New player advice please

[timberman]

Only been playing a few weeks, low limit 10 person cash games. and i keep finding my self in these two situations. Would like some advice on how to play them.

No 1 - I have AK sometimes suited sometimes not, 1 or 2 ppl limp in so i Raise 3/4 times the big blind, then some 1 re rasies, so at best i am assuming i am 50/50 so i usually fold, is this the correct thinking for cash play or should i be calling or even re raising?

No 2 - I flop top pair with a good kicker eg A with Q/K flop comes A 7 10, now a good few times this week i have lost to ppl holding a pair and they have made a set on the flop, is there any thing i should be looking out for to indicate they have made a set?

Thanks for any info.

[TightEnd]

hand 2, if it is a rainbow board someone check calling flop and turn with you betting can be a decent indicator


hand 2 is opponent specific, arguments can be made for any action. Keep notes and stats on regular opponents to see if you can pick up onr anges and tendencies. If position is yours, then that counts in your favour to at least call. If not in position, caution.

[Longy]

You probably aren't going to find a satisfactory reply to this unfortunately. Mainly because poker is situational and the above two situations are stuff that top players who have big winnner for years won't be able to give you a black and white answer. It DEPENDS.

Situation 1:

What is the player who re raised you like, does he/she do this alot if they do then folding maybe incorrect. At the lower limits alot of people are pretty crazy its just picking them out as there others who will only do this with aa/kk. What i would say is try and observe others tendancies and making an educated guess at their range, if you think they are capable of doing this with aq and aj say, you are ahead of their range and therefore making a raise/call will be correct.

Situation 2:

Trying to put someone on a set or not is one of the most difficult things in poker, IMO. In fact whenever I see a set shown in game or when I go through my database I will note exactly how they played the set. Did they bet, did they check raise if so how much, did they wait till the turn to make a raise.

If you want a general guide players at the lower levels love this line, example

Your hand  :
His hand :

Flop:  

You bet they call. Turn blank you bet, they min raise. OR if they out of position will check to you then raise the turn.

[boldie]

excellent post Longy.

[alexross]

No 1 - I have AK sometimes suited sometimes not, 1 or 2 ppl limp in so i Raise 3/4 times the big blind, then some 1 re rasies, so at best i am assuming i am 50/50 so i usually fold, is this the correct thinking for cash play or should i be calling or even re raising?
 

flat calling, shoving and reraising are all correct here depending on the player who raised. I am definitely not folding here, as 3betting is standard when the villain has AK or any pp because they either A) wanna take it down preflop rather than setmining (with 22-77 say), or they want to bump up the pot and see where they are at headsup (TT-AA).

Lots of ppl 3bet AK or AQ. work out who is doing what when you see showdowns and work from there... take player notes etc- you often see people who always raise 6bb or 3bet with AA for example. if they are playing a Lot of tables, they won't be mixing it too much and you can exploit this info.play the player not the cards!