B
Beasty2k
Rock Star
Silver Level
Hi all, am new to this forum as well as to the game overall. Hope youhave time to answer a few of my newbie question. Have played live whilst underthe influence a few times, and decided to try online 2 weeks ago. I playmicro-stakes (0.05/0.10) NL cash games. I turned $100 into $150, playing an average 1-2 hours a day, which to me seems ok. Have a few questions I keep bumping into, please help. I am sorry if I don’t use proper poker lingua, but I am still learning (still having problems understanding the majority of the threads on this site!). J
QUESTION 1reflop calling/reraising. I tend to follow the traditional advice of “raise/fold”on early position (raise only with strong pocket cards), call/reraise on late position. But, how much? Let’s say I get TT in late position, UTG raises 3xBB; do I raise, call or fold? And if UTG raised 10x BB, do I still call? Trying to evaluate how good my hole cards are overall, I guess, but people tend to be so sloppy when betting preflop. And what to do vs people who always raise HUGE or reraise HUGE preflop?
QUESTION 2:Why was I called a donk? (note opponent had played very aggressively during 1hour or so) Early positioned opponent raises preflop to 0.35, I reraise Ts Ac to 0.60. Flop is Tc Qh Qs. Opponent checks, I raise 1xpot, opponent calls. Turn is blank. Opponent checks, I raise 1xpot, opponent calls. River is blank, opponent pushes all-in, I call and win 2 pairs, opponent has Js 9h.
What did I do wrong? An aggressive opponent, I tried to take control, if he had a Q he would have bet harder say at the turn (and I would have folded). If not, he could be slowplaying QQQ but quite odd since I was aggressive preflop, right(giving me 1 or 2 free cards would be stupid)? Was he bluffing (apparently!)?Was I really a donk? He did have straight draw but seems weird he would call a fairly big flop raise with only that. I did have a good hand postflop, correct?
QUESTION 3:Which brings me to the following question. Let’s say I have TT and flop is xQx. Do I raise/call or do I have to check/fold only because I missed the flop? Sure he might have a Q, but I mean how likely is that? If opponent checks, that signals he does not have a Q, so what do I do? People always advise to never bluff in micro-stakes, but why not? Seems he doesn’t have a Q, so I might aswell raise some, no? Makes him think I have one, he might call and my semibluff is underway, or am I wrong? Or he folds, and I win the pot.
QUESTION 4:I try to calculate pot-odds vs outs as much as I can when having a flush draw etc post flop, but it is never necessary as everyone always raises too much. Saypot is 0.80, I have a flush draw, they will ALWAYS raise $1.50 or more. Is this only because people in microstakes tend to be sloppy / overly aggressive?
QUESTION 5: Leads me to… do I need external software to succeed, or be a mathematical genious? To keep track of odds & pot odds? I try and use the above advice Ihave been told and it works ok on micro stakes, so far anyway.
QUESTION 6:If someone raises post flop, do you (experienced players) always think the person has a good hand? Let’s say you missed the flop, do you generally fold?(I know it’s hypothetical and depending on what cards are there, but still?).It just seems so static if people only play good hands. If everyone all the time plays only great hands, then no-one is the long term winner, right? Money will just go round and round. Guess question is, based on the very few things that I do know (see everything above), what is the main difference between a fish and a pro? Or maybe between a hobby-amateur and a pro?
QUESTION 7:Based on all the information I have given away above, what would you call me –a fish, a donk or anything else?
FINALQUESTION 8: Talks of position… In micro-stakes, why is position important? The blinds are tiny and there is always more money behind. Why not raise everytime you have a decent set of hole cards, regardless of position, even in early position? Followers at the table ought to do the same, call/raise if good cards,fold if bad.
Thanks so much for the answers, and any other input or advice would be much welcomed!! J
QUESTION 1reflop calling/reraising. I tend to follow the traditional advice of “raise/fold”on early position (raise only with strong pocket cards), call/reraise on late position. But, how much? Let’s say I get TT in late position, UTG raises 3xBB; do I raise, call or fold? And if UTG raised 10x BB, do I still call? Trying to evaluate how good my hole cards are overall, I guess, but people tend to be so sloppy when betting preflop. And what to do vs people who always raise HUGE or reraise HUGE preflop?
QUESTION 2:Why was I called a donk? (note opponent had played very aggressively during 1hour or so) Early positioned opponent raises preflop to 0.35, I reraise Ts Ac to 0.60. Flop is Tc Qh Qs. Opponent checks, I raise 1xpot, opponent calls. Turn is blank. Opponent checks, I raise 1xpot, opponent calls. River is blank, opponent pushes all-in, I call and win 2 pairs, opponent has Js 9h.
What did I do wrong? An aggressive opponent, I tried to take control, if he had a Q he would have bet harder say at the turn (and I would have folded). If not, he could be slowplaying QQQ but quite odd since I was aggressive preflop, right(giving me 1 or 2 free cards would be stupid)? Was he bluffing (apparently!)?Was I really a donk? He did have straight draw but seems weird he would call a fairly big flop raise with only that. I did have a good hand postflop, correct?
QUESTION 3:Which brings me to the following question. Let’s say I have TT and flop is xQx. Do I raise/call or do I have to check/fold only because I missed the flop? Sure he might have a Q, but I mean how likely is that? If opponent checks, that signals he does not have a Q, so what do I do? People always advise to never bluff in micro-stakes, but why not? Seems he doesn’t have a Q, so I might aswell raise some, no? Makes him think I have one, he might call and my semibluff is underway, or am I wrong? Or he folds, and I win the pot.
QUESTION 4:I try to calculate pot-odds vs outs as much as I can when having a flush draw etc post flop, but it is never necessary as everyone always raises too much. Saypot is 0.80, I have a flush draw, they will ALWAYS raise $1.50 or more. Is this only because people in microstakes tend to be sloppy / overly aggressive?
QUESTION 5: Leads me to… do I need external software to succeed, or be a mathematical genious? To keep track of odds & pot odds? I try and use the above advice Ihave been told and it works ok on micro stakes, so far anyway.
QUESTION 6:If someone raises post flop, do you (experienced players) always think the person has a good hand? Let’s say you missed the flop, do you generally fold?(I know it’s hypothetical and depending on what cards are there, but still?).It just seems so static if people only play good hands. If everyone all the time plays only great hands, then no-one is the long term winner, right? Money will just go round and round. Guess question is, based on the very few things that I do know (see everything above), what is the main difference between a fish and a pro? Or maybe between a hobby-amateur and a pro?
QUESTION 7:Based on all the information I have given away above, what would you call me –a fish, a donk or anything else?
FINALQUESTION 8: Talks of position… In micro-stakes, why is position important? The blinds are tiny and there is always more money behind. Why not raise everytime you have a decent set of hole cards, regardless of position, even in early position? Followers at the table ought to do the same, call/raise if good cards,fold if bad.
Thanks so much for the answers, and any other input or advice would be much welcomed!! J