neophyte here...evaluate my play?

[MikePM911 0]

I used to play $20 buy-in Hold 'Em in college (when I was drunk, mostly) and loved the game but never played again. Now that I am a family man (three kids, wife, etc.) I have a little money squirreled away and have decided to venture from "Play Chips" to "Real Money" online. I wanted an opinion on my introductory session, if possible.I started with $50 in the $1/$2 NL. I played pretty tight, only really raising groups 0 -2 of Sklansky's chart. Every now and then with a weak player, I would represent strong post-flop and take down a decent amount.After about 2 & 1/2 hours I am up to $210 and I am dealt A 10 . I raise to $3, not wanting to overdo it because play has been kind of timid, and I would like some callers with this hand. The other big stack at the table is $275 and change. He raises to $10. Everyone else drops like flies and I press my luck a little by raising to $25. He waits and then calls.Flop comes: 9 3 6 I smile and check. He bets $30. I wait until my reminder light starts blinking and then just call.The turn is a 5 . I hope he made his flush draw and check. He bets another $30. I go all-in. He calls.Turns over: 9 9 ! Only a set! I am about to pee in my pants when the river comes...5 .I have to look back at the hand to see that he made a full house on the river. Am I incorrect in thinking that this person should not have gone all-in with a set against an almost certain flush, or did his outs and his pot committal demand a call?Also, did I fudge this hand up royally? Or should I just accept that this was a bad beat and not a reflection of crappy play?MikePM911 - Nola!

[JVick4 0]

you may not get alot of replies on the hand, but i know there are people on this forum that will say you were playing way out of your means...$50, playing 1-2 NLHE...that is risky, maybe play smaller...

[TruePoker 1]

Nah who cares, you dont need any money to start up on NL. I think you should raised him on flop then he prob woulda gone away especiall with a heart on th

[Limit Player 0]

Yeah, this was very poorly played.Don't slowplay the nuts. Your "cute" play gave him every chance to make that Full House.Raise his $30 bet on the flop. If he calls that, make a pot sized bet on the turn. If he still goes all in ... eh, at least you were playing well.

[Scott31 0]

A Suit: Heart 10 Suit: Heart . I raise to $3, not wanting to overdo it ....He raises to $10....Everyone else drops like flies and I press my luck a little by raising to $25.Goodness, what makes you think you overdid it? Was it possibly by reraising preflop with a mediocre hand after another guy showed strength? Yeah, that could be it. Stick to play money.

[Limit Player 0]

Goodness, what makes you think you overdid it? Was it possibly by reraising preflop with a mediocre hand after another guy showed strength? Yeah, that could be it. Stick to play money.

did you wake up with sand in your vagina this morning, Scott? Show a little common courtesy and either help, or don't reply.

[Guest]

Yeah, this was very poorly played.Don't slowplay the nuts. Your "cute" play gave him every chance to make that Full House.Raise his $30 bet on the flop. If he calls that, make a pot sized bet on the turn. If he still goes all in ... eh, at least you were playing well.

Yeah obviously the pre-flop play wasn't too smart...what was your position when you raised? And where was he at? With solid players, I wouldn't call that reraise when I'm out of position with A-10 suited.Okay so the pre-flop play was pretty much obviously bad.I'm still on the fence about whether this was poorly played or not after the flop.I mean after all, the guy went all in with a set w/ 4 hearts on board. Not exactly the keenest move after you called his raise on the flop with what would look to me like AhKx or AxKh. If he's gonna make a decision like this w/ 4 hearts on board, then he's probably not gonna give up his set with 3 hearts. I think given the type of player, you made the right moves and got sucked out on. This leaves me with the conclusion that a re-raise on the flop would've done nothing, considering he wasn't going to abandon his set with 4 hearts, and would certainly not be abandoning it with 3 hearts showing.So I guess you played it right...?

