[3 Bet Then 4 Bet]

Pair in hand = muck, especially when two dead aces kill possible straight outs. 2/5 of stacks going in preflop is too much to try to catch a flop.

[Should I Have........]

Yeah don't raise flop, wraps sucks on two tone boards. Call with position and see what happens on the turn. Preflop is a super easy call.

[Not Sure If There's A "right" Answer Here]

With a pair in hand I don't want to see a 4 bet preflop. Therefore since our hand plays well multiway I keep it that way preflop. MP, even though shortstacked, can still shove a ton of hands that have JJ in bad shape. River sucks cause villian needs a JKQx or KKQx type hand to call flop and turn bets. Any other reads/stats fall into my decision here, but I prob call since villians range is pretty polorized to KQ or bluff. Just make a note and move on.

[Starting Hand Requirements]

As was said, position matters, as well at stakes and stack sizes. Our hand is absolute garbage, but with AK and a suited ace I certaintly don't mind limping behind a couple loose passive fish, or raising a player who limp/folds alot or generally plays horrible post flop. We should be able to stab at quite a few pots in position flopping as little as flush draw + overs or top pair. In early position I definelty fold, and as stakes increase I lean more towards a fold as villians are less likely to be limping dominated hands.

[Time To Get Serious With Plo]

When i first started playing omaha I was going by a bit learned from watching two jimmy fricke vids on cardplayer pro which basically taught erroring on the over agro side preflop in late position and cbetting tons of flops. This was about 9 months ago though at stakes .10/.25 - .50/1.00. Alot of which was presented in these videos probably doesn't apply nowdays. I am only playing $25PLO today due to a 6 month run bad/break even stretch; and realizing appropriate bankrol requirements for PLO, like 50+ buyins not the 20 similar to NLHE i stared with. In the last six months I have read rolf slotboom's book as well as the jeff hwang articles on carplayer.com. Hwang has a couple good artilces on preflop hand selection, while rolfs book is mostly good only for short stacking; though, if playing low limits, a lot of tweaks have to be made to his strategy due to the general passive play at micro's. Best advice I could give would be read some artricles/books then play and see what does and does not work at micro/small limits. Looking at your stats, you have way too large a gap between VPIP and PFR. Also playing way too many hands OOP if SB VPIP is > 50.Also in for talking hands/railing, don't have any really serious online poker friends, but would be glad to find some.

[Pair And Fd On Flop, Weak Flush On Turn]

I didn't even think about checking the river. I think I have the best hand here almost always after the flop and turn action and I'm not sure how likely someone is to bluff in a 4 way pot. Ill be interested to see if anyone else c/c the river, cause that may just be the holdem donk in me wanting to overplay a low flush.

Flop is an easy check/fold, definelty don't lead out into 3 other players. Strong made hands/draws are going to raise, which actually isn't the problem as we have no problem folding our hand. The problem is naked better draws will just call, AK/AQxx type hands probably float with position and the turn is going to suck to play if we get called. A jack is about the only card where we will feel good about our hand, and even then its going to be difficult to extract any value, especially being OOP. Agree with turn analysis, pot control all the way. If someone bets I would actually probably just fold with no reads. We only beat a 5,7, or 8 high flush; hands which probably don't bet the turn that often. On the river you most likely have the best hand but its going to be difficult for anyone to call. If you check it someone in late position might make a thin value bet with a set, wheel, or aces up. If you are going to lead I would make is something like 1/3 pot to intice a two pair type hand to look you up light assuming you would bet more with a flush. 3/4 pot is too much IMO, 1/2 is probably most I would bet.

[Ever Fold Weak Aaxx Preflop]

I can't think of a single time I would fold AAxx preflop. Even in dingas example of pot then repot in front of us from the SB. We can repot and get almost 60% of our stack in preflop then simply jam the flop for the remaining, assuming we get called. We are a coin flip at worst and there is alot of dead money allready in the pot, folding would be a huge mistake.

