Playing Pocket Tens

I believe JJ & 99 would face the same situations. Please advise:

At 5NL, typical table, not too loose, not too tight. You've been at the table 3 orbits and are dealt TT UTG. Assume you raise 3/4 BB's and get one caller. Let's say the flop comes down K42 rainbow (with tens an overcard will hit almost every time) . Do you c-bet and check the turn if called? If opp (assume not enough hh for meaningful stats) bets the turn do you fold?

Two other scenarios; You are in the BB. A player with 18/12 numbers open raises from MP and it is folded to you in the BB and you have TT. Do you 3bet? Call and hope to hit a set? Or fold?

Lastly; Villian with 24/17 numbers open raises on the button and you are in the SB with TT (Assume the BB is a nit for this example) Do you 3 bet here?


If I am going to continue to play I need concrete advice on how to play in these tricky situations. Please try to avoid saying "it depends".

Thanks

I dont know about the second two scenarios because I dont use an HUD but for the first one I say you C-bet and if you get raised you fold. unless they are a very loose aggressive player what else could they have here without a K. you only have two outs so you are getting only 8% chance to hit your set by the river so calling here is not worth it unless you know them to be very loose and aggressive

I believe if you really want to continue playing then you should really change your mindset, as adviced by other people in other threads. As for the advice on this particular thread, here's my two cents:

1) at 5NL with tons of fish, your c-bet could actually get called by quite a few worse hands: lower pps (with the exception of 44 and 22 of course),
A-high hands with no pair (fish love calling with those just to keep you honest), rare drawing hands like 35, 65, A3, or A5, or even ppl who hit either bottom or middle pair. I think a c-bet is reasonable as it also protects your equity in the pot by not letting someone who might happen to have J-x, Q-x, or A-x draw to top pair to beat you for free.
As for the turn it depends, if a king comes i probably continue the aggression since it is more likely that the other person didn't have a king. Another low card which doesn't complete the straight shouldn't stop you from betting either. Other broadway cards might be a slight concern (especially an Ace), but a J or a Q probably won't deter me too much from betting since it doesn't make sense for him to call that flop with J or Q high (unless he is a fish and called the flop with AQ or AJ). Remember though, if you face any kind of resistance after your turn bet, just fold.

2) In FR where nitty plays dominate, it is probably best to just call with TT facing an MP raise. Never, ever fold TT, facing a single, normal size raise, even from UTG.

3) Definitely 3-bet, your hand is wayyyy better than his wide opening button range. 3-betting gives you an initiaive postflop and makes your c-bet more credible. I think 3-betting TT facing a cutoff raise is actually okay too.

I've read quite a lot of your posts and I think your problems aren't exactly these tricky spots but rather your mindset that premium starting hands can't lose (leading you to overplaying big pairs). Bet sizing is very important as it makes laying down those preflop monsters easier. Remember the "Small hands, small pots. Big hands, big pots) mantra. An overpair or one pair on the flop is a small hand. So if you do decide to bet for value, 2/3 of the pot is more than enough to chase out random draws (and makes it incorrect for them to chase). Don't just pot pot pot, you will easily pot commit yourself with a vulnerable hand. Lastly, don't bother with complicated concepts like balancing your range or whatever, micro players are generally unattentive and will not pay attention to your pattern. Get the fundamentals right, and micro should be beatable.

GL at the tables.

1. A great board to c-bet, you'll get tons of folds, if not I probs check turn unless an A/Q/T hits, maybe a J, then I'll bet again. Fold to a bet most likely when checked. Fold to a raise at any point.

2. I wasn't sure about this one as I hated both options but after some stoving, we're pretty solid against a standard, tight, 3-bet calling range. You'll need to hand read well but spots like this will help you improve. I think here we can 3-bet against some one who folds lots of 3-bets as a bluff and against someone who calls lots, we still have solid value. Now you need to learn to play postflop.

3. You have great value against his range so if he folds to lots of 3-bets, just call and you can play it OOP if you hand read at all well. If he calls lots of 3-bets then lots of value to be had in 3-betting too. Remember a villain like this will be playing about 40% OTB, yes 40, if he's at all positionally aware (24/17's usually are).

