Hand Advice

Hey guys, I just joined.
Wondering If I can get advice on how I played my hand?

chauvy169 posts small blind (30)
davidhh posts big blind (60)
Dealing Cards
Dealing [Q h][A d] to archangelzx
TaxReturn raises to 120
archangelzx raises to 180
hanibalxxl folds
chauvy169 folds
davidhh folds
TaxReturn calls 180
Pot sizes: 450
Dealing Flop [J d][Q d][T d]
TaxReturn bets 60
archangelzx raises to 120
TaxReturn raises to 1,295 (all-in)
archangelzx calls 995 (all-in)
Returning 300 to TaxReturn uncalled
Pot sizes: 2,440
TaxReturn shows [A s][K s]
archangelzx shows [Q h][A d]
Dealing Turn [A c]
Pot sizes: 2,440
Dealing River [6 s]
Pot sizes: 2,440
TaxReturn has Straight, Ace high
TaxReturn wins 2,440 with: Straight, Ace high

Please stop the min-raising, other than that it looks pretty standard as you are never getting away from that flop.

What game and stakes were you playing? How long had you been sitting with the opponent, and what if anything had you noted about him? In particular, had he opened any hands, and if so, what was his bet sizing?

You'd do yourself a favor to eliminate the pre-flop min 3bet from your game. It's seldom if ever a particularly good play no matter the result of the hand. Think about why you're 3-betting, and how well or poorly your bet size fits your objective(s).

With 450 in the pot, what is the point of min-raising the 60 weak lead to 120? You have TPTK on a wet board and the nut flush draw. What do you think his range is, and how does it stack up against your hand?

I don't have a major issue with getting it in, like many beginner-level players, you stand to benefit a lot by improving how you think your way through hands .

Don't min raise, it's very bad. Getting it on flop is fine.

I agree with the others about the min-raise, don't do it.
What were you trying to accomplish with the min-raise?
What you're basically trying to do when you raise pre-flop is trying to see how strong your opponent/s is/are.

Thanks for all the advice,
I reraised him preflop because he was bluffing a fair bit and I wanted to show strength so I could c bet if I didn't hit the flop nicely. What was the correct play? Should I have just called him preflop?

He raised to 120 which was only 2xBB, then you put it up to 180, which all he needs to call is another BB, which doesn't do anything but add to the pot.

If you really wanted to show strength, you should have brought it up to 240-280 IMO, and if he shoves over your re-raise, you should have enough info to make an informed decision.

Ah I see your point there. Won't make that mistake again lol.
Can you guys analyse this hand? Where am I going wrong? Bad beat after bad beat

Dealing [A c][J s] to archangelzx
archangelzx calls 150
Player3163 folds
Daan08 calls 150
vanou999 checks
Pot sizes: 450
Dealing Flop [7 s][T h][J h]
Daan08 bets 450
vanou999 folds
archangelzx raises to 900
Daan08 raises to 1,350
archangelzx raises to 1,590 (all-in)
Daan08 calls 1,590
Pot sizes: 3,630
archangelzx shows [A c][J s]
Daan08 shows [Q c][J d]
Dealing Turn [2 c]
Pot sizes: 3,630
Dealing River [Q s]
Pot sizes: 3,630
archangelzx has One Pair: Jacks
Daan08 has Two Pairs: Queens, Jacks
Daan08 wins 3,630 with: Two Pairs: Queens, Jacks

I can't believe this. Always suck out on the river!

open-limping preflp is very bad. You then went and min-raised on the flop again.

What should I have done exactly? Check flop or shove? Also on the preflop, what would be the correct play?
How was it min raise if blinds were 75/150
this is a $5 sit n go btw.

moving down to $3.75 double up sit n go....on a bad losing streak. I thought i was a better player than this, unless everyone else just got better :/

On the first hand, how much to bet depends on the pot odds you want to offer. There's 210 in the pot before it gets to you. When you make it 180, there's 390 in the pot, and since it costs him only 60 to call (6.5:1), he should do so even if he was fooling around and opened two rags because he is less than a 6.5:1 dog against your likely range. You manipulate that by changing your bet sizing.

On the second hand, why did you think open-limpimg was the best choice? What was your objective, and how well did your action and your hand fit it? And what was your plan if anyone raised? If they shoved? You can have different answers for different opponents, but your thought process should include asking yourself such questions before you act.

Raise preflop, then bet flop, if you raise preflop and he donks into you the pot would be bigger so you could just shove.

if blinds are 10/20 and I bet 1000, the minimum bet allowed to be placed by anyone else in 2000 unless they have between 1000 and 2000 in which case they could raise to all in. He bet 450 and you minbet to 900.

Another hand, I think I played it perfecty as I knew he was gonna raise after flop no matter what. But I suck out on the river yet again. Every tournament I play this shit happens. What do I do? He was playing fairly loose the whole game so I though I'd trap him.

Dealing [A h][A d] to archangelzx
Jubbo folds
alexx223 raises to 240
waydo77 folds
Jubbo claps for alexx223.
archangelzx calls 240
Pot sizes: 510
Dealing Flop [3 s][5 d][8 s]
archangelzx checks
alexx223 bets 510
archangelzx raises to 1,020
alexx223 raises to 1,530
Jubbo claps for archangelzx.
archangelzx calls 1,500 (all-in)
Returning 30 to alexx223 uncalled
Pot sizes: 3,510
archangelzx shows [A h][A d]
alexx223 shows [Q h][Q d]
Dealing Turn [J h]
Pot sizes: 3,510
Dealing River [Q c]
Pot sizes: 3,510
alexx223 has Three of a Kind: Queens
Jubbo cheers at archangelzx.
alexx223 wins 3,510 with: Three of a Kind: Queens

Perfectly? Where do I start.