[Tpnk Oop In A Multi-way Pot]

My plan for this hand would be to check the flop and take a free card and improve.My plan B would be to check-raise any bet from the button.You bet here. Good. Probably you planned to take it down straight away. BB called. Bad.He could have been floating with overs, chasing with a draw or simply have flopped a straight or two pair. For me this is a check/fold on turn and river.

Plan A: we likely flopped the best hand and you want to give 4 opponents a potential free card to hit their overs, not good. We need to bet out here for value and to try to thin out the number of players seeing the turn.Plan B: check raising is horrible, do you expect a worse hand to call your raise? By check raising you are essentially turning your hand into a pure bluff.

[Is This A Good Time For A Blocking Bet?]

TP good kicker at $2NL = try to get stacks in the middle. Also, you are probably greatly overthinking this whole hand for the opponents you are facing. 90% of them have no clue what they are doing so trying to assign ranges is almost a waste of time. You can simply bet your good hands knowing you are getting called by alot worse the vast majority of the time.

[River Blocking-value Bet]

I have no clue how you can fold here getting over 3-1 odds. What does the villian hold that has us beat? I'm seeing a 5 or AK, yeah 23 got there but is he really calling a raise with it preflop. Sets need to try to extract some value on the turn, AQ would probably bet the turn, even trip 5's is probably betting the turn. Bad laydown IMO.

[$50nl Hu Vs Aggro Donkey]

