Hi there,
Im playing micro stakes 0.01/0.02 cash games and things are going pretty well until I hit my top pair vs a three of a kind or a 2 pair. I just can't fold AQ on a A358J board. I know the guy has something but i could be a Weaker ace. I raise 3BB he calls. Then i check, he bets. On the turn and river he bets again and i call.
Guy shows 55.
This is how I lose most of the time. I just thought he probably would have folded with 33 or 55 so i felt kinda safe. Should i be doing something different or am i just having bad luck or something?
Not really enough information here for a definitive answer, but I do see potential problems here:
"I raise 3BB he calls. Then i check, he bets".
After a 3BB open and a call, you need to be c-betting an (A,3,5) board, even if you missed completely. Now's not the time to be giving up the initiative. Of course, he will call your c-bet if he flopped a set. That's a rare occurrence as a pocket pair flops a set of better ~11% of the time. If you think he has a weaker ace than (AQ) you
definitely want to be betting, not giving him a cheap shot at two pair.
"I just thought he probably would have folded with 33 or 55 so i felt kinda safe".
Bad assume here. For a 3BB open, (3,3) or better can easily call, especially if he thinks there's a good chance he'll get paid if he trips up. He can make that call even if he doesn't trip, hoping to snap off a Big Slick that whiffed and gets stubborn on the flop, turn, and/or river with desperation bluffs.
"I just can't fold AQ on a A358J board".
That's why you got called by pocket fives.
The A Number One mistake I see all the time is overplaying with TP/overpair hands. You can play this hand very strongly at FLHE where it only costs you a few bets when it loses, not your entire stack. TP2K isn't the same thing at no-limit, and needs to be played cautiously. Yes, that means you will get bluffed off the best hand, but you know what they call a player who can't be bluffed, don't you? How do they do?
If you lead the flop, he calls. You lead the turn and he's still calling, you need to consider what he could have on the river that you can bet that he'll still call. What do you beat here? (A,T) (A,9) and that's about it. If he was slowplaying TPTK here, you were beat all along. Ditto for all sets and the (Ax) hands that hit their kickers. If he was chasing with (A,J) he got there. Your TP2K hand is essentially a bluff catcher by the river, so can he bluff with enough frequency in that ragged board to make a river call profitable? That comes only with knowing how your opponent plays. Last week, I had a similar situation with an (AK) that flopped TPTK. On the end, the vill checked and I checked back. He cussed me out in chat for ruining his check-raise
Because of the run-out and the vill, I knew all I could beat was a bluff, and I didn't figure he'd be pulling off any river bluffs as I'd never seen him try it.
With lone pairs at NL, you need to consider pot control to keep the pot small, especially when deep. Small bets or min-raises if you figure this will slow him down. Check back if you don't believe this will work, even if it means giving a free card to straight or flush draws. When deep, your priority is stack protection, not hand protection. If a free card gets him there, them's the breaks. Fold and move on, which you can't do if you don't have a stack.