lamaglass

Thank you for the response. And you're right, there's nothing wrong with check folding air on the flop, I just feel like I've called off too much money in that situation: flat call a 3x raise from the BB, and check folding the flop when I don't connect. I'll mix it up too, of course, with some calls and an occasional raise if I think the board looks like it might be favorable to a BB range.

I'm going to watch that video now. Thanks!

Thanks for the feedback. I just responded to Snow and Fire about people shoving 300 into a 35 dollar pot, rather than value betting, when they make their hands. So yes, you are correct in that poor players will often broadcast strength rather than try to get paid. When I said they connect more that wasn't necessarily what I meant, I guess I meant that they are more likely to connect with anything. If I have AK and the board comes J72 rainbow against a tighter player I might be worried about sets or maybe AJ or 10J or something, but against a fish they might have just hit J2 or something. That's what I was talking about. Not the percentage of time they connect but the difficulty in knowing when connect.

So, I don't often bluff. Not in cash games anyway. A little more so in tournaments. I"ll explain my thinking a little more. knowing what I know about the guy I was playing the pot with, he could have had a small/middle pair, It's possible that he had an A, but I had seen him raise with Ax on more than one occasion and he had limped. So other than that I'm thinking any two over cards or any two suited cards. He could be limping with just about anything, really and calling a raise didn't necessarily narrow his range for me, OTF I took the line I did because, obviously, that's not a dry board or one that you particularly want to see if you have a small pair. I wanted information, which I could have got from a smaller bet as well, but if he wasn't ahead I didn't want to give him good enough odds to call. Despite wanting to rep aces, after my flop bet I thought the chances were in my favor that I was still ahead.

A little aside first before I tell you why. When I re-read my initial comment I can see how I came off sounding pretty shitty towards the UTG guy. I wasn't trying to just make him sound like a weak player, but when I say that he has likely never heard of pot odds, I wasn't just saying that. You have to understand the room I play at. It isn't uncommon for someone who connects in a big way (a set, a straight, even the low end when there's 4 cards to the straight on the board and they have the bottom card, or the nuts) and are sitting on 300 in chips and the pot is 35 to just shove. No value bets, or even 3 seconds of consideration, like they are waiting for the action to come to them so they can jam as fast as they can. I swear I see it multiple times on any given night. This guy is one of those players. This is not me being arrogant, or talking bad about people. I like alot of those people as people. This is just the game I play in.

So, back to this hand. The flop comes and I decide to make a 3/4 size pot bet. This is my thinking. If he does have a small pair (I don't think he has an over pair b/c he limped) there are 4 pairs smaller than mine and 3 larger (if we aren't counting broadway range) One of them that is smaller than mine is obviously represented on that board. If he has a pair of 4s he will likely come over me and I'll dump my hand. If I've eliminated 4s, which I pretty much do after betting the flop, bc he just calls, I'm left thinking he has either clubs (he would have dumped random suited cards of any other suit) two over cards, or one one of the other 6 small pairs. He could have 6s too, but I haven't really considered that. Soooo....If I'm looking at that, rather large range, I'm figuring I'm still ahead, even if he doesn't buy my bluff. If he has pairs it's 50/50 that I'm in the lead (three small pairs bigger and three smaller), As far as the overcards, I'm slightly favored there. If you subtract the king on the board there are more combinations of QJ, Q10, J10 than there are of KQ, KJ, K10 and factoring the possibility that he has any two clubs there is a better chance that I am ahead, and that he is on a draw. When I factor his demeanor when calling I hadn't eliminated the pairs, but I guessed he was on a draw. Probably a clubs draw bc with an A on the board there are only gutshot straight draws and there are only 4 cards that will make his hand and I didn't want to lay him anywhere near good enough odds to call and possibly catch up. Despite the odds I Iaid him he did call with, if he did believe I had connected with the board, a 4 outer. If he didn't believe me, and in reality, he had 10 outs to beat me (1 more out than he would have had, had he been on a club draw), he still wasn't getting good enough odds to call.

When I made this comment in the first place I was still frustrated over a bad beat. But that's what I was looking at from my perspective. I do have a shitload to learn to be playing at the level I'd like to (By level I mean level of play, not money...though I would like to have the bankroll and ability to play higher stakes as well), which is why I spend my time soliciting information, watching videos, practicing on APT. Again, I appreciate the feedback. I think having other players challenging you to think your process through and pointing out flaws in that process is essential to growth. Almost all of the social time I spend with the people I know locally who do play cards is at the card room and we aren't giving this kind of feedback. So thanks!

I appreciate the feedback. I really don't try to buy pots that often. I generally play pretty tight. I'm not one to try to force action. And boredom at the table isn't an issue either. I love the environment as well as most of the people I play with. I love the game. I thought I was ahead in this situation (I was when I got my money in), I still wanted to represent a stronger hand. You are right. It was a bluff. I do see a lot of the people I play against playing pretty loose and sloppy but the fact is that, unless I'm walking in there cleaning up on a regular basis, I've obviously got some pretty big holes in my game as well. I don't have any delusions that I have shit figured out. Again, thanks for the advice. I will continue to study, watch videos and ask for feedback. Be well.