Hey all,

I'll be making my first-ever trip to Vegas in a couple weeks (friend's bachelor trip) and looking forward to sitting down at a cash game or two while I'm there. As a novice in the game, I'm obviously wary of losing big time to pros and regs, but I would love to have the experience anyway and see if I can come away having learned something to improve my game.

Any advice for where to play, when, and how to play while I'm there would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

Here's a question for both ring and SNGs respectively.

In situations where you're not the pre-flop aggressor, when should you raise/check-raise a c-bet? I'm noticing that I don't really seem to have a clear strategy here, so would be interested in your own approaches

I've been looking at my own play and have noticed that I tend to raise a c-bet in the following situations:

- When I'm in a weak position (like SB) with a decent hand and want to take down the pot.

- When I have a reasonable but vulnerable hand, like :as::9d: on a :ah::7c::6d: flop.

- When I have 2-pair or a set on a wet board, like :9d::9s: on a :jc::9c::qh: flop.

If I flop a straight or better, I almost always slowplay, and if I flop a set on a dry board I slowplay probably 30% of the time.

Thoughts?

I've been devastated this month by paired boards on the flop when holding high pockets (JJ+).

on 2 occasions, Villain was holding something like Q10s or 910s and hit trip 9s or 10s on the board. I tried to protect my hand with all ins and got snap called and crushed.

I guess the same question could be asked of any heads up scenario where you're holding high pockets and the board is wet and coordinated.

What's the correct procedure, in and out of position?

- bet more preflop?
- check the flop?
- fold to a raise?

I've noticed myself recently getting into some tricky spots by limping and would appreciate some advice.

I'm not usually a limper - if I'm playing a hand I'm usually going to make a 3x raise. However, there are some circumstances where, for instance, I might be in the SB with, say, 4 limpers, so I'm getting great odds to call. So i might complete the SB with a junk hand like 86o.

The problem is that I seem to keep getting unstuck here. Maybe the flop comes and I hot bottom pair - say AJ6 or something. I've not got a great hand and in first to act, but then can't seem to fold on the flop. Or everyone checks the flop and so I decide to bet on the turn. Either way, I wind up getting in too deep with a bloated pot and a weak hand, and it's costing me money.

So my questions are:

- when (if ever) should I just limp with a rubbish hand?
- what do you guys usually do in the sorts of spots described above?

Hey guys,

I'm new to that math of poker and trying to learn all I can about pot odds and the "mathematically" correct times to call when drawing.

So, just so I have it right: If the pot odds are as good or better than the odds of making the hand on a draw, then call.

My questions are:
1. Does this only apply to only one card (the turn), or can I apply the same math to the river if the turn misses?
2. How often do opponents give you such a good price to draw? for example, improving your suited cards to a flush by the river is 9-1. It's very rare (in my limited experience) to get such good pot odds to make the call. It seems that one should almost never chase their draws.

thoughts?

Dennis.

I haven't posted a hand analysis question in forever but I'm still stewing over how I should have played this one:

It's my usual Saturday $50 tournament. We had 54 runners. It's the second level, blinds 50/100, effective stacks $10,000.
I had AK in the small blind, it limps to the button (aggressive but not really tuned in to proper tournament strategy), who makes it 3x to $300 (over 3 limpers). I make it $1200 from the SB. Everyone folds and he flats. I c-bet $2400 on a garbage flop, he snap calls, I slow down, we check the rest of the hand and he wins with JJ in the hole. Ok.
Very next hand, I get AKs again on the button, he 3x raises from the cutoff when it folds around. I decide to flat this time in position to disguise my hand.

Flop is A 9 4 with one of my suits. He fires 2/3 pot.

What's the move?

What a night. 3 big hands that didn't go my way:


Hand 1:
Table #50513244 - STT # 28231653
Starting Hand #2353007484
Start time of hand: 27 May 2013 19:23:28
Last Hand #2353006664
Game Type: HOLD'EM
Limit Type: NO LIMIT
Table Type: TOURNAMENT
Money Type: TOURNAMENT CHIPS
Blinds are now 200 / 400
Button is at seat 3
Seat 1: ELENHISGOOD - 12,200
Seat 2: HUCKWILKS - 8,600
Seat 3: badabingbambini - 12,587
Seat 4: wataboutyee - 12,130
Seat 6: SnaXen - 14,483
Shuffling Deck
Moving Button to seat 4
SnaXen posts small blind (200)
ELENHISGOOD posts big blind (400)
Dealing Cards
Dealing [J d][J h] to badabingbambini
HUCKWILKS calls 400
badabingbambini raises to 1,600
wataboutyee folds
SnaXen folds
ELENHISGOOD folds
HUCKWILKS raises to 8,600 (all-in)
badabingbambini calls 8,600
Pot sizes: 17,800
HUCKWILKS shows [K d][Q d]
badabingbambini shows [J d][J h]
Dealing Flop [K c][K s][Q c]
Pot sizes: 17,800
Dealing Turn [2 h]
Pot sizes: 17,800
Dealing River [9 h]
Pot sizes: 17,800
HUCKWILKS has Full House, Kings over Queens
badabingbambini: whoa
HUCKWILKS wins 17,800 with: Full House, Kings over Queens
SnaXen: wow
Seat 1: ELENHISGOOD - 11,800
Seat 2: HUCKWILKS - 17,800
Seat 3: badabingbambini - 3,987
Seat 4: wataboutyee - 12,130
Seat 6: SnaXen - 14,283
End of Hand #2353007484

