Flopped Flush on $2-5NLH at Crown

[thkcduckworth]

This hand came up on $2-5NLH last night at Crown, and I wasn't very happy in how I played it.

Effective Stacks
sb: $650
me: $380

I limp UTG with As8s
2 more limpers plus the blinds

Flop: 4s6s7s
sb leads for $30
I'm the only caller

Turn: 4d
sb leads for $60
I raise to $180
sb folds 4h5d

Questions
Should I raise the flop?
Should I raise the turn?

[139]

Reload preflop then fold preflop. Limping A8s utg with 76BB cannot be justified.

You could probably make a gay raise on the flop to 70 or 75 in hopes that he peels with a hand like he has or KsX/QsX.

As played I think its fine aswell, except your turn raise is to big. 135 on the turn.

[thkcduckworth]

Reload preflop then fold preflop. Limping A8s utg with 76BB cannot be justified.

Why does everyone that is plays online mostly like to always reload? And whats wrong with a limp with a suited Ace live?

[Gtrain24]

Limping A8s utg with 76BB cannot be justified.

As played I think its fine aswell, except your turn raise is to big. 135 on the turn.

Agree with all this for sure - think with a couple of people behind you still to act you could probably throw in a little raise on the flop, though the way you played it seems to have got you about as much money as you were going to get.

[139]

Why does everyone that is plays online mostly like to always reload? And whats wrong with a limp with a suited Ace live?

Because you get maximum value out of your hands if your reloaded and playing poker differs with 100bb stacks to 50bb stacks. Limping A8s utg is bad because your most likely limp call and then you have to play pots OOP with dominated hand for a flushdraw. You will also be limp folding a ton which is just bad.

[TheSharkBoy]

Aleks is correct, for the most part. He is correct that limping is incorrect, but folding is not necessarily the only move either. You're obviously not playing this hand in a multiway pot to hit the ace, and an eight high board rarely stays that way by the river, so you really want to either hit two pair against a bigger ace, or hit your flush.

If you want to be in the pot, raise UTG imo. Aleks is also right in the sense that you need a full stack, as raising to 25 preflop and leaving 355 behind is not enough, you need the full stack.

On 2-5, you basically want to play big pots only. The small 40 dollar pots are pointless, you're not there to try and accumulate chips before the blinds go up. If you want to play a hand like a suited ace, play it aggressively. Suited aces generally generate big pots, as you either flop a monster draw or you make two pair and someone has a stronger ace. If you limp call, you're losing the value of potentially playing a big pot with a big pot hand.

I'm usually a fan of open raising here preflop. But that's mainly because most people on 2-5 view my image as tight as fuck so it allows me to play drawing hands more aggressively, knowing that players give me more credit for a made hand than a drawing hand.

I don't think you would have got any more value out of it, although I am surprised the player folded. You must have been shaking as you raised, because for 120 dollars, I don't know many 2-5 players that fold trips and up and straight draw, spades or no spades.

I think you played it fine post-flop, but as I said, preflop, this is the kinda hand you want to generate a pot with, if you want to play it at all (folding isn't that hard either, on 2/3 it's a different story, but on 2/5 Ace 8 UTG isn't that playable.)

The most important thing to remember about 2/5 is that it is all about big pots. In fact, I would say in almost any cash game it is about big pots. People who play smallball in cash games fail to realise that the standard at the table isn't high enough for people to understand all the levels you're putting in place in the small pots. Try and outplay people when it matters, not when they don't care. If you want to play a big pot, raise preflop. The bonus with this, is that no one will put you on a medium suited ace, so your hand has been disguised and you are now free to represent AK with the ace of spades on that flop, or something like that.

Now, for tonight's game? Please limp UTG Tim, please. I will happily make you limp fold each and every time.

[Blu3B3ar]

Too many people are focused on the preflop limp. The original asked SPECIFICALLY about his postflop play, **the postflop play**.

Your hand is fine, I would play it 100.0% the same.

[TheSharkBoy]

Well, his postflop directly results in how his preflop play panned out.

But maybe that's me being a bit of a smartass there.


Answers?

No.
Yes.


Shorthand FTL.

[Blu3B3ar]

Most of you in Tim's exact position would make a handsome profit of $0 in this hand. I think anybody who folds automatically here is not qualified enough to give advice here.

[TheSharkBoy]

Most of us don't flop the second nuts with suited aces for a living, so in that respect BB, you are correct.

I have never flopped the second nuts in my life. I either flop the absolute nuts, or completely miss the board.