[benhoug 0]

It's unfortunate that you lost that big pot, but you were playing over your head. With $50 in that game you're only buying in w/ half the max buy-in, so you're starting off w/ a huge disadvantage.

[MikePM911 0]

So, to recap:1) Don't play cute with a nut flush when so many things potentially beat it.2)Don't brings a knife to a gunfight. (Come with more BB's to your roll)3)Don't abandon your strategy when you make a hand on the flop.Did I get all of it? So, am I doing okay for a newbie? Should I continue and use this as a growing experience? Or am I a hopeless douche who should stick to blackjack? :)Thanks for the constructive criticism.MikePM911 - Nola!

[bmcarter 0]

I really don't think you played your hand that badly. The only hands that had outs to beat your nut flush were a made set on the flop and a straight flush draw. The straight flush draw is out of the question because he called your big reraise.On the flop, with him hitting a set and you hitting your nut flush, the percentages were 65.6% to 34.4% in your favor. After the five came on the turn, the percentages were 77.3% to 22.7% in your favor. With one card to come, a 77% chance to win the hand, and all your money in the pot, this is a profitable scenerio in the long run.I personally did not think he had a set, I thought he would have turned over pocket kings with the K . I think you played the hand correctly, you flopped the nut flush and induced your opponent to put all his money on the line when he was an underdog.

[Makavelli 0]

yeah, there are some mistakes here, on both sides. The preflop reraise baffles me, unless you were trying to win it right there? Hoping the'd think you were faking weak with the $3? Anyway...Calling the $30 is interesting. What were the stacks? I guess you're hoping his got KK with a heart? QQ? But, you made it look like you had a draw, which is good. Or did you...? HE didn't think you had a draw... or if he did, he's an idiot. Why would he wait for you to HIT and then push in? Weird. I don't see how you fold here. That would be the weakest play ever. In the end, you got your money in and he sucked out on you. HE made the bigger mistake, but got rewarded. Ah well. So, yeah, I see only one mistake on your part, and it might not even be a mistake, if you were on a "resteal." After the flop, you trapped him well. You can stop reading this post now, since I haven't yet said anything original or even intelligble. Makavelli out!

[Pupsta 0]

how did you raise to $3 at a 1/2 NL table? buying in for 1/4 of max buyin is just dumb. other than raising *for* action with a marginal hand, i like your postflop play...just got unlucky. them's the breaks.

[Balloon guy 158]

It's only a bad trap when you get beat. He doesn't catch on the river, and you're the poker king. His was the wrong move, calling your all in with a set when there are 4 hearts on the board. I'm him and I see you make a 'reluctant' call after flop, I put you on a single heart, so as long as no more hearts come, I've got you, then when a heart came, he should have run away like Michael Jackson's publicist.And the amount of money you brought was fine, you were playing for fun. That's 90% of the action in on-line poker. Who cares if you didn't meet the 'requirements' of some of these players. for crying out loud the truth is you only restrict your winnings more than your losing cause when your all in, you can only win what you brought.The reality is that all poker today has become loose and lots of people make bad plays and win. I for one wouldn't have it any other way.Let them call with 2 outs, slow play the nuts on the river, show me the bluff for small pots. They get to win every now and then or else they would leave and spend their money on drugs and I for one am tired of dealing drugs!

[Makata 0]

Goodness, what makes you think you overdid it?  Was it possibly by reraising preflop with a mediocre hand after another guy showed strength?  Yeah, that could be it.  Stick to play money.

Wrong.Assuming this guy's self-assessment is correct, he has yet to bet a weak hand hard, and thus likely has a very good table image. Raising (I assume you meant to $6, or did you actually mean $3 with bb's actually being $1?) with AT:heart: the first time is of course good play. When his opp raised him back, smooth calling a substantial raise would be a definate sign of weakness. By re-reraising huge, he made his opponent make a bad play by calling 99. His opponent knows he cannot possibly be ahead (excluding the 55/45 coin flips) and there's a very very good chance he's a 5 to 1 dog, calling off another $15 to a $35 pot, making him misplay.I agree that the flop check isn't so great, as unless he has something like K:heart: K:club: he isn't likely to bet at you. As it turned out he had a great second best hand and you got lucky. I don't think calling behind is terrible, a raise would be better though.

