A on the flop with a good kicker

Rafael T.: PokerStars Game #25986092939: Hold'em No Limit ($0.01/$0.02) - 2009/03/15 11:13:02 ET
Table 'Spica IV' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: DoC.LemOn ($5 in chips)
Seat 3: zenduck ($6.42 in chips)
Seat 4: antoniozur ($3 in chips)
Seat 8: RafaelCT. ($3.94 in chips)
zenduck: posts small blind $0.01
antoniozur: posts big blind $0.02
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RafaelCT.
RafaelCT.: raises $0.08 to $0.10
DoC.LemOn: folds
zenduck: folds
antoniozur: calls $0.08
*** FLOP ***
antoniozur: bets $0.26
RafaelCT.: raises $0.26 to $0.52
antoniozur: calls $0.26
*** TURN ***
antoniozur: bets $0.22
RafaelCT.: calls $0.22
*** RIVER ***
antoniozur: bets $0.50
RafaelCT.: raises $0.50 to $1
antoniozur: calls $0.50
*** SHOW DOWN ***
RafaelCT.: shows (three of a kind, Aces)
antoniozur: mucks hand
RafaelCT. collected $3.54 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $3.69 | Rake $0.15
Board
Seat 1: DoC.LemOn (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: zenduck (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: antoniozur (big blind) mucked
Seat 8: RafaelCT. showed and won ($3.54) with three of a kind, Aces

He had A2 ... I think I made a good profit on that hand ... I couldn't risk too much either because he could have had a full house. What do you think?

Petrillo: I only have one comment: what a phase, huh? Congratulations Rafael!

Good play. A raise on the turn might have made you lose money on the river... But I could have done that too... Anyway: what a phase huh!? 😀

Marcelo: I think you played well. Since people call any raise with an ace in the hand, the full was a real risk.

Jardim: This is Rafael,
What's up, old man?

Look, do you want me to be honest? Or do you just want a compliment and me to tell you to keep it up?

Well, I'm going to choose the first option, because I think I can help you evolve your game.
Otherwise, I wouldn't even be posting here, obv.

Here's the deal:
I thought the hand was bizarre, man... The villain is simply one of the biggest donks I've ever seen in NL2...
I don't know why that surprises me, since 99% from NL2 is a real donk...
But that guy was too much... FUCK!!!

If I were a hero (you), the line I would follow here is: bet 3bb pf, apartment call flop, raise 3x bet his turn, insta snap asap river floor.

I'll explain:

1 - The table is 4handed, what are you doing there?
It's not profitable for you to play in less than 6handed, the blinds simply spin much faster, in the long run, you'll lose money playing in this spot, or you'll have to play a lot of lag to be profitable.

2 - 4handed and you raise 5BB???
Very weak play. The guy who paid is VERY donk... An overbet like that only pays those in front of you... Not even in nl25, someone will pay there with AJo... In the best situation, it's a coin flip!!! You want whoever is BEHIND you to pay...

3 - That miniraise on the flop is a very weak line for you to follow, here it's an apartment call on his donkbet...

Because if he has a weak Ace, A2 to A9, and is at least a reasonable player, he'll call at the odds and fold to anything you hit on the turn...

Which is exactly what we don't want him to do... SLOWPLAY FTW!!!
There's a draw on the board, so in this spot his range is AXo, TT, AT and KXs (of spades), ONLY...

Gutshot won't pay you that miniraise, and nut fd is difficult, but possible. Button pair can even donkbet there, it's even more difficult, it can happen, but it gives insta fold to your miniraise...

4 - on the turn you could raise (if you were unsure whether he was playing FD), or apartment call...
I don't think you made a mistake here... It's personal... It varies from person to person... Some call apartment, others raise...

Only if you wanted to raise to see if he has FD, don't give him a mini-raise, if he bets, he'll pay my mini-raise, to see the river... He's paying for odds...

Even if he has air, he's going to pay... Because he can try to move on the river, if he hits a spade card, a K, J or Q... In other words, he has a lot of outs to try to move the bluff on the river...

The mini-raise is just in case you think you're ahead and want to "slowplay"

5 - On the river, honestly, there's no such thing as a miniraise!
You're wasting $$$ doing this...

Yes, LOSING!!!

Because if he's paid you so far, that 9 hasn't changed anything for him...
Either you're ahead with missed FD or AX, or you're losing out to AT, AK and TT!!!

This is the point... Here you have to decide... Do you think you're ahead or behind?

If you think you're ahead, this miniraise is horrible!!! This is INSTA SHOVE as value!!!

If you think you're behind, fine, it's a call...
The miniraise has no value for ANYTHING there!!!

Btw, since you gave miniraise, imo, it's obvious that you think you're ahead, so you want to profit as much as possible... It's INSTA SHOVE!!!!

You didn't win + 50 cents with that miniraise, you missed out on winning + 1.12$ (how much he left behind when he called)...

The reason is simple, he's just going to drop AIR...
If there's AXo, he's not going to fold, he's going to call everything!!! Do you think that in NL2, they'll drop AXo there????
NO GO!!!, if he was going to let go, he would have let go at the turn!!!

Look at his river bet, that's VALUEBET, he doesn't have a missed draw there!!!
If he had, he'd go down!!!

Either you're too far ahead (AX) or you're too far behind (AT, AK and TT)...
As I said, if you think you're ahead... SNAP ASAP SHOVE!!!

Don't give the villains cheap SD!!! SD says a lot about how you play!!!
If he wants SD, he has to pay for it!!!

Now, given all that I've said, you have two options:

1- Getting mad at me because I said what I thought, not agreeing, thinking I'm a donk and don't know anything and deleting everything I said.

2- Understand that I'm giving you tips so that you can think like a cash gamer, so that you can evolve your game and try to understand the line of thought, asking anything you have doubts about....