Thanks for great responses. Below is a recent example. Playing in situations I feel like a teenage girl checking out the noises in the basement. I think I'm good here but not sure. Villain was 62/50!!

Full Tilt - $0.05 NL - Holdem - 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com
MP: $5.00
MP+1: $12.42
LP: $6.17
CO: $2.36
BTN: $5.00
Hero (SB): $5.05
BB: $5.07
UTG: $5.00
UTG+1: $5.00
Hero posts SB $0.02, BB posts BB $0.05
Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero has Tc Td
fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, CO raises to $0.17, fold, Hero raises to $0.56, fold, CO calls $0.39
Flop: ($1.17, 2 players) Jd 8c 3s
Hero bets $0.55, CO raises to $1.80 and is all-in, Hero calls $1.25
Turn: ($4.77, 2 players) Kc
River: ($4.77, 2 players) 9d
CO shows 9s Ts (One Pair, Nines)
Hero shows Tc Td (One Pair, Tens)
Hero wins $4.46

In the first sceneraio if you check the turn you are pretty much giving up and let yourself be bluff.If u check call turn means you are going to check the river anf if your opponent picks up weakness he will either overbet or shove leaving u no choice to fold.I prefer bet the turn and if he raises u then folding is the right move.

Sure it does open you to being bluffed, but it doesn't mean you are always going to be bluffed, especially by a fish. What does your turn bet achieve?

3 reasons to bet:

1. Value 2. Bluff. 3. Protection.

What are you trying to make villain do? What is your bet for? What does his RANGE do?

In this spot there are usually only K's PP's and occasional A high type hands that fish play really passively anyway.

If you bet you probs fold out 99/88/77 etc. That's not good. If you bet, you're gonna get called by all the K's who called you on the flop. Those random floaty hands are gonna fold too.

EDIT: I suppose they MAY fold JJ/QQ but fish tend to get sticky with them anyways.

Question is, is this how you want villain to play. (Hint below).










No.

Been thinking about this and wondering about how much we should factor protection into our decision and how another overcard affects our decision on the turn.

I'm thinking now betting an over card turn isn't so good as it is turning our hand into a bluff, what are we making fold? What gives us value.

Basically when would we bet the turn and when would we check?

Oh and I hate being OOP. This spot is so much easier the other way around.

At 5NL, I would try not to 3bet preflop too much OOP (unless i have AA, KK etc.) as you will rarely get folds from players at 5NL. Then you find yourself OOP on a board that will probably contain an overcard, maybe two, an your put in a spot where if you make a standard bet and get called or raise you have to fold.

But if you have AJ and they call with worse, then you should 3-bet, yes? If you have TT and they'll call with worse pairs and A9/K9 etc you should 3-bet?

Why check turn if he calls? You have to kep firing the bullets on the turn too. Checking turn just shows weakness. it says no king. it says you have ace queen. ace jack, or pp. they can just bluff you off it. got to refire the turn. if that gets called then you can be sure he has you beat. The reason so many people fail at poker is they dont fire the turn. Then losing pots due to that. sometimes theyl have you beat but when they dont mst of the time youl take down the pot. Biggest weakness is not firing twice. You are going to fire the flop anyway as you raised. You have to fire the turn whatever comes up in my opinion. Cant show weakness. If an ace came then you think shyte and check . they can now bluff they ace.

If they don't raise my flop bet then I fire a second barrel around 70 percent of the time. The other times another over hits and I usually slow down.

I would say it is not a good thing to C-bet. You bet for a reason: protect the best hand, do I want him to call or raise? can I get him to fold? You took a shot with the raise and got 1 caller. Check and if he bets fold.....Find a better spot. Give him credit, not chips.

I would say the first and foremost advice would be cutting down to 2nl to get some mechanics straighten out.

I would bet again on turn. lots of hands the guy could be on. It also depends on the turn what card it is? another overcard i check. If it is low and may lead to a flush/ straight draw, bet.