Running into sets

Just wanted some input on whether I played my hands wrong, or if it was just a cooler. I play live 2-3 NL. It's only a $100 buyin with mostly unskilled players, so I play TAG.
I got AKs in early position against a loose calling station. I raised preflop to about $15. Villian calls. Flop comes 5 9 K, and I bet 3/4 the pot. He calls. Turn comes J which gives me a flush draw. At this point, my stack is a little over the size of the pot, so I go allin. He calls and shows 55. River comes 9.
I got AKo on the BB, and I get 5 limpers so I raise it to $20. The same loose calling station calls, and button calls. Flop comes K 4 3 all spades. I don't have a spade, but my stack is about the size of the pot. I go allin to discourage flush drawers. Villian calls. Button folds. Blank, blank. Villian shows 44.
I feel these two hands were just coolers for me, but maybe I just played them too aggressively. But then again, the live 2-3 games are very fishy, and the 33BB buyin leaves little room for manuevering.

Hand 1. You missed one key bit of information.

You need to tell us what the villain did on the turn, check or bet?

If they checked, I would consider checking behind for pot control if they are the type of villain that is inclined to check raise. If they are passive I might bet about half pot. Dont forget, we only have one pair.

Hand 2. The pot bet all in is fine, but note - We are not trying to "discourage flush drawers". All we want to be doing is making it unprofitable to be calling out bets long term, ie giving them incorrect odds to chase.

starting_at_the_bottom said:

Hand 1. You missed one key bit of information.

You need to tell us what the villain did on the turn, check or bet?

If they checked, I would consider checking behind for pot control if they are the type of villain that is inclined to check raise. If they are passive I might bet about half pot. Dont forget, we only have one pair.

Hand 2. The pot bet all in is fine, but note - We are not trying to "discourage flush drawers". All we want to be doing is making it unprofitable to be calling out bets long term, ie giving them incorrect odds to chase.

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Sorry, if it wasn't clear. In both hands, I was 1st to act. Villian plays strange: never raises pre-flop even with AK, but will bet post-flop. Also, this is LIVE 2-3 NL. No offense, but it doesn't sound like you've ever played. Trust me, you will get called by a strait drawerer even with a pot-sized bet with you being short-stacked. LOL! That's why I bet 2/3 to pot size. It only takes 2 donkey callers for them to get their odds when betting half. That's one of the great things about live poker, but you also see suck-outs on a recurring basis.

Hand 1 is fine.

Hand 2 is fine too, but you don't want to discourage flush draws, you want them to call

Sounds like you are running into monsters atm, and there's nothing you can do about that, it happens.

First of all : "U can t beat luck", thats part of the game.
1. Hand : I think with only pair u overplayed it. If hes a callingstation, like u say , he will call ur 3/4 pot bet anyway and u build a hugh pot so u have to go all in on river.
2 Hand :after the flop without spades, its just bingo playing , in Hope that no one has spades and that they believe u have it.
In sum I think u play too agressive

ESS is lol, both are fine to gii with.

And why would you play those shortstacked games? I mean, 33bb buy-in is ridicilous and you lose a huge edge over fish by playing these.

As for the hands, you played well, just find some normal games with standard buy-in.

both played fine. extremely high variance in short stack games, would find yourself a 100bb min table.

Thanks for all the feedback. Yes, I know about the high variance. I just had a $1,300 loss in three days (about 750 hands). You know, the usual: raises w/high pockets with no callers, card dead, missing flops, running into hidden boats (AA limping). To cap it off, today I got 2-outed by another donkey (he pushed me allin on the flop with TPTK against my T2P. The next level game available is a 3-5 $300 NL, but there are more good regular players and I feel I would tilt if I played that. I do have ridiculous bankroll and could play higher games, but I still feel like a huge favorite in the 2-3 NL.
I might have some leaks to plug, but I think I was playing well since I was still able to correctly fold T2P on the flop against a set.

Those seem like some odd limits lol, 2-3? Horrible that they cap the buyin so short, I mean even the 3-5 game is only 60bb, so ugly for a number of reasons obviously as has been stated.

Unfortunate to be running into those sets, with such a ss obv you made the correct moves and unlucky to have been crushed in both situations. I think I would pass before playing a 33bb ss live game ewww, i like my pub game with no buyin cap . Min buyin of 50bb when it starts and you could buyin for 1000bb if you wanted, which have seen some fish do haha. Win a big tourny and then throw it to the cash game sharks haha.

BluffMeAllIn said:

Those seem like some odd limits lol, 2-3? Horrible that they cap the buyin so short, I mean even the 3-5 game is only 60bb, so ugly for a number of reasons obviously as has been stated.

Unfortunate to be running into those sets, with such a ss obv you made the correct moves and unlucky to have been crushed in both situations. I think I would pass before playing a 33bb ss live game ewww, i like my pub game with no buyin cap . Min buyin of 50bb when it starts and you could buyin for 1000bb if you wanted, which have seen some fish do haha. Win a big tourny and then throw it to the cash game sharks haha.

