$2 NLHE 6-max: Am I just this bad or is this a cooler?

[tzuriel]

Villian Stats (VPIP/PFR/AF): 50/41/56

Villain is VPIP 50 after 15 hands. I was 24 after the same 15 hands

I know my 2BB raise on the flop was pretty dumb. He probably isn't folding to a standard sizing here anyway. When the flop comes, I cannot put him on a K here since I am holding a K.

Please help me fix my bad play. I actually do want to get better, believe it or not. What am I doing wrong?

No Limit Hold'em $0.01/$0.02
6 players
Formatted by pokercopilot.com: Poker HUD for Mac and Windows

Stacks:
UTG - UTG ($2.32)
MP - MP ($2.35)
CO - Hero ($2.40)
BTN - BTN ($2.06)
SB - SB ($2.00)
BB - BB ($2.00)

Preflop: ($0.03, 6 players) Hero is CO with J♠K♠1 fold, MP raises to $0.06, Hero raises to $0.17, 3 folds, MP calls $0.11

Flop: K♦6♠K♥ ($0.37, 2 players - MP: $2.18, Hero: $2.23)
MP checks, Hero bets $0.04, MP calls $0.04

Turn: Q♣ ($0.45, 2 players - MP: $2.14, Hero: $2.19)
MP checks, Hero bets $0.10, MP raises to $0.26, Hero raises to $2.19 (all-in), MP calls $1.88 (all-in)

River: 3♣ ($4.78, 2 players, 2 all-in - MP: $0.00, Hero: $0.00)
Uncalled bet of $0.05 returned to Hero

Total Pot: $4.73
MP shows Q♥K♣ (a full house, Kings full of Queens [Kh Kd Kc Qh Qc])
Hero shows J♠K♠ (three of a kind, Set of Kings [Ks Kh Kd Qc Js])

MP wins $4.50 from main pot

 

[c0rnBr34d]

Pre:
I like a larger 3B to about 11 BB we don't HAVE to 3B though, we can flat some percentage of the time with weaker suited broadways depending on how the V and the rest of the table will react.

Flop:
Agree this cbet is too small. I'd go at least 5 BB.

Turn:
Since there are a few straight draws now I think 1/2 pot is good here. When we get raised we don't have to 3B in position but if we do, jamming is going to look super strong and allow V to play pretty perfectly. The approach to the hand doesn't make sense. If he's calling way too much then Hero can bet larger pre, flop, and turn but we didn't. If he's blasting off with any two cards or any draw then it may be fine to stack off here with trips but is he really going to call it off on a draw on a paired board when we could already have a boat? We make a huge 3B here and unless V is a special kind of whale he's just not going to call with enough hands that we can beat. I'd expect we can stack a smaller King but that's about it. His raise is kind of small as well. It looks like he's trying to build a pot more than get folds if he checks or bets really small we may get induced into a raise but if he blasts river it will probably be much less than all in and we can just call as he's representing a boat or a big King and we can't really beat much of that range. There is no flush draw to charge so I prefer to flat and mostly call the river bet. It would be gross if he 2x overbet jammed river into us, not sure I would get away but in that case since we showed pretty much no aggression post flop he could still have some bluffs to go along with his smaller Kings. When we jam turn we remove all the bluffs and I just cant think of a non King hand he calls with that we can beat.

 

[Sidetracked]

I definitely prefer a flat of the early position raise preflop.

Once the flop comes, though, the hand becomes very difficult to get away from. Deciding to play for stacks on the turn seems a bit rash, and at that point, you will be isolating yourself against hands that will have you beaten.

 

[fundiver199]

Preflop
I can be on board with both 3-betting and flatting, but if I 3-bet, I want to make it larger like 20c rather than just 17c. His VPIP/PFR are very high, and this does make me want to 3-bet more, since KJs is then almost a 3-bet for value. 15 hands is a very small sample though, so be carefull to not overadjust in general.

Flop
Great flop for you obviously, and this is an extreme way ahead way behind situation. He either have AK, KQ, K6 or 66, and then you are way behind and drawing to only a few outs. Or he is way behind, and most of his hands are pretty weak. Like 77-QQ, AQ, AJ etc. You are not going to win stacks against that kind of hand, and you want them to stay in the pot, so you definitely dont want to blast it.

