Not Quite Threadworthy--Low Stress Strat Questions

I agree - people in generally terrible in bomb pots, and particularly the type of people who are encouraging them. It's fine to sit out, but I think they are definitely +EV to play.

1/3 live - Eff stacks $400

V is a 22 year old college student, playing TAG haven't seen him get out of line. Table in general is playing loose passive garbage LLSNL standard game. My table image is drinking, looser side of TAG but not full blown LAG at all. I've shown down AA, KK, AKo in raised pots. Have taken down a number of other pots without showdown.

3 limpers, I raise KQhh on Btn to $20

BB calls, V calls in UTG+2, LP old man calls on CO

Flop Jc Tc 2h. Checks around to me. I check instead of c-betting into 4 players

Turn 6s. Checks to me again, I go for the delayed C-bet and fire $50. BB folds.

UTG+2 check/raises to $130. CO folds. I mull it over and fold getting only 2:1 direct odds and just about 4:1 implied if I were to get the whole stack on the river. Been thinking this over and I think I should've taken the free card I guess. Calling $80 on the turn seemed like a punt. Jamming the naked OESD also seemed like a punt as I'm putting V on a flopped JT 2 pair, or maybe a turned set of 6's and I don't think my overcards are live. Thoughts?

as played i think the fold is correct, college student is scared money

he's early in position so could easily be playing something like 66 limping in getting free card on flop and then "springing the trap"

he's almost never folding so there's no real value in semi bluffing with a jam - as played i think stacks too short to call - agree with you

however, i don't think we ever thin the herd enough with a delayed cbet here - especially since a lot of our outs are dirty

would take the free card every time

Your read on him makes final action obvious.

Almost no chance anyone has the read "looser side of TAG but not full blown LAG" on you, and if you thought about it like that while playing then that's probably a leak.
You could be basically std. TAG and a bunch of people will decide you are a maniac because you raise when you don't fold, or they don't notice anything.

Would probably bet the flop a lot, esp. with BDFD, but for 20-30 depending on reads/etc. Also would assume you get called a lot.

Turn card isn't good to delay cbet and size too big, and you get raised ... ez fold.

$80 in the pot preflop, you put in $50 on the turn and UTG2 puts in $130. So there is $260 in the pot and you have to call $80. That's over 3:1 direct odds.

Don't think the turn is an easy fold at all. It's a really bad spot, which is exactly why you should not bet this hand. Would much rather bet the flop.

what are you repping on the turn? pocket sixes?

unless you have overpairs in your range after checking back the flop your turn bet basically is inviting people to CR bluff you.

flop i could go either way. i think there is some merit to betting a moderate amount here like 1/2 pot, where people are not going to CR you with less than two pair, and you can then see a cheap river.

as played easy turn call b/c of implieds. i dont think you have to call a river shove if its a Q or K. if he checks river and you make top pair you can check back and win a fair amount too.

What a mess thanks fellas

I think this is faulty logic. It’s the opposite, you’re the PFR, you have to cbet the flop, fold out what you can & keep the story going, I am strong. The kid might have folded his 66

College kids show up where I play sometimes and they are not scared money with likely more gamble than most. I never under-estimate them, but beat them with experience making less mistakes.

As played, taking the turn FreeCard was probably the play after checking the flop. It’s a shame to fold this hand that wins if you hit.

The kid probably doesn’t know, but checking the flop & betting the turn is very under-bluffed. I would have thought you had value, so it was not a bad play.

If you really think the kid is ‘scared money’ a check-raise shove could work depending on how much he has left. Otherwise, a fold was probably the right play.

Again, I wouldn't say "easy" call, but I do agree it's a call. Getting close to direct odds to draw. Solid implied odds, particularly against a set. Low reverse-implied odds (he occasionally makes a flush when we make a straight but he isn't semi-bluffing often). Some small chance of winning (or chopping) after check-check on river.

The only interesting river decision would be on a club if he checks.