As title states, villian is very aggro. He was raising the BTN about 98% of the time and never folding to any of my 3 bets, not once. It seemed like everytime I slowed down in a hand he would come out firing. Also, everytime the board had ran out with a 4 card straight he had made a pot sized bet representing, or actually holding, the straight; I folded the first few times and raised on a flush draw the last, never had a strong enough hand to look him up. Below are some set up hands to give an idea of his play.Hand 1 - villians calls very light preflop and gives me no credit on the flopUltimateBet $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 2 playersThe Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.comBTN/SB: $38.75Hero (BB): $50.00Pre Flop: Hero is BB with Qh QcBTN/SB raises to $1.50, Hero raises to $4.50, BTN/SB calls $3Flop: ($9.00) 4d Jd 8h (2 players)Hero bets $7.25, BTN/SB raises to $30.75, Hero raises to $45.50 all in, BTN/SB calls $3.50 all inTurn: ($77.50) 8d (2 players - 2 are all in)River: ($77.50) 6s (2 players - 2 are all in)Spoiler: Final Pot: $77.50BTN/SB shows Qs 8s (three eights)Hero shows Qh Qc (two pair, queens and eights)BTN/SB wins $77.00(Rake: $0.50)Hand 2 - again, shows the type of weak hands villian is playing and aggression when I show any weaknessUltimateBet $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 2 playersThe Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.comBB: $84.55Hero (BTN/SB): $56.10Pre Flop: Hero is BTN/SB with Kd 8dHero raises to $1.50, BB calls $1Flop: ($3.00) Th As Kc (2 players)BB checks, Hero bets $2, BB calls $2Turn: ($7.00) Ac (2 players)BB checks, Hero checksRiver: ($7.00) 2s (2 players)BB checks, Hero bets $5, BB raises to $15, Hero calls $10Spoiler: Final Pot: $37.00BB shows 6h Qh (a pair of aces)Hero shows Kd 8d (two pair, aces and kings)Hero wins $36.50(Rake: $0.50)Hand 3 - villian mixes it up and plays a hand passively, really shows the junk he will play in a 3 bet potUltimateBet $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 2 playersThe Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.comBTN/SB: $52.35Hero (BB): $85.95Pre Flop: Hero is BB with Jh JsBTN/SB raises to $1.50, Hero raises to $4.50, BTN/SB calls $3Flop: ($9.00) Kh 5d Qs (2 players)Hero bets $5, BTN/SB calls $5Turn: ($19.00) Qc (2 players)Hero checks, BTN/SB checksRiver: ($19.00) 7c (2 players)Hero checks, BTN/SB checksSpoiler: Final Pot: $19.00BTN/SB mucks 5c 2sHero shows Jh Js (two pair, queens and jacks)Hero wins $18.50(Rake: $0.50)Hand 4 - this occured immediately before the hand in question, A8 sooooted OOP in a 4 bet pot, thats winning pokerUltimateBet $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 2 playersThe Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.comBB: $48.20Hero (BTN/SB): $160.20Pre Flop: Hero is BTN/SB with Kd KcHero raises to $1.50, BB raises to $4.50, Hero raises to $14.50, BB calls $10Flop: ($29.00) Qh 2h 9c (2 players)BB bets $29, Hero raises to $58, BB calls $4.70 all inTurn: ($96.40) 4s (2 players - 1 is all in)River: ($96.40) 5h (2 players - 1 is all in)Spoiler: Final Pot: $96.40BB shows 8h Ah (flush, ace high)Hero shows Kd Kc (a pair of kings)BB wins $95.90(Rake: $0.50)Those are the major hands up til this point, a few other bigger pots are basically the same kind of stuff seen above. One other thing about this villian was that he was making a lot of insta calls and insta bets. In Hand 1 I literally hit enter on the bet and his raise was in the middle, hand 4 he insta called PF and insta bet pot on the flop.UltimateBet $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 2 playersThe Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.comBTN/SB: $95.90Hero (BB): $112.00Pre Flop: Hero is BB with 9c 9dBTN/SB raises to $1.50, Hero raises to $4.50, BTN/SB calls $3Flop: ($9.00) 6h 5c Js (2 players)Hero bets $6, BTN/SB calls $6Turn: ($21.00) 7d (2 players)Hero checks, BTN/SB bets $15, Hero raises to $50, BTN/SB raises to $85.40 all in, Hero calls $35.40Preflop is standard given the villian's BTN play. Once he calls the flop, I put him on any pair on the board, 77-88, TT, maybe 22-44, and straight draws; probably even a few gut shots. I felt there was also a small chance he could be floating with overs, he had done this a couple other times but not yet in a 3 bet pot. Then there is always the chance he slow played a big pair preflop and I'm crushed.Since I was ahead of most of his range and given his aggressive tendancies I check the turn to see if he will bite; he abliges very quickly. I'm kind of unsure here, but I think raising is the best play? Something like raise > fold > call. There are alot of ugly river cards and villian is likely to continue to bluff if I just call so I don't really like it being OOP. At the same time being 200bb's deep makes getting it in with essentially 2nd pair and a gutter ball pretty marginal.Maybe it was hang over tilt from him rivering a flush against my KK but I didn't think I could fold to his RR after seing him shove 2nd pair early in the match. Again, thoughts on this?Any thoughts or insights on the entire hand are appreciated. I've only been playing HU for about a week now and am still unsure about some spots like this. For 100bb's and the flow of the match I probably brush it off if hes got a better hand; this deep I'm really unsure if I should be getting it in this light. Right now I do and don't like my play here, can't really make a decision.

[Anyone Play This Differently]

I think I would've folded already on the turn... There, it's pretty sure a that point he's got at least a Straight...

Folding the turn would be pretty close to the worst play ever, were getting over 13-1 and have 8 outs that guarantee us the nuts.I probably flat call the turn as well. We raised him on the flop and he didn't go anywhere that leaves us with no reason to suspect the turn would be any different. We will have position on the river if we hit and can make a value bet/raise depending on his actions.

[Qq Post Flop Play]

Weak-Tight means that people are going to call 2 raises with paint, thats what weak-tight players do. IT LOOKS PRETTY.And it absolutely matter, betting the flop makes this hand 10x easier, then you don't have to worry about calling his "CALL ME" bet.

I think what you are describing is more of a loose passive player. When I say weak tight I generally see that as not playing very many hands, never value betting with marginal holdings that are probably good, checking and trying to hit draws before committing chips, that sort of stuff.

[Qq Post Flop Play]

The thing is, if he has a mid-pocket pair, he will stack off on this flop (or at least call your flop bet). If he has AQ/AJ, he might still call as he's a donk. If he has any broadway clubs, the money is getting in. By checking the flop, you allow an A to roll off and scare him off. Or you don't get max value off of draws.What exactly are you hoping he'll hit if he whiffed? If he's going to fold to a flop c-bet, it's probably only with a big ace that missed that he'll only stack off if he pairs the ace.

