50NL: Am I too weak?

[wrap_it]

#1 this is just a basic question: We are 5 hands into the match, every button was raised and now he throws in a tiny 3bet. Now what's my play here? If I just call I'm in an awkward RIO situation and folding A9 to such a small 3bet also sucks. What about 4betting this as a bluff to directly find out what min3bets by this player mean?

#2 a few hands later. Should be complete std.

#3 Again 5 hands later I tried to take a stab. Many good HU players advise to check out your opponents tendencies early in the match. Now when he min3bets me I'm almost definitely sure he either is a kind of maniac that has to win every pot or he is a really good and aggressive player which is unlikely on 50NL.

#4 one hand later. Given the considerations above it's maybe a good idea to just give up the flop but at first I might have the best hand. Secondly I planned to 2barrel a ton of turns and thirdly unless he is really supercrazy he shouldn't try to bluff me again since his credibility is really bad.
I wanted to call some rivers after the turn bricked but I wasn't sure on this one. He normally shouldn't vbet 2pair or worse and there aren't too many 7x, 2x in his range so what about looking him up here?

#5 Two hands later: Given the history above this might be a spot where c/f isn't too bad but what about 2barreling any turn? Does he expect me to 2barrel light and in result will call me lighter?
Obv. I wans't paying attention that much because of playing 2 tables but bet flop, c/f turn is definitely too weak now.

#6 Same spot another 6 hands later: I'm still betting the flop 4 value since his range is any2. The turn sucks, though since it hits a good amount of his range. My plan was to cb and snap a lot of rivers but again the ace hit his range pretty hard and he bets out big so again nothing else to do than fold?!

#7 10 hands later and poorly played. When he doesn't cbet it looks like giving up and since he is calling so superloose I bet the turn for value vs once card FDs. Now he gets there on the river and for some reason I tried to push him off a better flush since I didn't play back anywhere. He even tanked a little before calling but it was obvious that he never folds a better flush. On the other hand checking here really sucks because he might bet bigger and then I would really like to look him up since he can't always have a better hand.

#8 This is one of the last hands we played: Obv. I 3bet K8s for value since he likes to call raises. Now on this flop he never folds a pair or a FD when I cbet so I tried to rep the ace as perfectly as I can by tanking and checking the flop and betting the turn around 1/2 pot. Another useless stab against someone who never folds or am I just running bad?

[Trikkur]

1. This is fine to fold.

2. I'm not sure what you are asking here. This seems ok.

3. I probably fold A8o here. I'm not calling with marginal Aced OOP, you are just going to get value towned.

4. I can see double barelling here a lot. You picked up outs with the gut shot plus you have two overs. You don't want him to think you give up every turn when you don't have it. He will start check/calling every flop and donking river every time you check back. That's also another reason I would consider calling river here. Sometimes you ahve the best hand and it's a cheap information play to see what he's playing out the of the BB and check/calling low flops with.

5. I bet turn here. There are too many random hands he has that folds to double barrell. Yet again you c-bet then just check back turn when you don't have anything. You are making it profitable for him to check/call like ever single flop.

6. This is fine. I wouldn't be planning on calling many rivers regardless. If anything the Ace is a decent card for you to bluff shove on, but I probably wouldn't do it this early in the match.

7. I don't understand your turn bet. You might as well just be check/folding this. You are behind a ton of hands and are coinflipping against pretty much any possible hand he is holding.

8. Yuck at this 3-bet. K8s is going to play bad against his 3-bet calling range. You should be c-betting this flop. After checking the flop, you should be checking the turn.

You really need to be thinking about your style when playing HU. You are playing every single situation the same way and it's going to let your opponents play perfectly against you.

[given1982]

1 - fine.
2 - I double barrel here a lot.
3 - I don't like defending A8--I'd 3bet or fold preflop.
4 - this is fine if he's not folding much postflop.
5 - this isn't a great barrel card, but you can't c/f every turn when you have air if he's floating the flop a lot. Just pick some spots.
6 - same
7 - I just c/f
8 - He doesn't fold, but you want to bluff him?

If you're playing someone that never really folds preflop or on the flop, then you need to tighten up preflop and on the flop, and you need to follow through with a 2nd barrel a lot of the times that you are firing the flop.

[no eff eks]

hand 1: Folding A9o to a 3bet at the beginning of a HU match is totally standard for $50nl.

hand 2: Totally standard, well played.

hand 3: Totally fine with me as long as you aren't always making this play. It's good to c/r bluff sometimes in order to get value when you do it with a made hand.

hand 4: Another totally standard hand... no reason to double barrel that turn, and when he bets the river you obviously can't call. If he seems capable you could probably bluff-raise (his tiny river bet is almost always something marginal that doesn't want to have to call a larger bet), but without any reads I'd just fold.

hand 5: Once again, bad turn to double barrel... totally fine.

hand 6: I'd bet the turn almost always, as played I'd probably fold the river as well since it's a horrible card for him to bluff.

hand 7: I would be 3betting small pairs like 33 because it's really tough to get to showdown and realize your equity. As it is I like the turn bet (for value), and the river I'm not sure whether I like c/c or turning the hand into a bluff... neither one seems horrible though.

hand 8: Bet the flop... you should bet the flop with Ax too.

[wrap_it]

wow, thanks for your analysis.

I think Trikkur got it. It's definitely one of my problems not being creative enough when playing poker but that's why I'm playing HU as normally 6max player. Another problem in this match was that I was playing two tables. I'm usually just single tabling HU and playing 4-5 tables 6max but somehow everyone plays twice as more tables than I do so I tried to add a few (also with respect to collect more FPPs on stars)
But as soon as I add one table more I'm missing so much action...I should stick to one table I guess.

okay here are a couple of further explanations:

#2 I did include this mainly for information about his tendencies. I don't like a 2barrel that much because the turn completely bricks, I would have to 3barrel a lot and he also is unknown and might snap me off with A high (if the river was another blank).

#4 Given the history this is a spot where I also like a 2barrel a lot (I guess I missed the gutter)

#5 Here I don't like a 2barrel that much since I can't be sure that he ever folds Jx and the board isn't that drawheavy. It might be a decent spot to fire though since I c/f the last 4 times.

#8 Okay this is the most interesting hand imo. Why don't you like PF? I doubt he ever folds to a 3bet PF and DC has taught me that I want to play hands with highcard value against players who call too much. I agree that the line I took is spew but I'm sure he would have called/raised in 90% of the time. Of course I'm betting Ax on the flop but I don't need to balance my range against such a player.

[no eff eks]

Personally I like your 3bet in hand 8... but you really need to bet the flop, especially if you also bet the flop with Ax. For one thing, it's going to be really really hard to get to showdown even when your K-high is good, and for another he's going to have some kind of middling pair a lot of the time and you need to try to represent a big hand to get him off it.

He'll show up with lots of stupid high card hands and suited connectors as well and those will usually fold to a c-bet on a paired board.

This isn't really about balance, it's about winning the pot -- you usually are not ahead and when you are you probably wont get to showdown, so you have to bluff.