A few limit HE questions

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ph_il

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I'm interested in learning Limit HE, so, I decided to hop onto the play money tables and give it a go. I have a few questions about hands that Im not sure I played correctly or not. I have no prior experience with LHE, so these questions may seem a bit basic. Also, Im at the play money tables not looking for quality limit players, but to just get a feel and better understanding of the game without risking any money in the process.

1.
full tilt poker Game #6608973441: Table Play Chip 2252 - 50/100 - Limit Hold'em - 6:03:32 ET - 2008/05/29
Seat 1: bar crusher 56 (1,325)
Seat 2: gogu 36 (1,474)
Seat 3: PARAY (6,885)
Seat 4: swamp_princess (425)
Seat 5: jaserih (1,100)
Seat 6: Philthy (3,725)
jaserih posts the small blind of 25
Philthy posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #4
swamp_princess is feeling normal
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Philthy [As Jd]
bar crusher 56 calls 50
gogu 36 calls 50
PARAY has 15 seconds left to act
PARAY calls 50
swamp_princess calls 50
jaserih calls 25
PARAY: good hand
Philthy checks
...Is this check good for 6-handed play or would a raise have been ok here?
*** FLOP *** [Ks Tc Qs]
jaserih checks
Philthy bets 50
bar crusher 56 calls 50
gogu 36 calls 50
PARAY calls 50
swamp_princess calls 50
jaserih folds
*** TURN *** [Ks Tc Qs] [9s]
Philthy bets 100
bar crusher 56 folds
gogu 36 folds
PARAY raises to 200
swamp_princess folds
Philthy calls 100
...Is this call OK or should I have raised here with my nut flush draw? Its possible my opponent has a flush or a small straight. Raising puts more money into the pot, but if I get re-raised, Im certainly calling due to odds. So, should I go ahead and raise to build the pot or just call? And then if the river is blank, I can just check/call.

2.
Full Tilt poker game #6608989831: Table Play Chip 2252 - 50/100 - Limit Hold'em - 6:07:03 ET - 2008/05/29
Seat 1: bar crusher 56 (875)
Seat 2: gogu 36 (1,024)
Seat 3: PARAY (6,135)
Seat 4: swamp_princess (1,100)
Seat 5: jaserih (2,400)
Seat 6: Philthy (4,225)
bar crusher 56 posts the small blind of 25
gogu 36 posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Philthy [Ad Kd]
swamp_princess: nh
PARAY calls 50
swamp_princess calls 50
jaserih calls 50
jaserih: thanx
Philthy raises to 100
bar crusher 56 raises to 150
gogu 36 calls 100
PARAY calls 100
swamp_princess folds
jaserih calls 100
Philthy raises to 200
...Is it a good idea to cap the betting with AKs here with a 3-bet PF? Is just calling the better option?
bar crusher 56 calls 50
gogu 36 calls 50
PARAY folds
jaserih calls 50
*** FLOP *** [9d 4d 8c]
bar crusher 56 bets 50
gogu 36 calls 50
jaserih calls 50
Philthy raises to 100
...Again, is raising here a bad idea? Should I have just called to try and hit the diamond on the turn? My thinking here is that I have a lot of outs: diamonds and possibly A or K, so I should try and get in as much money on my draws as possible just in case I lose action on a later street if it does hit.
bar crusher 56 raises to 150
gogu 36 calls 100
jaserih calls 100
Philthy raises to 200
...I have a feeling this is a bad play and that I should just called the 3-bet.
bar crusher 56 calls 50
gogu 36 calls 50
jaserih calls 50
*** TURN *** [9d 4d 8c] [4s]
bar crusher 56 bets 100
gogu 36 calls 100
jaserih calls 100
Philthy calls 100
...I didnt hit here, but Im getting great odds to call the bet. Is raising here an option for the same reasons as above?

