Let me give an examples of where I'm getting dinged.
I'm on .25/.50 tables with $25. I'm dealt KK. I bet 2.50. I get called by someone who's very loose and fairly aggressive. Flop is 10 9 4. So I bet the pot at $6, and get called. Turn comes a Q. Now I'm rooked. Calling all my bets he could have a monster and is slow playing me. By betting aggressive the pot is now $18 and I'm already down 8.50. Then again, if I show weakness here by checking, he knows he can take the pot down with a large hand. How do I bet here?
Basically, here's the let down. If I have something good I bet strong after the flop. I have have something strong like high pair or an overpair, or a middle pair with straight/flush draw. But I'm running into two problems:
1) I'm facing people who aren't great players, and maybe calling with crap. But honestly, a high pair isn't super powerful, and a lot of times if I continue strong i get dinged with two pair / sets.
2) If I don't bet strong at the turn people are riding the river and if they nail what they are looking for are putting me in a situation where I have to fold or worse, call to a slightly smaller than pot bet with the high pair or overpair.
Lets put it into context
Preflop: 4x BB bet with something really good get called. Pot is now 9xBB.
Flop: To be strong with a pot sized bet, you're looking at 9x BB bet - pot is now 22x BB bet if someone calls.
Turn: really hard to bet strong here with a high pair or overpair, so usually I just call or bet something small to make someone at least pay something to see the next card.
River: I'm getting nailed by people who are trying to take down the pots with nothing and betting 22x BB bet (or pot), or sometimes more. So I end up having to make a nice sized bet (if it looks weak I'm going to get in a situation where someone goes over the top). So a lot of times I bet half the pot or 11x BB. After all I do have high pair.
To finish this example, the guy had pocket twos and nails the two on the river and I called a 1/2 pot sized bet to see them, which at that point in time put me down $17.
What's worse though is that I'm getting read when I play. If I bet aggressive people put me on a good hand, but they realize that if I don't big on the turn I don't have the monster hand and they can bluff me out. But if I do bet big on the turn I'm getting owned by people with triples or two pair.
What's wrong with my game here. It's getting to the point where I think my game is flawed and that I should start slow playing high pairs and overpairs and hope I get something on the turn or river to get the nuts and finish off these people. But that's giving EV to the opponents for whatever crap they can pull out too, when I have what probably is the best hand.Statistics: Posted by HappyBenny — Wed Jan 12, 2005 3:22 am
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