, even though he had the wrong read on you completely.

For the second hand I play AK aggressive but not that aggressive from a shit position, I like to have it middle to late position with that hand, but when you hit it, I would have bet but maybe not all in, I would have value bet, or check and see what he does, if he bets out see how much, how long it takes him to make the bet, and call if you fell like you have the best of it (or preferable re-raise if you think you have it), from the hands he had been playing, I could see how you made that bet, but he was stupid to call that large of a bet in the first place, especially with the raiser in bad position, I would have put you on a large pocket pair with that raise and folded. But as it pained out you got beat, tough break man, next time maybe fell it out more on the flop and don't push all in right away, I have gotten myself in trouble pushing it all in on cards that could be cracked... but you have to gamble once and awhile, and tells help your gambles, on major downfall of internet poker in my belief, none to very few tells.

[stuck]

With the first hand, why shouldn't I represent the A there? He should have no reason to *not* believe I didn't have the A. I thought one should backup your pre-flop raises with a bet on the flop, especially when you hit. And I had only limped in once before on the button, on the first hand. Granted, a few hands isn't much time to get a read on a player, but why would he think I had PFR-ed him with Kx?

I can see why he'd think I was hoping for the straight, but what could he have had that would have beat me at the showdown? AA? AQ? TT? JJ? QQ? he obviously didn't have a K. He put me at having one, which means he must've had an A, I guess. But with his prior play, there was no way I could have placed him on a hand that would beat Jacks and Tens on the turn.

With any of the other players at the table, though, I would have respected their raise and probably folded it PF, or at best just called, and then respected that A on the flop.

[stuck]

Here's an example of one of his hands, where he got the majority of his chips:

No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t15 (10 handed) converter

saw flop|saw showdown

UTG (t800)
UTG+1 (LooseAgg) (t965)
UTG+2 (t800)
MP1 (t785)
Stuck (t785)
MP3 (t800)
CO (t785)
Button (UnLucky) (t710)
SB (t770)
BB (t800)

Preflop: Stuck is MP2 with 5h, Qc.
UTG folds, UTG+1 (LooseAgg) raises to t100, UTG+2 folds, MP1 folds, Stuck folds, MP3 folds, CO folds, Button (UnLucky) raises to t350, SB folds, BB folds, color=#CC3333]UTG+1 (LooseAgg)[/color] Calls t250.

Flop: (t425) 2d, Ks, 8c (2 players)
LooseAgg bets t100, UnLucky raises to t360 (All-In), LooseAgg calls t260.

Turn: (t1445) 2s (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t1445) 5s (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: t1445

Results in white below:
LooseAgg shows 8s 9s (flush, king high).
UnLucky shows Ad Ah (two pair, aces and twos).
Outcome: LooseAgg wins t1445.

[stuck]

Perhaps I should have just called the PFR in the first hand, instead of re-raising, but then he for sure would probably have scared me out of the pot on the flop, as a raise there under those circumstances would probably hold little weight.

I just don't know.

[michael1123]

In general, reraising preflop with JTs is extremely dangerous, and not very useful because its basically a drawing hand, so you should want to see the flop pretty cheaply. Once you reraised, I think you were right to represent the ace.

The play post flop on the second hand is of course fine. He shoves all in immediately, you have to call. But preflop, that's very strange. The BB is 30 chips and you're betting 225 chips, over 7 times the BB? You should be betting closer to 3x BB. You want hands like AQ, AJ, etc. to call you. You don't want to scare away all non-pocket pairs. And the blinds are very small, you shouldn't be looking to steal them at all really, but especially with a hand like AK.

His call preflop is pretty crazy, but I think he may have correctly put you on AK. When the AK7 flop comes, he's putting you on at least a strong ace, if not top two pair, and that's why he shoves all in immediately, because he knows you'll call.

Your fear of AK losing (your reasoning for the huge preflop raise) makes it seem like you won't be able to lay it down if it doesn't hit. Its not AA, its more like the open ended straight flush draw of preflop hands. The potential is there, but you may end up with a crap hand too, if you miss. But raising huge isn't going to help make it a winner for you. That raise actually makes big losses more common, since only higher pocket pairs will usually call you, where you'd be at best a coinflip. But a callable raise, and then a bluff at the flop if you miss, and a solid bet if you hit, will on general win you a lot more than the blinds you'll normally pick up in the first case, and probably end up losing you less on the losses as well.

[stuck]

Your fear of AK losing (your reasoning for the huge preflop raise) makes it seem like you won't be able to lay it down if it doesn't hit. Its not AA, its more like the open ended straight flush draw of preflop hands. The potential is there, but you may end up with a crap hand too, if you miss. But raising huge isn't going to help make it a winner for you. That raise actually makes big losses more common, since only higher pocket pairs will usually call you, where you'd be at best a coinflip. But a callable raise, and then a bluff at the flop if you miss, and a solid bet if you hit, will on general win you a lot more than the blinds you'll normally pick up in the first case, and probably end up losing you less on the losses as well.

Thanks.. you're right about the stealing blinds portion (I knew that). I had never thought about the other aspect.