Yeah, this was very poorly played.Don't slowplay the nuts. Your "cute" play gave him every chance to make that Full House.

Again, wrong.He gave his opponent 1 chance to make the full house, which all things considered isn't a horrible play. I think it would be pretty safe to say his opponent does not have 33, 36, 39, or 69, and it's pretty unlikely he has 66. 99 is the only reasonable hand which has a reasonable draw in this situation, why not try and milk his opponent?They each put in $25 preflop, and $30 on the flop. That leaves hero with $155 and opponent with $220 (effectively $155 also). Turn is a fourth heart and guy with a set for some reason still bets out, a pathetic bet at that. Hero check raises all in and opponent has to call $125 to a $295 pot. That's not even 5 to 2 odds in a situation where for the most part you KNOW you are drawing to 10 outs. With 44 unseen cards That's only a 23% chance of rivering the boat/quad, leaving an EV of almost -$30.Straight up, his opponent played poorly pre-flop (calling another $15 with nothing but a middle pair), very mediocre on the flop (barely over half the pot with a very vulnerable hand), and made 2 gigantic mistakes on the turn (Betting barely a quarter of the pot in a VERY dangerous position, and then calling off a huge raise with what he knows to be a weak hand).Hero's play might not have been perfect but his opponent's was far, far, worse and it's only due to dumb luck that he won the hand.Mike, try not to be too discouraged. People will make horrible plays and suck out far too often in this game, you just have to keep plugging. You played it pretty well and far more often than not you'd win in that situation. I would agree that it would help to be more aggressive with your strong hands against opponents who will likely call you down, but other than that, I think you played it well.

[MikePM911 0]

Thanks for the encouragement, Makata.And you are right. I checked and I was in the $1 BB. That's how I raised to $3.I am a douche.I will keep reading and keep playing. I appreciate helpful people like you who are willing to take time out to school a moron like me."Mad props." Isn't that what the kids say?MikePM911 - Nola, beeOTCH!

[Ebonwoulfe 0]

You should be glad he didn't take the free card on the turn, for one thing... you offered him a free chance to beat you and he didn't take it. He donked it up on that one.ATs isn't a hand you want to make a habit of putting in the third raise with... mix it up occasionally if you want, but not habitually.I don't know if waiting until you almost run out of time is a good idea. It's not that you might be uncerimoniously folded, but you did something quite out of the ordinary... it's the kind of thing that can shut down a lot of players when you don't want them to shut down.I must commend you on taking $50 to the table and running it up to $210. It says something about your game. It says to me that you play a helluva lot better when you don't have lots of money and when you have a lot you try to get frilly with your play (such as putting in the third raise with ATs and going for two check-raises when just betting could be better)."Don't change horses in midstream."

[waldo 0]

that hand should have never taken place, your call of $10 was bad but to reraise with A10 you gotta be kidding, you did get unlucky in the hand but you should have never been in it in the first place

[Big-Ern777 0]

that hand should have never taken place, your call of $10 was bad but to reraise with A10 you gotta be kidding, you did get unlucky in the hand but you should have never been in it in the first place

What was even worse was his call with 9-9I don't mind the A10 suited reraise if your read is strong on a pocket pair, as the majority of good players would most likely muck. AK will probably just call and AQ and AJ would call/fold. I wouldn't dream someone would call with something like 7-7 or 9-9 there but the guy appears to be quite a poor player.

[Balloon guy 158]

I found this interesting, ace ten suited ranks higher than ace king offsuit in the super pro charts by McElvoy. A10 s is the tenth best hand you can start with.I may look at those with more respect from now on. Might even start slow playing em java script:emoticon(':lol:')