Did I play this correctly.
My first post. I have been playing 6max $.05/$.10 cash nl holdem on sportsbetting ag for a few months now. I had a question about what I did wrong on this hand.
I raise preflop 3BB and I go heads up with him to the flop. On the flop I check and then he checks. On the turn I bet 3BB out of position and he raises to 8BB. I raise to 13BB because I figure he doesn't have anything because he checked on the flop. On the river, I bet 15BB since I hit second highest pair. I was also bluffing a flush. He called and then I lost the hand. The guy's vpip was 55% and pfr was 13%.
I assumed because he checked me with top pair on the flop, that he had nothing. When he raised me on the river, I thought it didn't make sense because the river didn't change anything.
Where am I wrong in my thinking? What should I have done? What concepts do I need to work on?
Thank you so much for your time.
Ben
DriveHud2 format:
This might be more helpful:
NL Holdem 0.1(BB)
SB ($12.44) [VPIP: 20% | PFR: 15.6% | AGG: 36.4% | Hands: 137]
BB ($10) [VPIP: 21.9% | PFR: 18.8% | AGG: 33.3% | Hands: 32]
UTG ($12.38) [VPIP: 25% | PFR: 13.5% | AGG: 52.9% | Hands: 52]
HERO ($12) [VPIP: 23.5% | PFR: 19.1% | AGG: 51.6% | Flop Agg: 60.3% | Turn Agg: 48.2% | River Agg: 41.9% | 3Bet: 10.3% | 4Bet: 7.9% | Hands: 1875]
CO ($10.79) [VPIP: 54.8% | PFR: 12.9% | AGG: 41.2% | Flop Agg: 37.5% | Turn Agg: 30% | River Agg: 62.5% | 3Bet: 9.5% | 4Bet: 0% | Cold Call: 57.1% | Hands: 31]
BTN ($15.58) [VPIP: 26% | PFR: 18.5% | AGG: 47.4% | Hands: 342]
Dealt to Hero: Ts Qc
UTG Folds, HERO Raises To $0.30, CO Calls $0.30, BTN Folds, SB Folds, BB Folds
Hero SPR on Flop: [13.99 effective]
Flop ($0.75): 7s 6h As
HERO Checks, CO Checks
Turn ($0.75): 7s 6h As 4h
HERO Bets $0.30 (Rem. Stack: $11.40), CO Raises To $0.81 (Rem. Stack: $9.68), HERO Raises To $1.32 (Rem. Stack: $10.38), CO Calls $0.51 (Rem. Stack: $9.17)
River ($3.39): 7s 6h As 4h Th
HERO Bets $1.58 (Rem. Stack: $8.80), CO Calls $1.58 (Rem. Stack: $7.59)
CO shows: 9c Ah
CO wins: $6.10
4 Replies
QTo is a fold preflop from +1. Look into preflop ranges and start building a solid fundamental game from there.
QTo is a fold preflop from +1. Look into preflop ranges and start building a solid fundamental game from there.
For a 2.5BB open and NL50 rake, GTOwizard has it as a mixed open. I suppose if we open 3BB we can fold it pure.
Flop : good check, we can use a simple strategy of checking 100% of our range when OOP here. Since our opponent is clearly a recreational, we could also simply bet when we have a good hand and check when we don't have a good hand!
Turn: since our opponent checked behind on the flop, I guess it's ok taking a shot at the pot with our mediocre hand. Although there are several draws available, which they will never fold, so it's not ideal. But OK, not terrible. When they raise though, we absolutely have to give up with our garbage hand.
"I assumed because he checked me with top pair on the flop, that he had nothing." : dangerous assumption when you don't have a solid read on your opponent...
> What concepts do I need to work on?
You're not entitled to win every pot, even against atrocious opponents.
Hello Ben,
Welcome to the 2+2! It's great that you seek feedback and want to improve your poker game.
Let's analyze the hand you posted:
Preflop:
So, you have QTo on SB and the opponent calls your raise on BB.
Consider your opponent's range. With a VPIP of 55%, they could have a wide range of hands, including strong ones and their PFR of 13% suggests they are somewhat passive preflop.
I don't mind going 3bb preflop, but we usually want to do it with a narrower range from the MP position.
Flop:
You checked on the flop, which is okay.
However, your assumption that your opponent has nothing just because they checked might not always be accurate.
Players can check with strong hands for various reasons, like slow-playing or attempting to induce a bet on the next streets.
Turn:
Betting the turn is reasonable, especially after your opponent checks the flop.
But if you're planning on bluffing, I'd prefer one big bet to get folds from your opponent's wide range of unmade hands. Bet like 5bb.
Research shows that recreational players have fairly strong ranges in lanes where they show aggression after our aggression.
These are lines such as 4bet preflop, raises on later streets, bet/reraise, donk/reraise, and so on.
So I'd rather fold our trash hand against a turn raise.
River:
Your thought process on the river is also incorrect.
What do we want to achieve with our bet on the river?
You say that you got a second pair and this hand is enough for a value bet, but at the same time you are bluffing by representing a flush for your opponent.
These two statements conflict with each other.
On the one side, you are trying to get called by worse hands, but on the other side, you are trying to force your opponent to fold with those hands.
I think this is a bad bet on the river.
You won't get called by worse hands because there aren't any left in your opponent's range after the Bet/Reraise on the turn.
And you won't get enough folds to bluff profitably, because recreational players don't tend to fold their Top Pairs even when a lot of draws hit.
General advice
Don't overplay your hands when playing against recreational opponents.
The main goal when playing them is to hit a strong hand and get 3 streets of value against their wide range.
Be careful when passive opponents show aggression, especially when it is aggression against your aggression.
When you are going to bluff against recreational players, make sure they can fold (high fold stats, WTSD <30%, etc) and do it on the right runouts when their hands are getting worse.
For example, when two overcards came on the turn and river and their Top Pair on the flop became a Weak Pair on the river.
Remember, poker is a game of constant learning and adjustment. Keep analyzing your play, and don't hesitate to ask for feedback.
Good luck on your poker journey!
PS
Don't show your opponent's hand next time.
This way you will get more answers and the analysis of your hand will not be focused on showdown.
Thank you all for your detailed answers. This is super useful feedback.
