Beginner: 2NL High Pair w/ Straight Draw

There was a lot of pre-flop raises with bad hands at this point.

Stacks:
Siff11 with $7.75
BTN with $0.84
SB with $0.33
BB with $4.83
UTG with $4.92
UTG+1 with $2.73
MP1 with $4.04
MP2 with $4.71
MP3 with $0.66

Blinds: $0.00/$0.00
Site: pokerstars
Dealt to BB:J♠ K♠
Sklansky group 3
Preflop:
2 players fold.
MP1 calls [$0.02]
1 players fold.
MP3 raises $0.08 to $0.10
siff11 raises $0.08 to $0.18 BTN calls [$0.18]
SB raises $0.15 to $0.33 [ all-in ] Hero calls [$0.31]
1 players fold.
MP3 calls [$0.23]
siff11 calls [$0.15] BTN calls [$0.15]
Total folds this street: 4
Potsize: $1.67
Flop: 7♣ Q♠ J♥ Hero bets [$0.08]
2 players fold.
BTN calls [$0.08]
Total folds this street: 2
Potsize: $1.83
Turn: 9♣ Hero ??

What do you think of my play so far? Bad call PF? How about the flop bet? And last but not least, how do you play from here?

I've never played 2NL but I doubt it is ever correct to flat a 4Bet with KJ just fold preflop.

As for the flop I think you should just check, but if you are going to bet it has to be bigger. 8 cents into a pot of $1.67 is nothing and you are giving great odds for almost any hand to call.

So overall, just fold preflop, as played try to get to SD cheap but who knows maybe at 2NL you can value bet this, I really have no idea about hand ranges for this level but I bet you find some pretty fishy players.

Couple of things, first you should have folded preflop. KJ is not a hand you want to be playing out of position against all that action. If you spike top pair you are being crushed by AK which is very likely given all the action.

Why are you leading into the preflop aggressor? That is usaully called a donk bet as it is usually checked back to the person (if any) who raised preflop. Also if you are going to donk bet this, it better be around half the pot. Not a good idea as the bot is getting very big and you will find yourself pot stuck where you can't really fold becuase of the price you are getting even though you are almost certain you don't have a good hand.

Played pretty horribly really but that is why we all post hands, also I am no master at this so don't take my opinion as scripture or anything.

As for the turn, as played, I check and call a small bet, fold to a 1/2 pot bet or bigger, in the hopes that my J might be good or catch another J.

Steveg1976 said:

Played pretty horribly really but that is why we all post hands, also I am no master at this so don't take my opinion as scripture or anything.

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What you said makes a lot of sense. In my brain, during the hand, what I was doing made sense. But when I think about it a day later it was pretty stupid play all around.

With all the PF raising with crap hands, I was of the mindset that if I had any decent cards I was going to call going into the hand (previous hand had 2 go all in with A-8 os and K-6 s). When the flop came, normally I would have minraised, but applied my lesson from yesterday and bet 4x BB. Though in retrospect, this was useless as the pot was so high this might have well been a check.

In my mind I thought he had AQ so I figured I had enough outs on the river to bet (K,J, or straight draw).

River card was a 10 giving me the straight and he called my all in. Don't know what he was thinking as he only had A-4 os.

I'm going to tighten up my play a lot tonight. I think I was getting cocky because I was up a lot more than I thought I would be after my first few days of play. I started playing bad hands last night and lost all my gains from the week.

ChurchSkiz said:

When the flop came, normally I would have minraised, but applied my lesson from yesterday and bet 4x BB. Though in retrospect, this was useless as the pot was so high this might have well been a check.

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This caught my eye; there's a bet sizing lesson in here for you as well. The whole #xBB sizing (or #xBB + 1BB/limper) only comes into play PF on your initial raise. But on the flop, turn, and river, you should be thinking in terms of fractions of the pot size, not BB any more. So let's forget about the actual hand for a minute. The pot size is $1.67 when the flop comes out. If you're going to lead at this pot, then (for example sake) we'd talk about 1/2 pot, 2/3 pot, or maybe 3/4 of the pot, etc. So if you're c-betting 1/2 pot it would be about $.85 and 2/3 would be $1.20-$1.25. Note that I just round a bit and not worry about the exact #. You could make it $.83-$.84 or $1.23-$1.24 as well; whatever works for you.

So, back to the hand now:
Fold KJs preflop in this situation (one limper then a standard PF raise in front of you). If you were first in or even behind one limper then I wouldn't mind raising here from the CO.

On the flipside, if you are really going to reraise here, then you need to raise more. You're not trying to trap or be trickly with KJs (it's not a great hand), so your reraise is really hoping to win it right here or hopefully isolate and set you up to c-bet/win on the flop. So your reraise should really have been to $.30-$.35 imo (probably $.35 I think based on your description of the players, your massive stack in their face, and several players to act behind). That may also change the dynamic of the PF action. Would button really flat here for > 1/3 of his stack? Doubtful. He probably shoves or folds now. SB may reraise all in, but for only $.03 more which doesn't reopen the betting. And MP3 is also then shove/fold. Can't see him flatting there either. So by reraising you've then essentially changed the whole play PF and your decisions are much easier.

Having said all that, fold PF there.

As played, the button called the flop bet with virtually ATC since you gave him 22 to 1 odds so you have no idea where you are at. There is a FD now not of your suit, but you picked up a gutshot to go with middle pair so you may have outs. Hard to believe he flatted two PF raises with nothing or A high; could be set mining I suppose (not JJ or QQ because those shove there PF 100% of the time at $2NL) but that's a lot of his stack (but again quality of player comes to mind...what have you seen him do?). AK/AQ is possible too here though at least AK might shove PF; maybe AQ too at this level. KT or anything that two pairs there (including QJ imo) is highly unlikely unless he was dropped on his head as a kid. He's already put half his stack into the pot, so he's most likely (99%) going all the way with this. As is I'd lead out for the rest of his stack $.42 and see if he's willing to throw it away. If he does call, you'll still have outs if you're behind. It's a fugly board, but I think you have to make him decide what to do and also realize that a $2NL you're ahead here at this point a lot as well.

Yeah, just to sum up & reiterate what JD is saying above: Your bets in cash games should usually be somewhere between 60% and 100% of the potsize. The reason the 3xBB+1BB for every limper rule is used, is because that is roughly a pot-sized raise preflop.

Once the flop hits, your bets should again be between 60-100% of the potsize. Thus, your 8 cent bet into 1.60 was WAAAYYYY too small.

So when in doubt on how much you should bet, you can't really go wrong betting 75% of the pot. In some situations, it might be better to bet larger or smaller, but that will be a pretty small mistake.