I’m in the middle of some kind of long downswing right now. It’s not so much that I’m not getting cards. But some of my strong hands are not getting paid off. I’ve had full house against full house not get paid, flushes and top trips good kicker get folds. I play at the lowest stakes so I don’t think that I can bluff many hands. I also can’t seem to get value either. I really don’t think I’m against players who are soul reading me.

Any thoughts or recommendations?

unless you're talking double paired boards or boards with 3 of a kind on it, the only time people don't go broke with boat over boat at 1/2 and 1/3 is when the other player involved is such a nit that they know 100% they wouldn't be playing a big pot on a paired board without the goods

that, combined with with your "i don't think i can bluff many hands" makes me guess you overfold too much and people have figured you out and know to proceed cautiously if there's ever another pot with you

that player type is my favorite to play against, i know they're never bluffing and never playing too speculatively so i can just check/call in spots where i would have bet/raised and can fold where i would have called or bluffed

i would never call myself a nit, i probably vpip around 25%
this is a pretty decent chart of hands i'll rfi with

it's not super tight (i have a weird thing about always playing Q9), but it's usually among the tightest at the table and anyone who is tighter than that is pretty rare, there's not many who'll fold 22 but raise 66, so the jump from my range to the next tightest is orders of magnitude tighter - the gg type who if they raise you know AK or JJ are their worst holdings

but i'm almost never viewed as one of the tightest at the table, for the simple reason that i straddle, not just btn straddle (which i'll do every single chance unless the utg wants it, in which case i defer to him instead of taking it - but do it with the "I don't think button should get priority" not the "thanks for bumping up the price to play for me when i have the button" which is the reality

so i do things like straddle every button, the occasional utg straddle (will do it first one or two times and if nobody else is doing it will slow down and stop but... the point's been made, i'll also casually drop an utg straddle periodically if there's a bunch of new players at the table to let them know i'm that wild and crazy guy who straddles)

and importantly, i strategically bluff, there's a lot of times where you can reasonably bluff at low stakes, it just has to be in the right moment, people are remarkably bad at telegraphing the general strength of their hand, ie there's so many times you know for a fact there's no way that player could have the nuts but is hanging around with mid or top pair

but the main thing is, when i play a pot, i play big pots, first few times i get way too much fold equity, but then soon enough people realize that's the price of playing a pot with me and they begin to ignore the fact that i just folded 8 hands in a row, they remember that the only person raising $25 preflop is me, so i'm obviously that wild and crazy guy - so they give action and more often than not i'm in position, holding the initiative, and usually have the best starting hand as well

Downswings happen to everybody. Can play perfect poker and lose money short term. This could be you. Or you could be playing crappy poker and should be losing. Or anything in between.

But if you don’t know how to handle a downswing you probably need to work on certain areas.

For sympathy, go to
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/170/l...

Go read about GG’s terrible downswing. In a ten-year spreadsheet, he documented the year-long downswing.

After 3 limpers at a typical loose table I'd mostly raise either way more (in an attempt to get this HU) or way less (to simply juice the pot a little but create a more playable SPR).

With two overs and an OESD (albeit one that could be dirty thanks to flush draw), I think I still cbet this in position and see what happens, which may give us some turn options.

I don't think we're telling a credible story at all by betting the turn and will have little FE here or on the river. I would actually like this play a whole lot more hand we checked back the flop with like AJ or whatever cuz it guarantees payoffs for the same reasoning.

Our math seems off on the turn. I think there is now $260 in the pot and we're being asked to call $80, so we're getting over 3:1. It seems unlikely someone is check/raising with a flush draw, so all our OESD outs should be good, plus we're in position, plus we could perhaps consider repping the flush if he checks it. I'm calling.

