All at Empire/Party

Hand 1
I have 21.50 with AcJd OTB. UTG raises to 3 and he is defined as "TP A" from my PT stats. First of all I have no idea what this means but I know it has something to do with tight but that is another post. Back to the hand. MP1 (a little loose but not much) flat calls as do I since I am in position. We all have equal stacks at 20.
Flop is J 9 6 rainbow. UTG bets 10 into a 9.75 pot. MP1 flat calls. Here is my question. A lot of people say, don't lose your stack with TPTK, however it is only a 25 buy in. My only plays are push or fold. Calling is not an option at this point for me. What is your play? Results later.

Hand 2
I am OTB with AdQd and have both UTG (30) and CO(25) covered. UTG was berrated for being loose by someone else when he came to the table and has shown high aggression. He is UTG and raises to 2. CO calls (a little loose from what I have seen but no real solid reads). I consider raising but this could be a hand where I can break both and I do not like having to fold a nice hand like this in position so I don't want to be reraised off this hand.
Pot is 6.75 and the flop is A 9 2 two diamonds. UTG checks and CO fires 6 into the pot. I call hoping UTG calls or pushes. He folds and the turn is a offsuit 9. CO bets his remaining 16.5 (Pot 18.75) and here is where you decide what to do. Results later.

Hand 3
I am in the SB with both players covered. I have AhKs. UTG+1 limps, he is fairly loose but no solid reads yet bc he just came. MP3 raises to 3. He is a loose seeing 50% of the flops and raising about 6%. So it is up to me and I consider raising but I do not want to be raised off this hand so I flat call. UTG+1 raises to 3.50 and MP3 raises to 15. Great bc of this dumbass who min raises I am off my hand. Or am I? What is your move? Results later.

Hand #1...fold AJ to a 6BB raise from UTG and you wont be in that situation.

Hand #2...I wouldve folded this one preflop also, but a call is OK. The all in call at the turn is very read dependant. At a Party $25 table, I would probably call. Its amazing how many of these situations you avoid if you dont call these raises prelop. If you open raised with AQ its a whole dofferent ballgame. CALLING in NL is a losers gmae.

Hand #3...Fold. I dont know about Party $25 tables, but everywhere else, the limp reraise from EP is almost always AA or KK. Surely he has at least an ace or king even if he doesnt have a pair. That means you have less outs against MP3's pair. Remember what I said about CALLING?

iceman,

You would really fold AQs in position (Hand 2) from a known crazy player who raised UTG? I know that even crazy players get hands too but this is an excellent hand against a player like this.

Hand 1 I would normally fold this preflop but I do not know what came over me. Based on the fact that you did call, and each of you have about $20 left in your stack, would you call the flop bet or fold or raise all in, pretty well knowing one of them would call.

I will comment on hand 3 later bc I would like to get more responses. Thanks for your input.

Hand 1: AJ vs a raise, I fold in a heart beat unless I have notes that state player A likes to raise with any A. After the flop the $10 bet screams to me of protecting a hand, this screams out over pair and probably a 5 outter for you. The TPA means he isn't usually agressive preflop, the fact that he raised a decent amount would also make my conclusion overpair.

Hand 2: This one is a tough hand, a lot of people just call a raise with AK and you dont have a solid read on the CO, from your description it sounds like you are probably ahead of UTG, but not sure vs the cutoff. Flip a coin.

Hand 3:
Fold you have two reasons for this A you are no longer getting odds, you are now pretty much forced to push all in or fold. Calling is a bad play, you only flop one of your cards 1:3 of the time. Also their is a player to act behind you and calling he may move all in and now you have to call since you have half your money in the pot. Your best hope is that one player has QQ the other has JJ and your a 36% to win the pot. More likely one of them is going to show AA or KK. Or one is going to match you AK. Your best case scenario is a coin flip and there's a good chance your behind or dominated.

I didnt notice the AQ was suited which helps a bit. Id probably be 50/50 on whether or not I call preflop. I would much rather raise with it than call a raise with it.

On hand 2, not only did I not notice the AQ was suited, but I didnt notice you had the nt flush draw. When the cutoff bets pot and you have TP with queen kicker and the nut flush draw, Im raising, not calling. Im raising big.

I had a hand today in the $5/$10 NL game where I had [3s] in the BB. The flop was [9s][4s]. I checked, there was $40 bet and a call. I check raised to $140. One guy called and I went all in at the turn. Your hand was even stronger than mine.
Like I said before, calling is a losers game. You had TP 2nd kicker and the nut flush draw AND position. Raise it up!

To learn more about poker tracker, click on the big livepokerforum icon it will take you to the main site. On the left hand side their are two articles pokertacker1 and 2 I think they have a ton of good info on how to use pokre tracker.


Actually I was going to write another article on how I actually use it at the table - as in what stats in need to see before I raise OTB with AT or fold to a raise with AKo in LP, what I look at before I fire into a pot with nothing (they say not to bluff in Party $25 but if you are the pre-flop raiser pot-sized bets on the flop should be your default position in a lot of $25 game situations) - basically how to spot the strategies used by the various player types and how to counter them, and some more on tbale selection - that's if anyone would be interested in a newbie's experiences at Party 25's with PT..

DanhDan I do agree with you in some respects, even when I play heads up againsy my brother for no money I try to play like the stakes are the same but there is one major difference, at the $25 NL tables on Party, first a lot of the players are horrible and can't find the fold button, making TPTK a stronger hand than it is vs good opponants at higher levels. Plus everyone is usually much shallower stacked than other blind structures. When I play 25 or 50 NL at party I am playing to double up. I'm not worried about busting, as long as I double up more than I bust. This is a very different goal than when I'm playing in a casino and have $300-$500 in front of me.

My understanding is that any time you play NLH you are playing to double up. You are looking to dominate your opponent with a strong overpair or bust them with a disguised monster like a set. Small and medium sized pots shouldn't be ignored, but what you are really looking to do is to get your opponent to make a mistake and make it cost him his stack. So really you are looking to double up no matter the stakes. It is just easier to do with TPTK at lower limits where, like you say, the players can't find the fold button.