Hand Review - Can I Get Some Feedback?

These hands tend to get me into trouble from time to time although usually very profitable. Is there a better way to play them?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG ($4.44)
UTG+1 ($5.68)
MP1 ($6.48)
Hero (MP2) ($6.22)
MP3 ($7.36)
CO ($2.66)
Button ($0.97)
SB ($5)
BB ($2.98)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with A, Q
UTG calls $0.02, 2 folds, Hero bets $0.15, 4 folds, BB calls $0.13, UTG calls $0.13

Flop: ($0.46) A, 4, 3 (3 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets $0.40, 1 fold, UTG calls $0.40

Turn: ($1.26) J (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $1.50, UTG calls $1.50

River: ($4.26) 9 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $4, UTG calls $2.39 (All-In)

Total pot: $9.04 | Rake: $0.40

You're creating a huge pot with a pair that may be behind (remember he tried limping UTG...this may mean A4s or A3s). Keep the pot small with your one pair. Check the turn. You may not make as much money those times you win...but you won't find yourself over your head either.

Originally Posted by wolfmmix

These hands tend to get me into trouble from time to time although usually very profitable. Is there a better way to play them?

yes...don't view AQs in MP as "usually very profitable". it is in one of the upper tiers of PF hands, but that doesn't mean that when you get it dealt to you that you're obligated to make a lot of money with it. when played correctly (which is usually somewhat carefully if you only get a pair out of it, especially in FR), it is profitable over time.

betting PF, on the flop and on the turn will oftentimes commit you by the river, as it did in this case, so checking the turn is a better option when you just have a pair OOP. this also merges your cbetting-with-air/marginal hands range, so people can't bluff you off something like middle pair or a GSSD EVERY SINGLE TIME you check the turn

Thanks guys. I think checking the turn is my best bet when someone continues to call me.

he could totally never pay you off with a2, a5, a6, a7, a8, at, 65s, ...

raise size pre is attrocious. 4x+1 per limper please (10 cents)
no need to overbet the turn, .9-1 is a good bet to keep these weaker aces in
by the river, his range is weaker aces, strong aces, twopairs and sets. Of these, i think you are most likely to win the hand, but only his stronger hands continue against such a large bet. bet smaller or check it back to make his calling range on the river a bit wider.

Originally Posted by wolfmmix

Thanks guys. I think checking the turn is my best bet when someone continues to call me.

This hand is a function of a number of incorrect moves, but the most glaring to me is your bet sizing. You isolated huge preflop for no reason. 7.5xbb? Why? That's the beginning of the pot bloating. Then you stick in a PSB on the flop with a good hand but no idea of your opponents range or your plan for the rest of the hand. You overbet the turn, again, for no reason. Your opponent has 1/2 psb left on the river so it seems kinda dumb to not stick the rest in when if you think any Ace is calling.

Played with proper bet sizes you could get to the river cheaper, and get medium value out of your medium strength hand.

lol @ me and JKDS making the same post at the same time.

Originally Posted by Illfavor

lol @ me and JKDS making the same post at the same time.

Thanks fo rthe continued input everyone.

Anything less than 5xBB PFR and I generally get into too many multiway pots. My standard raise used to be 4-5xBB but it just wasn't thinning the field enough at these limits. By betting 7.5x, I can usually get it heads up or maybe 2 callers.

I can't say I like a lot of advice given in this thread. I like hero's line.

The microstakes are chalked full of bad players who stack off with worse aces. There are more combinations of aces you beat than aces you don't beat so I see no reason to take a pot control line on the turn. You will lose here a fair bit of the time to some Ax 2pr, but as long as you're winning more than 50%, which I believe we are here -- this line is good. Just accept the variance and fire away.

Preflop raise sizing is big, but that's not necessarily bad at these stakes. Building a pot early with your strong hands will show a profit at these stakes where people are limp/calling all sorts of junk and not giving up when they catch a piece of the board.

The turn bet doesn't need to be so big to setup a comfortable river shove, but we also get more value from gutshots that often aren't folding so it's not really terrible imo.

Originally Posted by d0zer

I can't say I like a lot of advice given in this thread. I like hero's line.

The microstakes are chalked full of bad players who stack off with worse aces. There are more combinations of aces you beat than aces you don't beat so I see no reason to take a pot control line on the turn. You will lose here a fair bit of the time to some Ax 2pr, but as long as you're winning more than 50%, which I believe we are here -- this line is good. Just accept the variance and fire away.

Preflop raise sizing is big, but that's not necessarily bad at these stakes. Building a pot early with your strong hands will show a profit at these stakes where people are limp/calling all sorts of junk and not giving up when they catch a piece of the board.

The turn bet doesn't need to be so big to setup a comfortable river shove, but we also get more value from gutshots that often aren't folding so it's not really terrible imo.

+1

He got all-in on the river with >50% equity against their calling range, so that's perfect. I just think he should get into the habit of planning the hand in such a way that he can do this w/o overbetting at any point.

Thanks everyone for the replies. They certainly have at least given me something to think bout.

Bet less on the flop and turn if UTG isn't totally retarded.

This line is suicide in my live game!

against some of the tards at 2nl, getting it AI with top pair awesome kicker on this board is ok.

How you went about it is not.

If you want to get all of your stack in, you need to look at the smallest stack when HU and try to size your betting so that he's calling 2 pot sized bets, one on the turn and one on the river.

So if he has 3 dollars in his stack, you want him to call a 1 dollar turn and a 2 dollar river.

Your overbets are bad because your opponent may look at this huge bet and say: "Gollee, I really don't want to play for such a large bet."
If the bets are more reasonable, he'll be more likely to call.

Your overbet on the flop clearly commits you in this instance too, what happens if he pops you back on the turn? Your re-evaluation of his range suddenly shifts to "he's crushing me" but you've committed so much of your stack it's a clear call, if he had more money this would have been a really tough spot.