I don't think all mid pairs are stacking off here because I am showing a ton of strength and putting the villian into a very tough spot. I'm not looking for him to hit anything, I want to make my hand look weak enough to ensure he stacks off a middle pair. Also I'm not really worried about losing value from draws as they make up so very little of his range, precisely AcQc or AcJc. Thats only 2 of the possible 32 hand combinations that make up the range I gave him after the flop. This is probably more of an issue of the table dynamics that no else experienced. I was by far the most aggressive at the table, everyone else had bought in for 50bb's and was playing fairly weak poker. However, I didn't feel like I was getting more action because of this. Preflop I was still mostly only getting 1 caller and no one was really calling/stacking off light, they were mostly waiting for a hand against me. It did though seem like every time I checked whoever was in a hand against me saw it as a green light to try to take the pot away; as was the case here as the villian showed up with AhJh.

[Qq Post Flop Play]

I actually had no questions at all about this hands, just wanted to see what responses would be. I was curious because of a previous thread about what to do with KK after 4 betting preflop and an A hittin the flop. As expected, the majority said lead out then the hand isn't hard to play. I actually don't think there is any hard decision about this hand even with not betting the flop. River is an easy easy snap call against the villians range. Just looking at how I played the hand I look extremely weak passive, OMG a K hit and I have QQ I check. In fact that seemed to be the general response to what I posted in the other thread. When you put the thought process with it though things are extremely different. Villians range based on preflop action:After calling the first raise the villians range is pretty wide, when he just calls the second I think it slims it down substantially. I can see AA or KK just flat calling the initial raise, but I'd expect either of these to spring the trap after my raise the vast majority of the time. Its possible the villian just called twice but not likely enough that I am worried about either. AJs+ and AKo play this way, maybe even AQo, alot of weaker players will not raise with strong aces but often don't fold them preflop when reraised. 88-JJ definetly make sense for the villian, again weak players don't like to fold pairs preflop. I didn't expect any boardway or suited connectors as I hadn't seen the player get out of line with his preflop calls before. Flop: So if I was right about the villians range preflop the only hand that hit this flop is AK, unless he picked up a flush draw with a strong ace. If I lead out on this flop the most likely hands I am representing are AA, KK, or AK given my preflop action. Representing one of these three hands gives the villian the chance to fold the majority of the hands in his range that I have crushed. Since I don't want these hands folding I elect to check to make my hand look weaker and give the villian a chance to take a stab at the pot. I can do this because of my aggressive image, when I check players often see it as I have given up on the pot and try to take it away from me. I could easily have been making a squeeze play preflop with a wide range which is why I thought the odds were good the villian might try to bluff the pot. Unfortunetly, he did not ablige and we see the turn.Turn:That card does nothing for the villians range, and with his check on the flop I discredit him having AK very often. Normally I would make a value bet here but with the villian having only a little bit over the size of the pot left I choose to give him one more shot at bluffing. My back up plan if he checked again was to push to river, looking suspiciously like I was bluffing in the process. This time the villian makes a small bet at the pot. This bet can be seen two ways, I have a monster and want to price you in, or I have two 8's and want to see if their good. Anyone who said check/calling was horrible, stop and think about that. If he has the monster, oh well, I raise, he insta calls, next hand. If he has that weaker pair of 8's or A high and is just testing the water what says he calls when I raise him all-in. He'd be getting pretty good odds but still might lay it down. It could be argued he has so little left in relation to the pot after he bet he has to call, but check/calling is by no means the horrible play its been made out to be.River:This is the one spot in the hand I'm not entirely sure off. The 4 should not have helped my hand so leading out may get called by weak holdings. Allthough, if I check the same weak holdings plus a possible missed flush draw get the opportunity to bluff thinking I missed a draw of some sort or that I have a hand simialr to theirs that they can push me off of. I don't know, there may be more value in just betting out as alot of the middle pair types hands may just check behind because they have showdown value. As weak as I have acted through out the hand there is no way I'm ever folding this river card, or just about any river card for that matter. I played it to maximize value and let the villian bluff off a range I am in very good shape against so if he hits I just have to pay him off. The only real point to this was to try to show people that just leading flops like this because its the easy way to play the hand is by no means always the right or most profitable play. Also, checking for a reason does not equal weak passive play. On the flop I know I am about a 2-1 favorite against the range I have assigned the villian and that he has very few outs to improve. On top of that I am repping a very strong hand when I lead out; checking seem like the obvious play. I want to keep the villian in the pot, not scare him off.