You do realsie you decided to flat call pre with pocket aces? That is horrible to start with. You min raised again. Have you even bothered taking on board what I said abount min raises? Don't do it, period. I can see why you're having trouble at poker if you regard that as a hand well played. Sorry to be blunt but you seem to have taken absolutely no notice of what has been said already.

Lol, Blue you always get there before me.

Mate, if you're going to 3-bet (reraise if you don't know what that is) you generally want to make it more than the minimum, because he's never ever going to fold for that amount.

Generally you want to make it 3x his opening raise while in position, and 4x out of position.

This hand IMO (and probably a lot of other people's O's) was played horribly.. reraise him PLEASE, and for more than 1 big blind.

As played the money should have gone in preflop, you can't do much about him sucking out because it would have happened anyway.. but you'll get less suckouts if you 3 bet pre-flop to give you a better chance of playing your hands heads up (1 on 1)

Its clear that you want to improve as you joined a poker forum, for more learning purposes you might want to read up.. start with the basics..

Hope this helped!

I know what you are talking about, I am just playing more cautiously because I have lost almost all of my bankroll. Therefore I don't want to throw all my money into a hand that that can bust me out like what has happened. So, you're saying don't min raise? I'm too scared to raise higher and its not worth folding. I am seroius about poker but my losing streak has put a dent in my confidence and I am not playing how I used to.

Seriousley considering coaching at this stage.

Right. I'm gonna say this before like 5 other CC'ers say it..

If you're playing with money you can't afford to lose, don't play at all.

So couple of quick questions, how big is (and was) your bankroll? what stakes do you play at regularly?

and lets see your logic here.. you want to get more money in the pot (thats why your raising) but you don't want to raise enough to be able to stack him on later streets.

This makes no sense, if you're not willing to stop min raising then you're going to lose a lot of money, because the other players worse hands are not going to fold pre flop, and when they do suckout, the pot will be larger because of your silly min 3 bet.

Its good to know you're serious about poker, but if the money means that much to you, you might have to move down even further. Hey, I just went through a 10 buyin downswing over 2 days on stars, and I'm accepting the fact that I'll have to move back down for a while, it happens.

I don't think I'm good enough to be teaching others yet, but I am moving over to PKR in the coming week or so, so I'd be happy help you out when I switch. PM me your PKR name etc, and I'll add you as soon as I create a profile.

Quick analysis on this hand as well, might help you know what your doing wrong.. don't know how to bold in HTML, so I'll just leave a little hashtag (#) and number by everything you did wrong and a note below.

#1 - lol really? you flatted him with AA? why.. does he triple barrel with air every time he misses? before you make a move, think about why you're doing it..

in poker, you make money every time someone else makes a mistake against you.. a mistake as stated by Sklansky (I think it's Sklansky?) is an opponent playing differently to how they would play if they could see your hole cards.

If you could see his hole cards knowing he couldn't see yours, you'd ship it pre-flop knowing you'd get called right?

#2 - right, these min raises.. need to stop. He potted the flop anyway with like a 1000 behind, so he pretty much intends to jam any turn that isn't an Ace or King depending on how good he is.

This means he's willing to stack off most of the time, so you might as well save him a click and put him all in, because he's never going to just call or fold.

Can't be results orientated, I know its hard since we as humans tend to think of things in absolutes.. (as in, 'I'm the favourite, so I should win here all the time/most of the time)

If you get the money in there a 100 times, you'll win most of the time, I cba finding the percentages, but your a big favourite there. But the fact is that if you did it a 100 times, there would be periods in which he'd win it like 4 times in a row (assuming you shuffled the Queens back into the deck after each deal) and times he'd wouldn't see a Queen for a long while.

He sucked out. Guess this was his time to hit a Queen, nothing you can do really.

A pocket pair will beat a lower pocket pair just over 80% of the time. This means the latter will suck out about one time in five. In the long run, you'll win a lot more with AA than with any other holding, but you'd better get used to losing with it too because it will keep happening.

Even though I also don't like your line, you got it all in well ahead. After that, all you can do is hope the cards don't fall badly, which they did.

As for playing timidly, IMO there are a few things to consider. One is whether you're playing above your roll; i.e. not exercising reasonable BRM. Another is whether you're playing above your ability level. Even if you're rolled for it, this isn't a good idea except as a learning experience in order to test the waters with an eye to moving up. A third is emotional. No matter if you're playing within your roll, if you're changing your game because you're tightening up to reduce your potential losses, you're playing too high.

You guys are obviosley very good at poker, and these mistakes I make must seem pretty stupid but It's hard to see past them all when I belive it was the right play. But I have come to realise that stupid mistakes like that all add up, and it determines whether or not you are a winner/loser overall. I am going to dedicate alot of time to study the game. If anyone has anything that could help me I am more than open to suggestions .

Ask yourself why you consider flatting to be the best play here. You'll struggle to think of anything other than disguisied hand value. As a general rule if you have AA pre, bet. There will be times where flatting is best but until you understand the game a bit better you don't need to worry about that.

You win at poker by being better than your opponents. This doesn't mean you have to be "good" in an absolute sense. Simply being "not as bad" will win against poor players. The key is to take ego out of the assessment as much as possible. We all want to think we're better than our opponents, but the best gauge isn't what we think, it's our actual results over a significant sample size.

Thankfully, there are players whose egos won't let them admit they lose because they're not good enough. They blame luck / variance, and because they insist on thinking their ability level is already enough to win, I suspect many don't focus enough on improving.

Don't be one of them, and you'll do fine.

brilliant advice

couldn't sum it up better tbh. wp, AJ.. wp.