Hand 2:
Table #50513933 - STT # 28231899
Starting Hand #2353020709
Start time of hand: 27 May 2013 19:38:17
Last Hand #2353019338
Game Type: HOLD'EM
Limit Type: NO LIMIT
Table Type: TOURNAMENT
Money Type: TOURNAMENT CHIPS
Blinds are now 100 / 200
Button is at seat 1
Seat 1: Koklerman - 7,950
Seat 2: Ljepotica24 - 11,300
Seat 3: MotorTed - 12,575
Seat 4: itchybollox - 12,050
Seat 5: badabingbambini - 10,000
Seat 6: shelts40 - 10,000
Seat 7: jurekja - 9,700
Seat 8: drumdrum - 7,050
Seat 9: RonDecon - 10,350
Seat 10: EdgeofChaos - 9,025
Shuffling Deck
Moving Button to seat 2
MotorTed posts small blind (100)
itchybollox posts big blind (200)
Dealing Cards
Dealing [Q d][Q s] to badabingbambini
shelts40 flirts with Ljepotica24.
badabingbambini raises to 600
shelts40 folds
jurekja calls 600
drumdrum folds
RonDecon folds
EdgeofChaos folds
Koklerman raises to 1,000
Ljepotica24 folds
MotorTed folds
itchybollox folds
badabingbambini raises to 3,200
jurekja folds
Koklerman raises to 5,400
badabingbambini raises to 10,000 (all-in)
Koklerman calls 7,950 (all-in)
Returning 2,050 to badabingbambini uncalled
Pot sizes: 16,800
Koklerman shows [A c][A h]
badabingbambini shows [Q d][Q s]
Dealing Flop [T c][5 d][3 c]
Pot sizes: 16,800
Dealing Turn [7 d]
Pot sizes: 16,800
Dealing River [6 c]
Pot sizes: 16,800
badabingbambini has One Pair: Queens
Koklerman has One Pair: Aces
Koklerman wins 16,800 with: One Pair: Aces
Seat 1: Koklerman - 16,800
Seat 2: Ljepotica24 - 11,300
Seat 3: MotorTed - 12,475
Seat 4: itchybollox - 11,850
Seat 5: badabingbambini - 2,050
Seat 6: shelts40 - 10,000
Seat 7: jurekja - 9,100
Seat 8: drumdrum - 7,050
Seat 9: RonDecon - 10,350
Seat 10: EdgeofChaos - 9,025
End of Hand #2353020709

Hand 3:
Table #50513933 - STT # 28231899
Starting Hand #2353026670
Start time of hand: 27 May 2013 19:44:46
Last Hand #2353024521
Game Type: HOLD'EM
Limit Type: NO LIMIT
Table Type: TOURNAMENT
Money Type: TOURNAMENT CHIPS
Blinds are now 200 / 400
Button is at seat 5
Seat 1: Koklerman - 15,600
Seat 2: Ljepotica24 - 19,350
Seat 3: MotorTed - 10,475
Seat 4: itchybollox - 11,750
Seat 5: badabingbambini - 1,550
Seat 6: shelts40 - 9,600
Seat 7: jurekja - 12,300
Seat 9: RonDecon - 10,350
Seat 10: EdgeofChaos - 9,025
Shuffling Deck
Moving Button to seat 6
jurekja posts small blind (200)
RonDecon posts big blind (400)
Dealing Cards
Dealing [Q s][K d] to badabingbambini
EdgeofChaos folds
Koklerman did not respond in time and is folded
Koklerman folds
Ljepotica24 folds
MotorTed folds
itchybollox folds
badabingbambini raises to 1,550 (all-in)
shelts40 folds
jurekja calls 1,550
RonDecon folds
Pot sizes: 3,500
badabingbambini shows [Q s][K d]
jurekja shows [T s][K s]
Dealing Flop [7 c][T c][T d]
Pot sizes: 3,500
Dealing Turn [5 d]
Pot sizes: 3,500
Dealing River [4 s]
Pot sizes: 3,500
badabingbambini has One Pair: Tens
jurekja has Three of a Kind: Tens
jurekja wins 3,500 with: Three of a Kind: Tens
Seat 1: Koklerman - 15,600
Seat 2: Ljepotica24 - 19,350
Seat 3: MotorTed - 10,475
Seat 4: itchybollox - 11,750
Seat 5: badabingbambini - 0
Seat 6: shelts40 - 9,600
Seat 7: jurekja - 14,250
Seat 9: RonDecon - 9,950
Seat 10: EdgeofChaos - 9,025
End of Hand #2353026670