[Qq Post Flop Play]

Ultimate Bet No-Limit Hold'em, $.50 BB (6 handed) Ultimate-Bet Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver Cards)CO ($29.35)Hero ($179.60)Preflop: Hero is SB with , . UTG raises to $1.75, 1 fold, CO calls $1.75, 1 fold, Hero raises to $8, 1 fold, UTG folds, CO calls $6.25.Flop: ($18.25) , , (2 players)Hero checks, CO checks.Turn: ($18.25) (2 players)Hero checks, CO (thinks for 5-10 sec) bets $6, Hero calls $6.River: ($30.25) (2 players)Hero checks, CO (insta) bets $15.35 (All-In), Hero ???No stats on villian, table in general was playing fairly weak tight, I had been playing loose and aggressive.

[Kk]

Betting on the other hand, keeps up with our line. We are probably not ever getting call by a worse hand, but a better hand may fold to bet. Villain might fold AQ, or AJ, and heck, he might make a hero fold of AK (doubtful, but possible). Aggressive > Passive play.

Before I get to anything else, no hand with an ace in it is folding this flop, EVER EVER EVER. Thinking so is just dumb, if AQ/AK called our 4 bet they are stacking off every single time.Secondly, I cannot emphasize this enough, I am not saying check because I am afraid of the ace! I am saying check because a worse hand never calls and a better one never folds. What this means is there is no value in betting. Its not weak passive, its understanding and maximizing your value in the hand. You want to make a bet that has no value attached to it so you don't get bluffed by a worse hand. WTF!?! That is how we get value on this flop. Other things I have a problem with, "You have to remember, the hand is far from over." Umm, look at the stack sizes in relation to the pot, each player has about one and a half pot sized bets left, if we call anything we are commiting our self to the hand. "Calling a bet here will get us in some righteous trouble." Not neccesarily, the key will be to use and past information with the villian and possibly a timing tell to make your decision to carry on. Usually just go with your first instincts, if you think he's bluffing push, if you think he has it fold. Its not weak passive its smart poker. Eventually you have to learn to make these difficult calls/folds that maximize your value if you want to get better. The best way to do it is just to put yourself in these spots. And finally, in 35,000 hands starting at .05/.10 up to .25/.50 I have never seen a player who wasn't on tilt 4 bet without, QQ+ or AK. Saying people 4 bet garbage because this is a lower limit is simply not true. Get used to the concept of not making bets with no value attached to them simply because its the easy way to play.

[Kk]

For those advocating bet $8.5 then giving up, what is the point of this bet? Are we trying to just take the pot down, get value out of a worse hand, what?We should be trying to get value out of a worse hand, but how to we do that. If we bet an ace high flop after 4 betting preflop, what worse hands call us? Unless the villian sucks at poker, probably none. JJ-QQ are probably going away, 99 and lower are folding. I don't see two big face cards making it to the flop, but even if they did they sure aren't calling a bet. Lastly, the board has no flush draw. If we bet the flop its safe to say most of the time we are getting called/raised by hands we are behind and folding everything we are ahead of. Meaning, there is no value in betting except to protect against the 3-5 outs the villian has if he is behind. Since there is no value in betting, the other option would be to check and see what the villian does. This does possibly put us in a tough spot against an unknown but it also gives us the greatest chance of getting value from a worse hand. Giving the villian a chance to bluff is the only way we are going to make money on this flop. Since everyone seems to think check/folding is weak, I guess call when the villian bets then. I'm not totally sure what I do when the villian bets but I'm leaning towards check fold to most players. If this was just a 3-bet pot I would probably check/call one bet, but with it being a 4-bet pot it changes things. First off the pot is larger so calling any bet just about commits us to the pot. Also, I think the odds we get bluffed go way down, most weak players are going to be afraid we are slow playing top set. With the texture of this flop and the limited range in which most people call a 4 bet preflop it would actually be a good play trying to represent KK or QQ. Then of course there are always the players who I know like to bluff, in which case I'd probably just call them down. Regardless of what you do afterwards, checking the flop is going to be the best play the majority of the time.

