Put in my first "session", was only about an hour before class, but its something. Also forgot to mention before, I will be 4 tabling for the most part, I've debated it back and forth thinking it might not be the best thing to do trying to learn a new game, but really its the pace I'm comfortable with.

Will get around to trying to post some hands later, just results for now.


.25/.50 - Poker Stars
Hands - 253
VPIP - 15.42
Amount Won/Lost - (9.50)
BB/100 - (7.51)

Ugly, but short lived. [/b]

Ok 2 hands from the aforementioned session.

Hand 1:

PokerStars 0.25/0.50 Hold'em (10 handed)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with , .
Hero raises, 4 folds, MP3 calls, 1 fold, Button calls, 2 folds.

Flop: (7.40 SB) , , (3 players)
Hero bets, MP3 calls, Button calls.

Turn: (5.20 BB) (3 players)
Hero bets, MP3 calls, Button calls.

River: (8.20 BB) (3 players)
Hero checks, MP3 checks, Button bets, Hero calls, MP3 calls.

Final Pot: 11.20 BB

Results in white below:
Hero has Jh Jc (one pair, jacks).
MP3 has 9c 8s (one pair, eights).
Button has Tc Kh (two pair, kings and tens).
Outcome: Button wins 11.20 BB.

Ok, so I decide not to bet the river since with 2 opponents in and the FD completing and the overcard falling on the river, I figure the odds are pretty high that I'm beat and I definately don't want to face a raise. Question being, do you check/fold the river? This is one of those things in limit that I feel like I will never understand, when do you fold and when do you suck it up and call down, it feels like there are so many situations where I'll have a decent holding like TPTK and get called all the way down and an ace hits the river and I KNOW that they have been calling me down with some bare ace, because, let's face it, that's what they do. Yet, I don't want to fold to one bet on the river.........should I?


Hand 2:

PokerStars 0.25/0.50 Hold'em (8 handed)

Preflop: Hero is BB with , .
UTG calls, 2 folds, MP2 calls, CO calls, Button calls, 1 fold, Hero checks.

Flop: (5.40 SB) , , (5 players)
Hero bets, UTG folds, MP2 folds, CO calls, Button raises, Hero calls, CO calls.

Turn: (5.70 BB) (3 players)
Hero bets, CO calls, Button raises, Hero 3-bets, CO folds, Button calls.

River: (12.70 BB) (2 players)
Hero bets, Button calls.

Final Pot: 14.70 BB

Results in white below:
Hero has 3h Jd (three of a kind, threes).
Button has 2h 2d (full house, twos full of threes).
Outcome: Button wins 14.70 BB.

Ok, so in this hand, I don't re-raise the flop because if I'm ahead I want the guy caught in the middle sticking around for the big bet on the turn when I'm going to lead again, 3 betting here gives him too much opportunity to fold I think, or at least to fold when I lead on the turn....am I wrong? So then to the turn play, when I lead and AGAIN get raised (BTW, this guy is fairly TAG), I get interested. Based on his position and what not I'm marginally worried about something like A3s and of course the 22, so at this point I'm feeling like I really gotta know where I stand, if he caps, I would be pretty confident that I'm beat, although I'm not sure I would lay it down on the river anyway, so I'm not really sure what that would accomplish. When he flat calls the 3-bet, I'm starting to think, maybe he has some pair type hand like 99 and is finally realizing that I'm not joking around. I think it's this feeling that prompts me to lead again on the river, and when he flat calls with the flopped boat, I gotta say, I was kinda surprised.

All comments/criticism welcome.

What about betting out on the river in the first hand and folding to a raise? I mean, if you're going to check-call then you're putting 1 bet in no matter what, this way, if you bet out and are raised you can be fairly sure that you're beat, but you might get some marginal holdings to call, say if he held AT or something?

Ok, so I've got some more hands to post.

I like to call this one: Bet this river? Fold to the raise?

PokerStars 0.25/0.50 Hold'em (10 handed)

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with , .
1 fold, UTG+1 calls, 3 folds, Hero raises, 2 folds, SB calls, BB calls, UTG+1 calls.

Flop: (8 SB) , , (4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG+1 checks, Hero bets, SB calls, BB folds, UTG+1 calls.

Turn: (5.50 BB) (3 players)
SB checks, UTG+1 checks, Hero bets, SB calls, UTG+1 folds.

River: (7.50 BB) (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, SB raises, Hero calls.

Final Pot: 11.50 BB

Results in white below:
SB has Kc 3h (full house, eights full of kings).
Hero has Th Td (full house, eights full of tens).
Outcome: SB wins 11.50 BB.


Next hand. Clearly I f***ed this one up, but the question is, where do I stop, I thought I had to re-raise the turn to see if he was messing with me, but then should I immediately fold to the cap? Or would you be happy simply folding to the first raise?

PokerStars 0.25/0.50 Hold'em (8 handed)

Preflop: Hero is SB with , .
4 folds, CO calls, 1 fold, Hero raises, BB calls, CO calls.