3.
Full Tilt Poker Game #6608999232: Table Play Chip 2252 - 50/100 - Limit Hold'em - 6:09:05 ET - 2008/05/29
Seat 1: bar crusher 56 (275)
Seat 2: gogu 36 (3,024)
Seat 3: PARAY (5,985)
Seat 4: swamp_princess (1,050)
Seat 5: jaserih (1,800)
Seat 6: Philthy (3,625)
gogu 36 posts the small blind of 25
PARAY posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Philthy [Ac Jc]
swamp_princess calls 50
jaserih calls 50
Philthy calls 50
bar crusher 56 raises to 100
gogu 36 calls 75
PARAY folds
swamp_princess calls 50
jaserih calls 50
Philthy calls 50
...Is the call OK or can I raise here?
*** FLOP *** [7c Ad Ks]
gogu 36 checks
swamp_princess checks
jaserih checks
Philthy bets 50
...I think its possible I have the best hand here. Is betting out the correct play or should I be looking to check/call to check/raise it on the next street when bets are bigger? Or check/raise to try and cap the betting?
bar crusher 56 calls 50
gogu 36 calls 50
jaserih: my kids are 50
swamp_princess folds
jaserih calls 50
*** TURN *** [7c Ad Ks] [Jh]
gogu 36 checks
jaserih checks
Philthy bets 100
...Again, Im sure I have the best hand.
bar crusher 56 folds
gogu 36 calls 100
bar crusher 56 adds 1,000
jaserih calls 100
*** RIVER *** [7c Ad Ks Jh] [2h]
gogu 36 bets 100
jaserih calls 100
Philthy ----
...What is my best option here with an opponent open-betting after my previous actions? I can beat a lot of hands: A, K, smaller 2 pair. Possible hands that beat me are Q10 for straight, AK, or set but none of them seem likely due to previous action, unless they're really slow playing. Unlikely, but not impossible. If I raise, Im only getting re-raised by a better hand and I almost certainly have to call. But if I do have the best hand, I want to get paid off for it right? So, best option in this situation is to just call or raise it?

Well, thats it for now. Thanks in advance for the replies.
 
Last edited:
F Paulsson

F Paulsson

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1. Check or raise are both fine. You have some equity edge, but crappy position. Depending on how well you play postflop, these may tip the scales one way or the other. If not sure, check.

2. 3-bet all the way. There are a lot more lone jacks that filled up to a straight than there are flushes. Also, you have the nut flush draw, as you say. Your equity is through the roof. Raise, re-raise, cap away.

3. I'd cap 100% of the time with AKs here.

4. Raising is the right move here. You just need two or more callers to make money off of the raise, and it looks like you have a whole train. This flop you should happily raise and even cap if it comes to it.

5. No, this is actually the best possible result. You've trapped everyone for four bets! Grats!

6. Calling is mandatory, but raising will achieve very little. You don't have that much fold equity, and there's not much point in making drawing more expensive than it has to be.

7. I prefer raising instead of overlimping. AJs is a strong enough hand to do that with. Limp/re-raising, however, probably isn't worth it.

8. I'd checkraise and hope to trap the field between me and barcrusher for an extra bet. Also, "donking" (as it's called) the flop with top pair is a play that may become easily readable if you do it. What other hands do you lead the flop with?

9. With the action on the flop, betting the turn is the way to go. If you had checkraised the flop, you'd of course also have bet the turn, so it's all good, all right.

10. You have to raise. There are very few hands that improved to a better hand than yours with that deuce. In fact, only 2-2. He could on the other hand have A-2 or K-2 or just "value"-betting A-8 or whatever. And you don't even have to have the best hand more than half the time to make raising right; there's a second guy in there who's basically a buffer fund for you. Raise away; you only need to win 34% of the time to make it worth it. And your equity, if I'd dare a guess, is somewhere in the vicinity of 75% here.
 
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ph_il

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Woohoo!
Thanks for the replies, FP. Its very much appreciated.
 
Dwilius

Dwilius

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I was answering questions in my head one by one before seeing Paulsson had thoroughly answered them. I know you're on micro philthy and I've played alot of .02/.04 and the easiest way to win there is find a constant raiser/bettor, there are quite a few of them on the weekend. They're harder to play HU, need a buffer at 6max, 3 or 4 people is best, you just play above avg hands and call down no matter how scary the board is. Some bigstacks get a kick out of seeing all 10k+ at penny table and usually thats how they play too, raise, raise...guess its stress relief. Anyway easy way to pick up couple bucks in short time.
 
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Dayne G.

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Hi Philthy,

I'm going to give some advice that's rarely ever given, especially to new players:

During the hand, be completely "hopeless!" In other words, don't HOPE you hit, don't HOPE they miss, react to every card with no emotion. I know that sounds totally off-the-wall, but in the long run, playing hopelessly will allow you to handle the emotional ups and downs that are inevitable in this crazy game!

Win or lose... move to the next hand, that's all you've got!

Good luck,
Dayne
 
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