You could actually go for a trap here and check behind hoping to induce a turn bluff or get some light calls from him later. But a small C-bet is also fine. However if you bet, you need to bet an amount, that actually matter. 4c into 37c is just silly. If you keep it below half pot, I think, you will get plenty enough calls at 2NL. So maybe bet 15c but not just 4c.

Turn
The Q on the turn is actually not a great card for you, since it puts pressure on 77-JJ, which should be a somewhat significant part of his range. There are some gutshots, that developed though, and AQ now has a strong second pair. So I definitely think, you still need to bet for value, but once again I would keep it on the smaller side.

Once again you take the small bet sizing to far though betting only 10c into a pot of 45c. I would bet something like 20c in this spot. When he check-raise you, its difficult to say, what it really mean, because your sizing looks so weak. So I think, he can have a decent amount of bluffs here, or he could be raising AQ for value thinking, he has the best hand. For that reason I would just call and give him the chance to fire another barrel on the river.

Instead you move all in, which is a massive overbet of almost 2 times the pot. This is the main mistake in the hand. When you make a move like this, you need to ask yourself, which hands he can call with, that are worse than yours? And the answer is pretty much none. If he has the AQ and is raising for value, then this action is certainly going to make him reevaluate, how strong he think, his hand is. And of course he is going to snap fold all his bluffs.

Results
This is a bit of a cooler, and even if you had sized your bets better, its not unreasonable to get stacked, when you have trips in a 3-bet pot. However you played in a way, where you would only win a small pot, if he had a hand worse than yours, and this is, what is going to kill your winrate in the long run.

 

[messats]

Villian Stats (VPIP/PFR/AF): 50/41/56

Villain is VPIP 50 after 15 hands. I was 24 after the same 15 hands

I know my 2BB raise on the flop was pretty dumb. He probably isn't folding to a standard sizing here anyway. When the flop comes, I cannot put him on a K here since I am holding a K.

Please help me fix my bad play. I actually do want to get better, believe it or not. What am I doing wrong?

No Limit Hold'em $0.01/$0.02
6 players
Formatted by pokercopilot.com: Poker HUD for Mac and Windows

Stacks:
UTG - UTG ($2.32)
MP - MP ($2.35)
CO - Hero ($2.40)
BTN - BTN ($2.06)
SB - SB ($2.00)
BB - BB ($2.00)

Preflop: ($0.03, 6 players) Hero is CO with J♠K♠1 fold, MP raises to $0.06, Hero raises to $0.17, 3 folds, MP calls $0.11

Flop: K♦6♠K♥ ($0.37, 2 players - MP: $2.18, Hero: $2.23)
MP checks, Hero bets $0.04, MP calls $0.04

Turn: Q♣ ($0.45, 2 players - MP: $2.14, Hero: $2.19)
MP checks, Hero bets $0.10, MP raises to $0.26, Hero raises to $2.19 (all-in), MP calls $1.88 (all-in)

River: 3♣ ($4.78, 2 players, 2 all-in - MP: $0.00, Hero: $0.00)
Uncalled bet of $0.05 returned to Hero

Total Pot: $4.73
MP shows Q♥K♣ (a full house, Kings full of Queens [Kh Kd Kc Qh Qc])
Hero shows J♠K♠ (three of a kind, Set of Kings [Ks Kh Kd Qc Js])

MP wins $4.50 from main pot

its not all about statistics. poker is a combination of stats reads and strategy, you need to harness all these to realize when you're ahead or you're beat.

remember all poker hands are beatable

 

[jaworek1405]

Hello, I agree in the large part with guys. Above all I prefer flat call to raise from MP position, I always respect raise from utg, mp and hj position. Opponent seems on loose player, we have hand kjs and this hand had good potential to hit something on the flop. I agree also with guys that yours bets on the flop and on the turn should be bigger, at micro limit 50% of the pot is standard for me. Bets for less than 50% of the pot can be looks like your weakness. Yeah, your 3bet allin on the turn is a little mistake, it seems that you didn't respect his raise pre flop, because he played like loose player. On the turn I'm not sure on 100% the strenght of my kicker. This time you had a little worse kicker and you lost, maybe next time your kicker will be better than your opponent. GL

 

[tzuriel]

I really appreciate everyone's time, energy, and insight to respond and help me improve my play. I will need to read and reread these responses a few times to let it all sink in. I am unsure how I would ever get away from this kind of hand but I sure could have lost less! And as I understand it, that's also winning. Right?