[Combo Draw Got Check Raised(how Do I Play These Things!)]

I'd just fold in this spot for two reasons, our draw isn't that good and we have no fold equity. Alot of the reason people play combo draws so fast is because they will have fold equity over hands they are 50/50 against and have plenty of outs if they do happen to run into a monster. In this hand we only have 8 clean outs and with the villian's line we are behind pretty often. About the best we could hope for was that he check raised with 68 or 78, but since we have two 8's this is going to be pretty rare. Everything else in his range has us in pretty bad shape.

[Flopped Trips With A Flush Draw Present]

This is .01/.02 cent, limp in and don't even think about raising. If we raise, guess what, 6 of 10 are still gonna see the flop with the same range of cards as if we had limped in. On top of that, A5 is still giving us his stack the majority of the time. Raising from UTG+1 is throwing away money at this level, get in as cheap as possible, fold when you don't hit a set.

[Top Pair Good Kicker..pot Getting A Little Large]

If it's limped to you in the CO, you should be raising a lot of hands.Attacking weak limpers PF in 6-max is crucial, don't let these weak players play trash hands, raise it up, make them pay for there lackluster play, take the initiative.Raising PF here is good.

I agree 100% you should be attacking limpers, but as with every other aspect of poker its situation dependant. In this hand the hero is obviously a bit unsure of his post flop play. With that being the case, if I were him I would shy away from raising two limpers with a margnial hand like this. Doing so will keep him out of difficult decisions that often lead to making mistakes. If your going to be constantly attacking limpers you need to know how to outplay them more than just raise preflop and continuation bet. If you can't you set yourself up to be outplayed by other observant players, maybe not a big problem at .05/.10 but more so at the next couple limits higher.Just this last week I had a player, who I hadn't played with before, that was constantly going after limpers and trying to steal in position. During the 3 sessions we played he just happened to be either one or two to my right, meaning I was the BB or SB on his button. 100% of the time if it was folded to him or if there was one limper, he raised from the button. Everytime it was folded to him in the SB, he raised. Probably 80% of the time if it was folded or there was one limper when he was in the CO, he raised. As a result of this, I adjusted my play by 3 betting him light and calling then check raising the flop with anything suited and remotely playable. I'd say I probably won 90% of the hands we played, but he just kept making raises in these spots regardless. Probably because he learned somewhere you need to attack limpers at 6 max as a general statement, some what like in your reply, and not as a situation dependant play. Not realizing good spots to go after a limper from more maginal ones and just doing it regardless without a good sense of post flop play will only hurt many beginning players by getting them into difficult decisions where they are prone to making mistakes.

[Huge All In On River]

I realize that some people may have tilt issues (and I certainly may, as well), but that doesn't really change the optimal play. Working on tilt issues should be something you deal with seperately. If you tilt from losing a buyin at a certain level, you really aren't rolled big enough to play it for a living, sorta.I'm also really not talking about this specific hand. I really don't know what the odds are here, or whatever, but rather just responding in generics to a statement I believe to be untrue.