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I'm happy to report that I haven't lost much money against sets lately and started good last weekend. But Sunday was when it started getting bad again. I played sunday and tuesday night and all the 3 sets i flopped got destroyed on the turn and river by draws (one was a backdoor flush, barf!). I got dealt KK vs AA with rags on the board and lost another 1.5 buyins. I lost another 1.5 buyins w/T2P from a rivered flush. I also got gutterballed w/TPTK and lost another 2 buyins (dude called a small bet and I made a huge raise and he goes allin even when I'm pot-committed, LMAO!). I flopped trip kings w/J kicker and lost to a donkey who flopped a K7 boat and was actually betting it out on every street (Obviously, I misread his hand). In total, I lost $1k in those 2 days (sun & tues).

I can't wait til Friday, when I'll be able to play these stupid donkeys. I hope they call me with their draws. They can't hit them everytime I'm in the hand (or so I hope, LOL). I've also decided to play the 3-5 NL more. I realized the pre-flop raises are the same as the 2-3 anyways (i know, it makes complete nonsense). I just have more chips, which is a good thing. But lately, I've been less confident and I am irrationally thinking I might get dealt kings vs aces or flop set under set and lose another $1K. Hopefully, I run normal this weekend. That's all I ask for. If that happens, I'll finally break this 2 weekend losing streak.

NeverTilt said:

I'm happy to report that I haven't lost much money against sets lately and started good last weekend. But Sunday was when it started getting bad again. I played sunday and tuesday night and all the 3 sets i flopped got destroyed on the turn and river by draws (one was a backdoor flush, barf!). I got dealt KK vs AA with rags on the board and lost another 1.5 buyins. I lost another 1.5 buyins w/T2P from a rivered flush. I also got gutterballed w/TPTK and lost another 2 buyins (dude called a small bet and I made a huge raise and he goes allin even when I'm pot-committed, LMAO!). I flopped trip kings w/J kicker and lost to a donkey who flopped a K7 boat and was actually betting it out on every street (Obviously, I misread his hand). In total, I lost $1k in those 2 days (sun & tues).

I can't wait til Friday, when I'll be able to play these stupid donkeys. I hope they call me with their draws. They can't hit them everytime I'm in the hand (or so I hope, LOL). I've also decided to play the 3-5 NL more. I realized the pre-flop raises are the same as the 2-3 anyways (i know, it makes complete nonsense). I just have more chips, which is a good thing. But lately, I've been less confident and I am irrationally thinking I might get dealt kings vs aces or flop set under set and lose another $1K. Hopefully, I run normal this weekend. That's all I ask for. If that happens, I'll finally break this 2 weekend losing streak.

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I think it may be the quality of players at the higher stakes. I play mostly 1/2 NL live, and raises rarely get respect unless they're 5xBB or more. I was watching poker on TV, and I was almost stunned at how much respect 2.5xBB raises were getting. I guess 1/2 is just filled with horrible players who have absolutely no concept of stack sizes, bet sizing, pot odds, etc.

AvaloNNN said:

And why would you play those shortstacked games? I mean, 33bb buy-in is ridicilous and you lose a huge edge over fish by playing these.

As for the hands, you played well, just find some normal games with standard buy-in.

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This.

The point of playing live in the first place is because fish get deep and you can get them to pay off your big hands when you are both 300bb deep.

Just unlucky dude you played the hands correctly and if you continue to play that way results will show tomorrows another day i hope you run a lot much better nothing wrong there

i play at 1/2 nl live when i am running bad at 2/5, or just do not feel i can play at least my B game. 1/2 nl live is a big donk fest and lots of people call me preflop with q10 type of hands to a 6x raise. i think you played your hands fine, because people are going to call worse all the time. you can win chips fast and also lose them fast sometimes. but, i would definitely find a deeper game to play in. when tables get deep stacked, your edge will really shine. people will not fold their high pockets to anything with 300 big blinds behind, so they get stacked with your 2 pair, sets, etc.

3/5 nl is still filled with a bunch of fish and they will chase a lot. so in the short run you could lose quit a few bills. i would also hesitate to play if you are doubting yourself which it sounds like you are. do not worry so much about short term results and focus more on making the correct decision.

Thanks for the support guys. I'm going to start playing the 3-5s exclusively unless they're all regulars at the tables. I did feel more comfortable and less tired from not having to dodge all those bad beats I was used to at the 2-3. At the 3-5, I feel there's only 1-3 donkeys chasing their draw that has -EV cuz you'll fold if it hits. At the 2-3, there were some tables where 4-6 donkeys are chasing the 3 high flush or gut-shot wheel. LOL!

I've plugged a few leaks I had, and I am soaking in all the knowledge I can get. I guess that's the best thing about running bad; you fix leaks you didn't see before cuz you were just running good.