two 3/6, 6-max hands. who likes my lines and thinking here?

[Stelvask]

this is all at 3/6nl, 6-max tables on stars.

hand 1 - flopping top boat in a reraised pot. How do i maximize my value here?

I dont' play 6-max often, only because I find playing 8 tables more entertaining than playing just 1 or 2, and when i play these short handed games i like to focus more on the players and pick up non-PT type reads. Still, I try to get in a few 6-max sessions every now and then, generally about an hour total each week.

I'm in the BB with 66. UTG is good, very aggressive. He used to reraise me a lot preflop in full ring. I then re-reraised him holding QTs (i had opened, he raised, i reraised), i flopped a flush draw on an A high board, bet 1/2 pot to look like aces, he tanked and folded. I showed. he hasn't reraised me since then.

Anyways, UTG and I both have $680. the BB covers us both. I've never played with him before, but he seems pretty aggressive. Still, i haven't been at the table long enough to know much more than that.

Onto the hand. UTG raises to $18. I cal in the BB with 66. the BB then reraises $42 more to $60 total. UTG calls, I call.

$180 pot. flop comes 622 with a club draw. yahtzee. I think briefly about leading out weak here, but quickly toss that idea and check. the BB bets $90 and UTG raises it to $252.

Now i'm in a weird spot. I feel as if calling will telegraph a slowplay here to UTG, but i have no clue what the BB will think. I also feel as though flat pushing will give away my hand as well, since i'd be coming over the top of a bet and a big raise.

I think about this for 15 seconds before deciding that i'll smooth call and lead out small on the turn, trying to commit UTG to put in some more chips with a JJ type hand here. My intention at this point was to lead out for maybe $90 on the turn and river, since i don't see any real way that UTG could fold for that amount.

Anyone like my reasoning here?


Hand two - facing the big bet from someone in position

Same table a while later. I'm now UTG. the same BB from the previous hand has $1500 on the table and is directly behind me, we'll say EP. I cover him. the button is new - he's been here for only a few hands, but has built his stack from $450 up to $600 without going to a showdown. I cover both of them.

I have [As] UTG and open to 18. EP big stack and button both call.

$60 pot. flop comes [8h][2h]. I hold the Ah, so i'm not too worried about the flush draw here, even thought it is 6max. I make a weak bet looking to see what kind of info i can get from my opponents here and lead out for $30. EP calls, and the button raises to $160. yowzers.

If figure if i call, i'm going to have to play for my stack here. I'm not convinced that he has me beat given the size of his raise (actually raising over the pot here). his raise looks like he's defending some sort of weakish hand from a draw. Still, i don't want to play back yet, if only because the EP big stack is in between us, and i don't want to play for his more than double stack with just AA here.

So what's the best play here? i considered min-reraising to isolate the button, planning to give up on the pot if EP puts any more chips in, and i also considered just smooth calling, since EP (as i stated in the earlier hand) was rather aggressive, and I think he would have raised me with a strong holding on this flop.

After 10 seconds of thought i smooth called. EP folded quickly.

$415 in the pot, the turn was the , putting a second flush draw on board. I checked called when the button pushed in for $419.

Anyone have any problems with this play? Anyone think i'm playing this like a station? That's fine if you do, since i know that variance goes way up in these 6-max games, but i wonder if i'm pushing a very fine line here with this call.

[shobute]

Hand 1, this is a similair idea to the Harman hand in high stakes poker season 1.
It was generally thought a flop lead is better at concealing the strength of your hand and getting the money in vs another strong hand.
They could well put you on a mediocre overpair trying to find out where you are.

Hand 2, you should fold the flop, this is a reverse implied odds situation. I don't especially like it because it's not unlikely that your weak flop bet induced the raise, but I don't want to play for stacks so better to get away now. Calling and reevaluating the turn isn't very good because there's only a pot bet behind.

[Stelvask]

shobute, if you're going to lead out on this flop, what kind of bet are you going to make?

it just seems suspiscious to be betting into a preflop raiser and reraiser when the BB is making it obvious that he's holding an overpair here.

[Smokin'Al]

Hand 1: He may be suspicious, but betting like 100, 200, 400 will make it difficult for him to get away from an overpair.

Would you have called the raise if UTG had folded, incidentally? I'm never sure when to call reraises with small pairs.

Hand 2: I disagree with Shobute ... because of the stack sizes, most aggressive players will push most kings/draws here. If he checks behind, you can value bet most non-hearts.

The point of calling is not to reevaluate the turn, but to get value from an aggressive player's weaker made hands.

I dislike the weak flop bet though.

[Triple B]

[Stelvask]

hand one worked like clockwork here. the BB thought for a few seconds before pushing, and UTG quickly called. I beat them both into the pot. turn was a deuce, which worried me since it looked at first like UTG had A2, river was a blank.

the BB had QQ, and UTG had [Tc]. I took down a $2100 pot, my biggest to date. under normal circumstances though, I should not have taken down one anywhere near this big.


in the second hand, While i understand that a stronger lead is generally a better play, by leading weak i got the button to tell me something. He raised over the size of the pot here against two players who aren't showing any particular strength. To me, this is saying "i don't have a set". I mean, if you were holding a set here, would you overpot it against two weak looking opponents? probably not.

Still, this isn't my normal play with aces. 9 times out of 10, i'm betting $45 here, as i'd do with any other hand i'd be betting (miss or hit).

I wasn't calling to re-evaluate on the turn. I was calling because i wanted the big stack out of the hand, but didn't want to have to force him out myself. Once he folded, i figured my hand looked like a heart draw to the button. Assuming no heart fell on the turn, i was going to either CRAI or check call his stack bet.

turn was a blank, i checked, he pushed with [6h], which was scarier than i gave him credit for. he missed and i dragged