GcluelessNLnoobG

In now my ~17th year of recreational 1/3 NL, I don't think I've ever been on a year long downswing (although I did flatline the first COVID year but that was over a lol sample size). Of my two tied-for-first downswings, they both happened very quickly (both 10 session horrendous streaks). The first one I dug out of fairly quickly, although the second one took me a lot longer (I think half a year of rec playing). The first 5 months of last year I was just barely over breakeven... although I'm basically doing the opposite this year so far (I'm simply not losing, like, ever, lol). My last downswing (which, for me, I consider $1500 at 1/3 NL, lol ldo) was 9 years ago in 2017 (I've come close a couple of times since but never officially booked one).

As someone kinda mentioned above, it may not be obvious if it's a downswing or simply par for the course. Does OP have a solid sample size prior to the downswing at a decent winrate? If so, then more chance he's going thru a downswing. If not, then more chance he's not as much a winning player as he might think in his conditions.

Ggoodluck!G

I'm not sure if it's my anxiety finally getting the better of me but I seem to have lost any semblance of gamble that I used to have in my 20s. I enjoyed time at the tables, could brush off losing sessions/pots/bad beats and continue playing, knowing that I would win in future sessions. I generally played somewhere between TAG and LAG, lots of bluffing and aggression. I ran good and won a lot of money. I played mainly 5/5.

Now in my late 30s, I have become extremely results oriented and painfully passive, if I lose a BI I'll pack up and go home. I've become the nit of nits. I hate nits and have now become that which I hate most. The worst part is that I'm a nit who is also losing at the game. My main game is 1/1. It feels so big to me for some reason. I'm no longer enjoying the game. I miss the enthusiasm of my former self and the regs I used to play with at the casino. Sometimes I think I want to play, will drive to a nearby game and immediately hate being there.

I think I've lost my spark.

Either that or my psychological problems are finally kicking in. Will be seeing a mental health professional next week for some therapy.

What you are feeling/going through is perfectly normal,so many players are experiencing the same. Not trying to belittle your issues,just making sure you are not alone.

I have gone through some of the same stuff for the past year. Dont have the same spark in me to just keep going and grind away like i did in earlier years. Wich means the big losing sessions its harder to handle. 3-4 years ago if i went through a bad losing streak i coudnt wait for the next session so i could play and get it back. Now i need more space than before.Play mostly PLO as well in wild games so the swings can be huge.

Everyone needs to find their own way through this,and it could mean alot of different things. For me a combination of exercising alot and eating clean+playing less for a while had good effects. I dont force myself to play,if i dont want to play for 2 weeks or a,month-i just dont.

Good luck next week.

Life is too short to do things you're not enjoying doing. There's a zillion things to do in life, and poker shouldn't be one of them if you're not enjoying it.

Ggoodluck!G

sounds like burnout, how often do you play?

dare I ask why you play then?

1/2 400 max

Hero (UTG) - $320
UTG+2 covers

Button asks if she can straddle on the button, dealer says no, only UTG can - so I straddle UTG

30-something AW/poker dealer at a room near by is UTG+2 and says to me "if I look at my hand and see at least one face card, I'm raising". She proceeds to raise to $25 - MP and LJ both call, folds back to me and I see A♦A♥

What are we liking for a squeeze size here? Is $150 too much, or not enough? Jam seems way too greedy imo. I haven't shown down a hand yet and haven't won any pots in the first hour I've been there fwiw

$150 is the max but given its 1/2 I think you can bet a little less -130/135 ish. You don’t mention how much the other two callers have?

I think $150 is too greedy,jam is out of the question in this spot generating way to many folds imo.

We obviously want action here,so i would go around $110-$120 we arent deep stacked and SPR will be low regardless.

I ended up making it $150, UTG+1 thought for 30 seconds before folding, MP and LJ both folded and showed each other their cards (possible that UTG+1 saw at least one of their hands, as this table was not enforcing any sort of rules)

I jammed 974r flop, UTG+1 thought for 3 minutes before saying she'd flip a coin and call if it came heads (it came heads and she called) - run out of 5 and 6, somehow MHIG as she mucked