The choice is yours.

Cheers.
Garden

Rafael T.: Come on Jardim, how can I be mad at an analysis like that? I respect you a lot as a cash gamer 😉

I can't even argue: option #2 ... if I've played cash 5 times in my life it's a lot 😀

Some explanations:

1- 4-handed: there was one guy in the second-to-last hand and two in the last hand ... so it was 7-handed ... then I got AQ and played right (but I left the table right after that hand).

2- Well... I also hate mini-raises, but I confess that I trembled at a possible full house. You see, the guy was betting very weakly according to the size of the pot... at low limits, that means the guy has cards! The three-bet I was sure he had, and if he only had the three-bet I knew I was ahead, since I was sure he didn't have AK. On the river I seriously considered going all in, so much so that it took me a long time to play, but I'm not taking any chances! I'd rather not win $1 than go down and see A9 or A6. But depending on the situation, I'd go all in.

3- On the flop I thought it didn't even make sense to slowplay because he was going to call my raise... he was just going to increase the pot. If he was going to call, why not raise? That's what I thought at least 🙂

That's all... but I don't think I played it completely right either. The problem is that when it comes to cash games I shudder 😀

Thanks Jardim! :happy34:

Btw, always be honest... that's the only way I'll learn!

To Petrillo and Marcelo: thank you very much!

Big hug!

Petrillo: Rafael, Jardim is 1000 times better at cash than me...

I tilt a bit because of the variance there. I didn't say anything about your play because I've been hit in the head a lot by Ax who goes full on the river...

But he's right, if you agree to play at a higher variance level... Since you're just starting out, and don't even have datamining software, maybe you should make less profit for the time being... But Jardim's ideas maximize profits in the long run.

The only slight caveat I have is that his comment is the view of someone who has never played NL2, only NL25 upwards. For example, in NL2 guys call this raise pf with a huge range of hands, because "the pot is big, will it hit?". So giving it is +EV, incredible as it may seem.

Jardim:
2- Well... I also hate mini-raises, but I confess that I trembled at a possible full house. You see, the guy was betting very weakly according to the size of the pot... at low limits, that means the guy has cards! The three-bet I was sure he had, and if he only had the three-bet I knew I was ahead, since I was sure he didn't have AK.
You have to put the guy in a range.
To see with which hands he would do a certain action...
😉

On the river I seriously thought about going down, so much so that it took me a long time to play, but I'm not taking any chances! I'd rather not win $1 than go down and see A9 or A6. But depending on the situation, I'd go all in.

That's the thing, in a cash game, you can't think like that...
If you think you're ahead, you have to maximize your profit.
In the long term, you lose money if you "lock"...

Do you think you're ahead?
So shova q is +EV!!!

Even if he has A6 or A9, as you said...
No problem. Re-buy and continue. At the very least, you've already seen that his line is pretty lousy... and you can make more advanced notes...

You can't play scary money in a cash game, otherwise you won't profit as much as you could.
That's why BR MANAGEMENT is so important...

3- On the flop I thought it didn't even make sense to slowplay because he was going to call my raise... he was just going to increase the pot. If he was going to call, why not raise? That's what I thought at least 🙂

Then you thought only of this street...
Don't do that, man. You should think like a chess player, who sees 3 or 4 moves ahead.

Remember to think about the results of your actions as a whole.

With the mini-raise, you've already made it clear to him: "I'm ahead of you!"
If he doesn't have a monster in his hand, TT or AT, he'll fold to anything you bet on the next street...
Then, instead of the raise being +EV to increase the pot, it's actually -EV...

I'm obviously talking about a good reg, someone who knows how to play.
It's NL2, the vast majority are donks.

But the line of thought, what I want to show you, is how you should think if you're playing with a good reg, or at higher limits.

It's for you to evolve your game...
😉

I didn't say anything about your play because I've been beaten over the head by Ax who goes full on the river...

LMAO

Me too, it's part of it...
I play 1k~1.5k hands a day, every time I take a suckout like that...

But that's Petrillo.

Cash game goes further.
You have to do what is +EV.

If you think you're ahead, be aggressive!

That's what differentiates the breakevens from the winners.

And of course, if you have the right bankroll management, it makes no difference... You made the most +EV play, according to the range you gave the villain. That's what matters...

In cash, you can make a mistake on the read, or take a suckout, re-buy and continue...

If it was MTT's hand, of course I wouldn't do any of the things I said...
lol

The only slight caveat I have is that his comment is the view of someone who has never played NL2, only NL25 upwards. For example, in NL2 guys call this raise pf with a huge range of hands, because "the pot is big, will it hit?". So giving it is +EV, incredible as it may seem.

That's right... But, as I said, the line of thought I gave you is the line that a good player follows.
A good reg thinks exactly like that...

It's obvious that this is NL2, so people make a lot of mistakes, but that's not the point.

The point is that I wanted to show how he should think in order to be a winner at higher limits.
NL2 is a passenger for him.

The game really begins in the NL10.

That's why the river thought.

If Rafael thought he was ahead (it's NL2, it's quite possible that the villain has AX there, because if it were nl100 for example, he wouldn't be ahead NEVER in that spot), shove is the +EV move.

If it's NL100, I would have told him to fold a long time ago.
lol

The guy's not going to let go of anything he called on the flop, turn and river...
You can shove it, it's SURE he'll pay...

And since it's NL2, he can even have A2!!!
As it really was... WTF?!?!

Btw, one observation:
When I was starting out, I never really played nl2, I must have 500 hands there last year, if I have all that, it's a lot.. lol

But now I'm always doing open push sessions with any2 there when I'm down to NL100...
lol

In other words, I see a lot of shit and my stomach turns.

Original author: Rafael T..