$2 NLHE 6-max: Standard spot, what do we do here with no hands?

[JessTee]

PokerStars - $0.02 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 31 BB
SB: 112 BB
Hero (BB): 129.5 BB
UTG: 102.5 BB
MP: 49 BB
CO: 240 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K:spade: A:diamond:

fold, fold, CO raises to 3 BB, BTN calls 3 BB, fold, Hero raises to 15 BB, CO calls 12 BB, fold

Flop: (33.5 BB, 2 players) 6:club: T:spade: 7:diamond:
Hero checks, CO bets 18 BB, fold

CO wins 32.5 BB

Posting this because although there isn't a lot going on, its the sort of spot which overtime ends up costing me money. The squeeze/3bet pre I don't mind but otf are we cbetting here most of the time vs villain with no reads. I suck at playing from the blinds with a hand like this. If we have AQ in the BB here does anything change? We still 3betting pre and possibly cbetting or c/f'ing the flop?

 

[lanelosee100]

what else can you do here besides fold. well played

 

[braun_kan]

My standard play here is to c-bet half pot since I think a typical microstakes villain overfolds this spot. Many of them flat 3-bets way too wide and have a weak range in a spot like this. A c-bet will fold out a lot of their garbage and sometimes you'll get called by worse on this flop like AQo or KQs. 3-betting to 5x might tighten up their 3-bet calling range though.

As for AQ, I actually have a recent hand in this spot and I'm not sure if the line is +EV. I think if I had AK in this spot I would check the turn since I have showdown value, but with AQ I think this barrel might be +EV if we are getting AK to fold.


Winning Poker, Hold'em No Limit - $0.01/$0.02 - 5 players

UTG: $3.07 (154 bb)
CO: $0.70 (35 bb)
BU: $1.82 (91 bb)
SB (Hero): $2.00 (100 bb)
BB: $2.00 (100 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($0.03) Hero is SB with Q♦ A♣
UTG raises to $0.05, 2 players fold, Hero 3-bets to $0.20, 1 fold, UTG calls $0.15

Flop: ($0.42) T♣ 9♠ 3♦ (2 players)
Hero bets $0.21, UTG calls $0.21

Turn: ($0.84) 6♣ (2 players)
Hero bets $0.62, UTG folds

 

[mktpppr]

Well played, all fine.

No need to cbet bluff or barrel OOP in 3bet pots in nl2: population doesn't fold enough.

Just play a value-heavy positional game with initiative and you will be fine.

I flat AQ multi-way OOP pre in nl2.

 

[300HPGOD]

In your own words you say you suck playing hands like this from the blinds so I suggest then you 3 bet to a smaller amount. It may seem counter-intuitive since you are trying to get the villain to fold but if they are calling 4x then they are probably calling 5x or 6x as well. 3 betting smaller also allows your c bet to be smaller if you should choose to make one. Most of the time in these spots I would be c betting with a hand like this and a board that is as dry as this is (dry considering it was a 3 bet, call pot). I would make villain have 10x as even 99 or smaller one pair hands could be folding and villain should not feel great in this spot with even a A10 type hand. Put the pressure on them and make them make the tough decision rather than checking and letting them put you into the tough spot.

Are you ever checking JJ+ pocket pairs here? Probably not and villain knows that so they know the success of a bet on their end is over 33% so anything they make around half pot is profitable to them.

 

[eetenor]

PokerStars - $0.02 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 31 BB
SB: 112 BB
Hero (BB): 129.5 BB
UTG: 102.5 BB
MP: 49 BB
CO: 240 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K♠ A♦

fold, fold, CO raises to 3 BB, BTN calls 3 BB, fold, Hero raises to 15 BB, CO calls 12 BB, fold

Flop: (33.5 BB, 2 players) 6♣ T♠ 7♦
Hero checks, CO bets 18 BB, fold

CO wins 32.5 BB

Posting this because although there isn't a lot going on, its the sort of spot which overtime ends up costing me money. The squeeze/3bet pre I don't mind but otf are we cbetting here most of the time vs villain with no reads. I suck at playing from the blinds with a hand like this. If we have AQ in the BB here does anything change? We still 3betting pre and possibly cbetting or c/f'ing the flop?

Thank you for posting

When we identify an issue that is repeating itself we want to focus on a resolution for that type of issue that we can use multiple times.
We want to work on having a plan before we act -we do this away from the tables so that while playing we have a strong guideline in place.

The first step is to define your 3 bet ranges.
What is your 3 bet range in this spot? A standard value heavy range at 2nl in BB vs 2 V illains is AA AK AQ KK QQ JJ AJs
What does that range want to do on this board?
On this board we can treat all parts of that range the same. Why?
AQ AJ becomes the part of our range we bluff.
Our pre planning lets us know we will always have bluffs in our range.

Step 2
CO V raises- then calls what is the standard range in 2NL for that pattern?

What does that range do when we bet this flop? Fold what % of range? Call %? Raise%
By preplanning off table we can anticipate the V range reaction % in game and that determines our bet sizing decisions on flop.

This is of course just the basics of the first 2 steps as we want to be thinking about 2 street bluff strategies as calling flop is a standard reaction in 2nl for most of range in 3 bet pots. A standard fold rate of any pair in 2nl is only 20%. Also V calling overbets- V not respecting smaller bets etc etc

Hope this helps