[quote:d94feef4b2="Nekosohana"]
#1 Limping with A/Jo. Should I have raised? I don't really consider it a "premium hand". It's better than most, but I am not going to get in a raising war with it in a cash game. Especially at a level where my lunch costs more than this was worth.[/quote:d94feef4b2]
The majority of the time you should raise in this situation; not always, but most of the time. It sounds like the under the gun player limped in and everyone else folded to you. With this information in mind, you need to narrow the field as much as possible. While, true, A-J might not be a "premium hand" from early position, on the button with one limper and only the blinds left it certainly is. You want to play this hand against as few players as possible, and certainly not blinds. Also, try and stay away from the mentality of, "my lunch costs more." The goal in poker is to make the best decision as often as possible. If the stakes you are playing at either prohibit you from doing so, or just flat out make it not worth your while, then you need to change the stakes. There is rarely self-improvement when there is little interest.
[quote:d94feef4b2="Nekosohana"]
#2 Two pair is a conundrum to me. It's a fairly decent hand, and in non-stright/flush situations, I will bet it all day. But in this case, I felt I was behind, and I was. How do most of you reccomend playing top two pair?[/quote:d94feef4b2]
As a general rule, you should rarely be concerned about [i:d94feef4b2]not[/i:d94feef4b2] having the best hand when you flop top two pair, however, there are situations when caution needs to be exercised. A perfect example of this is a NL cash game when the under the gun player limps and the flop is high and connected. The most common hands that people limp with from under the gun in NL cash games are: high pocket pairs - they are looking to trap, two high cards - they usually are simply overvaluing their hand, A-x suited and suited connectors - in which they see a "playable" hand and hope that they can see the flop without being raised. Of those four types of hands, how many hit the type of flop you saw? Pretty much all of them, right? The weakest, something like 9-8 suited, still flops an open-ended straight draw. Now, in a situation such as the one you experienced, it's quite possible that you were beat by one player, with another drawing to a hand that beats you, while you yourself are drawing to only four outs for a boat. In this specific hand, experience would tell me that I was beat by the under the gun limper fairly often, and by being last to act and seeing so much action in front of you, folding was probably the best choice - because keep in mind that with the way the action went, your opponents were getting all of their outs twice, frequently making you an underdog to win the hand even if you have the best hand at the moment. If you were first to act on this flop, then you would simply have to bet out and be resigned to losing money on the hand, but with position there's no excuse for not walking away from the hand and waiting for a more certain situation. With the way poker is perceived these days, it's easy to forget that bets usually mean what they say, and in this scenario, the betting told you that you were either beat, or close to it. But to answer your question, flopping top two pair is almost always a winning hand when not confronted with a coordinated board. Simply bet and expect to win money in the long run - but never forget that having position helps win money when your opponents seem weak, but it should also be used to save money when your opponents seem strong.
[quote:d94feef4b2="Nekosohana"]
#3 Do you consider a middle hand like two pair to be a place to ever make a stand in a cash game?[/quote:d94feef4b2]
Certainly. Two pair is going to win its fair share of pots in a NL cash game, especially top two pair. It's really just a matter of becoming more and more confident in reading the texture of the board. Top two pair on a board of A-J-T-8-5 should be a hand that is played with some restraint, but top two pair on a board of A-J-7-5-4 should be pushed for about as much as you can get in the pot. "Making a stand" is something like calling an all-in reraise preflop against a player who has bullied you for hours with you holding a marginal hand like pocket 8's or A-T suited. Going the distance when you flop top two pair is not "making a stand," it's simply getting your money in the middle when you are almost always taking the best of it.
[quote:d94feef4b2="Nekosohana"]
#4 For Van, playing this .05-.10 NL is boring, but I see the point of the exercise. Would you say that these guys don't lie for the most part? Was it simply that I overthought it and should have gotten out of the way, not based on the quality of my hand, but on the fact that most of the players are going to not lie to you when they have a real hand? I find that my 1/2 pot bets, my lead out bets don't work the same. A .10 bet into a .30 pot is the same as a .15 or .20 bet into a .30 pot for these people. I'm not a really fancy player, but I noticed last night that they seem to play strictly on the cards and nothing else. It sounds obvious as I type it, but better to ask IMHO.[/quote:d94feef4b2]
I'm not really sure what you're getting at with this last question, but I will say this: you weren't playing your best because the game cost less than your lunch - and you're a student of the game - so why expect anyone else to play their best? Playing these kinds of limits can be a great exercise, but most importantly they can be a great exercise in patience and discipline. If you can force yourself to consistently play your best when the stakes are dimes and quarters, then surely you can do the same when the stakes are Lincoln's and Jackson's.