Flop: (6 SB) , , (3 players)
Hero bets, BB calls, CO folds.

Turn: (4 BB) (2 players)
Hero bets, BB raises, Hero 3-bets, BB caps, Hero calls.

River: (12 BB) (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets, Hero calls.

Final Pot: 14 BB

Results in white below:
Hero has Jd Ac (two pair, aces and eights).
BB has 8s Qd (three of a kind, eights).
Outcome: BB wins 14 BB.


Next hand. Villain is 67/50/3.00 which is probably why I played it the way I did, it just seems like a common theme that either A.) I never know when to stop or B.) I slow down too soon and have these idiots show up something ridiculous and I'm left wishing I had gotten more money in the pot. In this particular case, I was beat, but just as many times, I'm not and I end up only winning a small pot because I didn't get enough money in when I had the chance. Ughh, limit is complicated.

PokerStars 0.25/0.50 Hold'em (10 handed)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+2 with , .
UTG raises, UTG+1 calls, Hero 3-bets, 5 folds, SB calls, BB calls, UTG caps, UTG+1 folds, Hero calls, SB calls, BB calls.

Flop: (18 SB) , , (4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG bets, Hero raises, SB folds, BB folds, UTG 3-bets, Hero caps, UTG calls.

Turn: (13 BB) (2 players)
UTG bets, Hero calls.

River: (15 BB) (2 players)
UTG bets, Hero calls.

Final Pot: 17 BB

Results in white below:
UTG has Jd Jh (full house, twos full of jacks).
Hero has 9s 9h (full house, twos full of nines).
Outcome: UTG wins 17 BB.


This next one is one of the most common situations I find myself in it, and I seem to play it exactly wrong every time. Either I'll bet it down and they'll show me that they did indeed pair the overcard, or I'll figure *somebody MUST have it* and fold and then the hand finishes out and they show up like 7 high, it's so frustrating.

PokerStars 0.25/0.50 Hold'em (10 handed)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with , . CO posts a blind of $0.25.
UTG calls, Hero raises, 5 folds, Button calls, 2 folds, UTG calls.

Flop: (8.40 SB) , , (3 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets, Button calls, UTG calls.

Turn: (5.70 BB) (3 players)
UTG bets, Hero calls, Button calls.

River: (8.70 BB) (3 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks, Button bets, UTG folds, Hero calls.

Final Pot: 10.70 BB

Results in white below:
Hero has Jc Js (two pair, jacks and sixes).
Button has 8d Ah (two pair, aces and sixes).
Outcome: Button wins 10.70 BB.


Last hand, how would you have played it. This particular opponent was pretty neutral as far as agression goes right about 1.0, if he had had like a .20 AF I probly would have woken up real quick after the check raise and just folded. But against an average opponent I feel I'm just throwing money away on stuff like this. So I don't like the check raise but by the time I 3 - bet and it gets capped its like 16-1 for me to call and something like 10-1 on the turn and river, I simply can't decide whether I'm going to win this kind of pot often enough for me to call it down. Here's the hand:

PokerStars 0.25/0.50 Hold'em (10 handed)

Preflop: Hero is CO with , .
2 folds, UTG+2 calls, MP1 calls, 2 folds, Hero raises, 1 fold, SB calls, 1 fold, UTG+2 calls, MP1 calls.

Flop: (9 SB) , , (4 players)
SB checks, UTG+2 checks, MP1 checks, Hero bets, SB raises, UTG+2 folds, MP1 folds, Hero 3-bets, SB caps, Hero calls.

Turn: (8.50 BB) (2 players)
SB bets, Hero calls.

River: (10.50 BB) (2 players)
SB bets, Hero calls.

Final Pot: 12.50 BB

Results in white below:
SB has 7h 7d (three of a kind, sevens).
Hero has Kh Ac (one pair, aces).
Outcome: SB wins 12.50 BB.





One final question. Pre-flop if it's 2 bets to you do you ALWAYS re-raise or fold, or is there ever a place for cold calling? Ex. you have pocket 7's in LP, there is an EP raiser and 2 cold callers, what's the play, what if there were 3 callers, so 4 people total?


Total Results so far:

Stars .25/.50 - 1,402 hands
VPIP - 17.97
VPIPSB - 37.18
PFR - 7.77
W$WSF - 25.6
WSD- 26.79
W$SD - 52.22

Amount Won - $(26.15)
BB/100 - (3.73)

Yeah, these people never fold, so the way I see it, I should be playing more hands not less. My premium pairs etc. will get cracked every time, but big suited pockets and suited connectors will pay off big time when they hit, I tried playing around 12% vpip and it just didn't work out at all, I was losing everything, but I've been having decent success with the 15-20% range.

I am SO not impressed with poker right now. I filtered PT to just show me stats for AA-TT. Win % 43.33. Are you serious? A monkey could play these hands and win more than me, or LOSE LESS as the case actually is, combined I've had these hands 60 times and I'm literally losing money, it's barely even possible.

here are some beauties from todays session.