I look at this two different ways, the optimal play for one specific hand or the optimal play for a given session. Maybe I shouldn't, but I see a difference. Personally I know the effects of variance can throw my game out of whack so I feel making the optimal long term play has a greater effect on my overall expected value than the optimal play for one specific hand. Granted, only in very close/unsure situations. I'd probably never throw away a hand if I knew for sure it was a +EV play because I was worried about the consequences of variance.Its not really the issue of losing one buy in that sets me on semi tilt, its knowing or thinking I'm not playing my best. Once that happens I can often beat myself up over a play or try to force my best play; neither of which do me any good. As for this specific hand, I was just merely using it to illustrate a point. This hand could be switched out with just about any close call where it is either very slightly positive or very slightly negative. Either way, its all of sudden 2:00am and definetly time for bed.

[Top Pair Good Kicker..pot Getting A Little Large]

Probably just fold this preflop. Maybe if it was suited or if the two players were tight with calling raises after they limped then I would like it. Heck even just one limper would be a better spot, with two though the odds you take it down without seeing the flop greatly decrease. Another problem is alot of players are going to limping AJ and KQ from UTG and MP. KJ just isn't that good of a hand, just look how it played out here, you make top pair and still have to play it very cautiously.As it played out I think you played it fine with one exception, bet size on the river. On the flop and turn you defiently want to keep this pot small so just calling and checking are the correct plays. Raising won't get called by many hands we beat and may force out anything we have drawing slim, like a J10 in this case. On the river I like the bet but you need to bet more, 1/2-2/3 the pot atleast. I usually don't bet much less than 2/3 the pot ever so I'd probably go around $6. There is definetly value in this bet, not many players bluff missed draws at this limit on ultimatebet and the villians hand looks nothing like a flush draw anyway. Also the fact that he min raised the flop leads me to believe hes probably more of a weak passive player that might not bet a J9, J10 type hand. Plus there's always the chance that our looks like a bluff and we get some random idiot calling with a 35, 56, 1010, 99, etc.

[Huge All In On River]

Variance is not an issue for a cash game player. That is why we play within our bankroll.Our only goal in cash games is to maximize our expectation. If you're passing up +EV opportunities, you aren't doing that. Maybe you don't like money, maybe you don't want to win as much as you can, but your reasoning does not make it correct to pass up an edge.

Variance is not an issue for a player who can keep a perfect level head. To some people simply losing can effect the rest of their play. One thing I am personally working on is that I tend to not play my best when I'm stuck. When I'm winning my A game usually comes out, but after I take a couple beats and get stuck 2-3 buy ins it occasionally effects my play and I do not make as good of decision. I will do things that looking back the next day, or even right after it happens, I go WTF that was just dumb. So, lets look at how this applies to this specific hand. To call the river we are getting 1.16-1 odds to call and need to have 46.3% equity to break even in the hand. Just for fun, say we're 48% against his range, giving us an EV or +0.42. The times I call and win the hand I think okay I made a good call everything stays fine. Now the 52% of the time I lose, maybe 10% of the time I question making the call. Which in turn, leads to questioning my thinking in future hands, which leads to costing me more money because I'm not playing my A game that the 42 cents I make off the call. Or, since I know its a very close situations and I am not sure if it is slightly positive or slightly negative I just let the hand go. I won't even question the fold which means I just keep playing my winning game and don't let any negative thoughts creap into my head. Variance can be tough to deal with psychologically and easily starts to effect our play. How many times do you hear from people on here in a big down swing questioning the simplest of plays. The variance of the game effects our play, which in turn effects our ability to maximize our expecation during an entire session. It can be a huge issue for players who can't perfectly control their play in the face of it.

[Huge All In On River]

(1) Completely irrelevant in a cash game. It's either +EV or it's not.(2) No. You did the math wrong. Rough guestimate, it'll be more like 45% of the time.

Yeah, apparently I suck at math, week break from school my brain is set on coast. Let me rephrase, you can find a better spot means I don't think its a +EV play, maybe break even at best. Also, not completely irrelevant. In spots like this where it is very close to either a big hand or big bluff I will often lean towards fold and find a better spot if he is betting a worse hand. Calling a 6x the pot bet where I am only slightly +EV against his range just increases variance, which psychologically can be worse than $1 in expected value I would stand to gain over the long run.