Two micro stake cash hand spots

The_Don90

1) First shot at NL8 for a good while. origional opener is on both NL8 tables, seems like a fairly solid reg for early reads. Not seen him get out of line at all. Which is partly why i didnt cold 4b pre. Although is that the best route? The 3better is only on this table seems pretty inactive bar a few pots here and there. As played how is best to procceed in the hand now, facing different types of action on different kinds of turn & rivers? 

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
3b	Small blind		£0.04	£0.04	£10.70
The_Don90	Big blind		£0.08	£0.12	£18.69
	Your hole cards	Q Q
butler0255	Fold
open	Raise		£0.24	£0.36	£8.10
68Trebor	Fold
3b	Raise		£0.52	£0.88	£10.18
The_Don90	Call		£0.48	£1.36	£18.21
open	Call		£0.32	£1.68	£7.78
Flop
		8 7 6
3b	Bet		£0.40	£2.08	£9.78
The_Don90

2) Most of the table is tagged green, which at nl4 probably wont suprise you to find out that means weak/passive. Anyways limped pot, hit the flush and this happens. 

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
x	Small blind		£0.02	£0.02	£9.44
The_Don90	Big blind		£0.04	£0.06	£8.52
	Your hole cards	3 5
a	Call		£0.04	£0.10	£5.34
y	Call		£0.04	£0.14	£2.61
x	Call		£0.02	£0.16	£9.42
The_Don90	Check
Flop
		A 9 Q
x	Check
The_Don90	Check
mouseo8	Check
y	Check
Turn
		9
x	Check
The_Don90	Check
a	Check
y	Check
River
		2
x	Bet		£0.16	£0.32	£9.26
The_Don90	Call		£0.16	£0.48	£8.36
a	Fold
y	Raise		£0.40	£0.88	£2.21
x	Call		£0.24	£1.12	£9.02
The_Don90	?

CraigSG1

Hand 1: Pre seems fine. The 3 bet is suspiciously small but we have a good chance of being good. Post: the lead is small so I'm less inclined to think they have KK or AA on this very wet board but you never know. I think we should call as we are in position and look to raise a blank or bet if he checks, this way we can control the pot against any hand that had great equity on the flop and get value off smaller pairs. Try and check back any dangerous card or maybe even fold if we are led into big on a bad card. 

Hand 2: I'm probably raising river and then maybe fold to a jam by another player. 

shakinaces

That first hand it looks like the original opener (still to act) would be holding a PP a large amount of the time, so I don't think raising here is really an option as you could then see a raise behind.

Have to call the current bet though, weakish lead suggests the 3bettor either fears the flop (thinks his KK/AA etc has been outflopped) or has whiffed (with AK/AQ/KQ).  Depending on action from the other player, I'm likely to be putting more chips in on turn and river (dependent on what comes down, obv)

Hand 2 - I'm a nit so I smooth call and am happy to take down / pat myself on back for losing minimum.

If this was higher limits I might think differently, but draws seem to get played so passively at NL4 / people love playing suited cards that I'd reckon at least one of the oppos has a high probability of a flush in their hand...

That said, for such a small amount my curiosity would force me to call and hope I see a mid pair and a random 9x

freshfish1

Hand 1 id 4bet pre to about £1.30 against an unknown, by calling we encourage the original raiser to get involved and dont have position after the flop. Both recipes for awkward decisions later in the hand. As played we are in a tough spot. Calling makes us vulnerable to a raise from behind and raising bloats the pot on a wet flop that isnt particularly ideal for us. I think as played i go for the raise/fold flop to £1.20ish. If we just call i check back behind if we can or fold to a shove, unless the q comes.

Hand 2 is a simple call, why turn our hand into a bluff just to fold to a shove? We have 2 players so the likelihood of a better flush slightly increases so i just call.

CraigSG1

In Response to Re: Two micro stake cash hand spots:

Hand 1 id 4bet pre to about £1.30 against an unknown, by calling we encourage the original raiser to get involved and dont have position after the flop. Both recipes for awkward decisions later in the hand. As played we are in a tough spot. Calling makes us vulnerable to a raise from behind and raising bloats the pot on a wet flop that isnt particularly ideal for us. I think as played i go for the raise/fold flop to £1.20ish. If we just call i check back behind if we can or fold to a shove, unless the q comes. Hand 2 is a simple call, why turn our hand into a bluff just to fold to a shove? We have 2 players so the likelihood of a better flush slightly increases so i just call.
Posted by freshfish1

Raising would be for value, not a bluff. If we then get raised by another player I think we can fold (reads dependant) as that play would be super strong. 

freshfish1

In Response to Re: Two micro stake cash hand spots:

In Response to Re: Two micro stake cash hand spots : Raising would be for value, not a bluff. If we then get raised by another player I think we can fold (reads dependant) as that play would be super strong. 
Posted by CraigSG1

I'm no expert as NL4 because I don't really play there but I just don't see players at microstakes raising the river (especially when the 3rd card of the suit comes out) with anything less than the flush. They may mess around more on the flop but I would have thought that raising a river bet here is almost certainly a flush. I may be wrong Craig but just my thoughts in this situation. As we only have a 5 high flush I don't think we will be called by worse so I wouldn't necessrily say it's for value - what do you think?

CraigSG1

In Response to Re: Two micro stake cash hand spots:

In Response to Re: Two micro stake cash hand spots : I'm no expert as NL4 because I don't really play there but I just don't see players at microstakes raising the river (especially when the 3rd card of the suit comes out) with anything less than the flush. They may mess around more on the flop but I would have thought that raising a river bet here is almost certainly a flush. I may be wrong Craig but just my thoughts in this situation. As we only have a 5 high flush I don't think we will be called by worse so I wouldn't necessrily say it's for value - what do you think?
Posted by freshfish1

I dont know if we are having crossed wires? When X bets I think we should be raising for value as he can be betting a lot of worse hands here. If we then get raised by either X or Y then I think we CAN fold for the reason you stated. Just flatting is losing tons of value AND puts in bad spots if and when Y raises. 

freshfish1

Yes we are:) got your point now as hero is 2nd to act and villain is behind! Misread the hh durrr;)

Then we do raise as you suggested to about 50p seems reasonable then fold to reraise or shove.

Got ya, i sound like a right tool now;)

Edit, as played i sigh call.

The_Don90

ty guys some interesting debate. 

I actually folded the 53 hand. But wasnt sure it was right hense the post. 

QQ i raised, barreled turn and checked back river.