Button in this hand is 15/3/1.6 which is why I was somewhat reluctant to put him on THE hand right away, but come on, I gotta get some money in this pot right?

PokerStars 0.25/0.50 Hold'em (8 handed)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with , .
UTG calls, Hero raises, 1 fold, MP2 calls, 1 fold, Button calls, 1 fold, BB calls, UTG calls.

Flop: (10.40 SB) , , (5 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets, MP2 raises, Button 3-bets, BB folds, UTG folds, Hero calls, MP2 calls.

Turn: (9.70 BB) (3 players)
Hero bets, MP2 raises, Button 3-bets, Hero caps, MP2 calls, Button calls.

River: (19.70 BB) (3 players)
Hero bets, MP2 raises, Button 3-bets, Hero calls, MP2 calls.

Final Pot: 26.70 BB

Results in white below:
Hero has Ad Ah (three of a kind, aces).
MP2 has Qd Qh (three of a kind, queens).
Button has Js Ks (straight, ace high).
Outcome: Button wins 26.70 BB.


And then this one several seconds later on a different table, just for hillarity.

PokerStars 0.25/0.50 Hold'em (6 handed)

Preflop: Hero is BB with , .
1 fold, MP raises, 3 folds, Hero calls.

Flop: (4.40 SB) , , (2 players)
Hero bets, MP raises, Hero 3-bets, MP calls.

Turn: (5.20 BB) (2 players)
Hero bets, MP calls.

River: (7.20 BB) (2 players)
Hero bets, MP raises, Hero 3-bets, MP caps, Hero calls.

Final Pot: 15.20 BB

Results in white below:
MP has Ah Jh (flush, ace high).
Hero has 8s 9h (straight, jack high).
Outcome: MP wins 15.20 BB.

Granted by the end of this hand, I wasn't exactly expecting to win, but was I right to 3-bet the river? Seems to me from the turn call and then river raise it's just as likely for him to have some kind of a ten than the flush, but then again, there is a lot of stuff out there beating my straight at this point, so what's the verdict?


Results:

PokerStars .25/.50 LHE

Hands : 2368
VPIP: 19.93
VPIPSB: 37.93
W$WSF: 25.9
WSD: 26.23
W$SD: 53.13
Amount Won : $(9.80)
BB/100 Hands : (0.83)

Thanks for the encouragement Tiburon. I think in my mind I know I can't be playing too much better, but when you see the results on paper day after day, you start to think "Do I really suck so much I can't beat the lowest possible limit games?" It feels good every now and then to just have my confidence reaffirmed.

I have a good hand to post which ties into a post I saw on another post, maybe in the Limit section about continuation bets. Just as a comment, I'm gonna go ahead and say this is not recommended especially at the level I'm at, I think it just really demonstrates the complete lack of reason in the calling station mentality that you've got to watch out for.

PokerStars 0.25/0.50 Hold'em (8 handed)

Preflop: Hero is BB with , .
UTG calls, 5 folds, SB completes, Hero raises, UTG calls, SB folds.

Flop: (5 SB) , , (2 players)
Hero bets, UTG calls.

Turn: (3.50 BB) (2 players)
Hero bets, UTG calls.

River: (5.50 BB) (2 players)
Hero bets, UTG calls.

Final Pot: 7.50 BB

Results in white below:
Hero has Kd Jd (high card, ace).
UTG has Jc Kc (high card, ace).
Outcome: Hero wins 3.75 BB. UTG wins 3.75 BB.

Overall, I found the outcome of this hand hillarious, but it just goes to show how much value there is in betting anything attempting to get away with continuation-continuation betting even when you're fairly sure the guy doesn't have anything (at very low limits), ie. none. Regarding my pre-flop raise here, for some reason I thought I was the SB and the SB was the Button, thus making the UTG the BB, not sure how I got confused there but when the "Button"(SB) limped, I was like, I have absolutely no respect for that, so I raise, not realizing that the "BB" had limped UTG. If that's not too confusing.

I'm actually having to start to have some fun with this thing now even though I'm not running particularly well. First of all I get to play an ungodly VP$IP (for me), it seems like I'm not folding anything, anything that's suited and could possibly in some universe make a straight seems just about playable even from early when you KNOW 7 players are coming in behind you. It's just a lot of fun getting in there and playing when you have the uncommon ability to fold postflop when you don't make any kind of a hand. I do fear a little however that it's going to be hard to break some of these "correct for .25/.50" habits when I eventually move up like practically auto-playing pocket pairs and suited connectors from EP.

Results:

PokerStars .25/.50 LHE

Hands : 2517
VPIP: 20.10
VPIPSB: 40.07
W$WSF: 25.99
WSD: 26.61
W$SD: 54.60
Amount Won : $ 7.85
BB/100 Hands : 0.62

JJ, Buy Mattew Hilger's book "Internet Texas Holdem': Winning Strategies from an Internet Pro". By far the best Limit Holdem' book I have ever read. He gives you a great starting hand chart and many examples of how to play good aggressive limit holdem'. There is a ton of info in this book.