Crown 2/3NL - Two hands

[amoladora]

First Hand (Friday)

Before I discuss the first hand, I have to say that I only brought 1 buyin with me and kind of needed to make some money for various bills that were overdue, so my thoughts were along these lines.

In the cutoff with 7c8c on a pretty laggy table so just call the $3. There is about 5 players in the pot. Flop comes Ac 5C 6d. Checks to a really loose player who overbets the pot for $20. The guy to my immediate right who is a tight solid player instantly re-raises to $60. I would usually always shove in this spot with OESD and FD, but I know this guy is re-raising with nut flush draw. He has definitely has 2 pair (As he had always raised with pockets from as low as 33 & as high as KK). So I know he isn't folding in this spot, so I just call. Turn comes 6c and the first bettor bets $20 again (I'm not worried about him). Guy on min raises to $40. After showing the guy to my left, I fold. He calls me a dickhead and I tell him I have 2 outs only (4c or 9c) and he just shakes his head. River comes 9s and first guy pushes and guy on my right insta calls. First guy shows 78s for straight, and guy on my right shows A6 for full house.

Now the guy on my left tells the table what I had, and I get one "Good Fold", and the rest of the table talked about it for some time saying it was dumb. I am 99% sure I couldn't have played this hand any better. I don't know very many people at Crown that wouldn't have gone broke with this hand.... Thoughts?


Hand Two (Saturday)
Been card dead and bored at a tight passive table for a couple of hours. Im two off the button with 8s9s. I raise to $15 and a Super-tight, solid player on my left insta re-raise to $30. Right away I know he has AA, if he had JJ-KK he would have raised more. So getting ready to fold, there is 3 callers before it gets back to me so i have to put in another $15 into a pot of $135, so I'm not going anywhere.

Flop come 9c, 6s, 4s. early position bets $20 I push my remaining stack (about $140). Guy on my left insta calls and one other player thinks about it and finally calls. Turn and River brick out for me and obviously I lose to his Aces (the other guy had Jacks). But I have 2 questions about this one.

1. How did I play this hand, could I have done anything differently/better?

2. The guys instant calls with his Aces. I would have called here 10 times out of 10, but after some thought. I just want to know why an obviously good player doesn't take a few seconds and think that maybe he is beat (which he wasn't but he didn't know that). I hadn't played a hand for ages and I was the original raiser, so if I was in his position I would stop and think about the possibility that I might have had a set of 9's, 6's or 4's??? So I guess what I'm asking is, what is a good strategy against players who get married to their big hands and can't lay them down?

[TheSharkBoy]

Alright, let me explain a few things about hand number one.

Firstly, needing to pay bills through poker should not effect you playing the way you do. If you're a tight player, just say you're tight, but if you're going to change the way you play to pay off debt, it will affect your thought process... you'll always have that debt in your mind on every big decision. In this case it may have helped you, but in other situations it can cost you, so be careful.

Now, the action (unless I read wrong), was that you called a three-bet with your massive draw, thinking that one guy had a draw, and another had two pair. Let's do the math here. If he has the nut flush draw, and the other guy has two pair, then you have six outs as long as the board doesn't pair on the turn (we'll assume that because you don't know what two pair, any board pairing is bad). If he has the straight draw, then you have nine outs if the board doesn't pair on the turn, and you chop with a further six.

If you put your drawing opponent on the straight draw, then you are getting the right price to call. If you put him on the flush draw, you are not. The only flush draw strong enough to see a turn here is 6cXc, because then you can figure you have some additional outs against the nut flush.

On the turn, it's entirely based on your read of the situation. There are some players who shove with AK there, or in fact, almost any ace. Maybe he has AxXc, and he's picked up the flush redraw. You could be drawing semi-dead, but you could also very possibly have him drawing semi-dead, so this shove or fold is entirely based on your read.

If it were me, I'm getting it all-in on the flop. Against two pair it's near even money, and it's just unlucky that the card that makes your hand makes his. But you didn't want to gamble, and if you feel like you could be gambling with fewer outs than you think, don't call a re-raise with a draw, simple as that.



As for the second hand, if you put someone on aces, especially on fishy 2/3 tables, you can outplay them, rather than gamble with them. The amount of times I have cracked aces with shitty hands is just crazy, but people tell you what they have preflop, then get all shocked when you show down some strange two pair or whatnot. The fact is, is that you want people to stay attached to aces, and the like. You want people to go broke on them, but you don't want to gamble. If you were heads up, and you knew he wouldn't fold, wouldn't a call then suit it better? If you make your two pair or flush, you can probably assume you'll get paid, and if it bricks, you still keep 120 bucks.

In this scenario, you got all your money in against two guys and you were pretty even money to triple up. The odds are there, there's no denying that if they both push all-in and you stare down at this hand, you're going for it. But you moved all-in over the aces, which was the wrong play in my opinion. If you know he's not folding, and you know what you need to beat him, outplay him. There's no need to semi-bluff a guy who has shown you his wholecards, and who has no idea what you have.

You have to understand, that like I say all the time, on 2/3, top-top is the mega-nuts. Players have no idea how to fold overpairs, and often don't know how to fold pairs at all. The reason why 2/3 is so weak is because good players can put the fish on their exact holdings and then play accordingly. You got it half right. You put the guy on the hand he had, but you didn't act accordingly. Remember, they don't think about the hand as much as you do, so when you do start thinking about how to play it, keep that in mind.

Anyone who folds after they've made their hand on 2/3 is usually an absolute rock or has an absolutely solid read, I would be broke in both situations. But I would not be the one pushing in hand 2, and I would definitely be the one pushing in hand 1. The fact that you put players on their hands is a good sign though, it means your radar works and you will be a good player.

[amoladora]

Thanks SB - both very interesting replies and on the money. You are correct with the money thing - on the first hand I was definitely looking to save money or have the nuts before putting my money in. Usually I would ship everytime to maximise my long term EV but like i said I was looking for some short-term $$$.

You are completely right with the 2nd hand in that I should have let him play into me. But most likely he would have potted it anyway which puts me all-in and the outcome would have been the same. The reason I shoved because of the slim slim slim chance he may have folded, as I knew my money was going in there regardless don't you think a push there is probably the better play on the off chance he has TT, JJ, QQ or AK and I brick out like I did. My thought was my money is getting in there no question so if I can take the decent pot away now why not??