In this article we'll look at some hands from my hand histories at low stakes, specifically $0.50-$1 No Limit Hold'em (both 6max and Full Ring) and also give HUD stats of the villains and see how
that might affect our thinking in terms of making a decision. Let's get right into the action. Stats when listed as 24/14/3 refer to VPIP (Voluntarily Put Money into the Pot) / PFR
(Preflop Raise %) / AF (Aggression Factor).
HAND 1: KQ Suited in the Cutoff
The villain in this hand, solbech, is a 37/3/1 which definitely qualifies him as a fish. This is a player that is only raising preflop with ridiculously great hands and most of the time just
trying to see a flop and get lucky.
Preflop: I usually raise 3.5x the big blind and add one per limper so the raise to $4.50 is fine but $5 would have been good too. Our fish calls, so up to this point I like the hand
as-played.
Flop: The flop comes K-A-7 rainbow and our fish checks into us. Essentially, this is a WA/WB situation (meaning Way Ahead / Way Behind) because we've flopped second pair and have
backdoor straight and flush possibilities but are woefully behind a hand like AJ that has top pair with similar backdoor possibilities. I continuation bet here which really was a bad
move. The best thing here was to check. With this cbet I fold out worse hands and keep in drawing hands and better hands. It's not cut and dry but a check here was best. As played, I
cbet and get a call.
Turn: The Queen comes on the turn giving me middle two pair for a pretty strong hand. Now I'm light years ahead of AJ or AT and unless he has AK, AA, KK, QQ, JT or 77 I'm sitting
pretty. Using PokerStove and using my HUD to see his 37% range I have an equity lead of 75-25%, so getting it in against his check raise and putting $29 more into an $87 is a no brainer.
Result: Well, it's a bit of a cooler looking at the whole hand, but the cbet at the flop really was something to watch out for next time.
HAND 2: AK Suited in the Cutoff w/ Fireworks Preflop
Preflop: I've got a monster in the cutoff and get 3bet by the small blind who is a 14/10/5 player whom I have a ton of history with. His 3bet is at 4% and he 3bets similiarly out of the
small blind. The Big Blind is an 11/11/inf player who 3bets 6% (same when on the big blind) whom we haven't seen 4bet (to get an overall perspective for his preflop game). I personally
don't believe in thin 5bets, at that point it's just time to shove in the money in since the 4bet was coming from a shortstacker so the only real reads we need are from the small blind. He's a
nit who folds to 4bets unless he has AA or KK which is really doubtful since we have one of both. The shoves gets AK to fold and maybe even QQ and definitely TT so I like it as the right move
in this situation. I get the money in as a flip but we had dead money from the SB's fold so this is a terrific equity situation, and fortunately enough I win the 50-50.
HAND 3: TT on the Button (6max)
Preflop: Again, a weird hand preflop where making some HUD reads helped my decision process. A solid tight aggressive player under the gun (20/16/2) makes a raise and with TT on the
button I make a 3bet. I liked the move at the time but a really good player I know who I asked to look at this hand made a good point that 3betting here doesn't make much sense. He said
that with this bet I fold out all the worse pairs and give other hands like JJ+ or big aces the chance to push me out and totally lose the chance to flop a set versus those better hands and win
their stack. Anyways, as played, the small blind (whom I have no reads yet) makes a 4bet and given his stack size it's a no brainer to just get the money in once we see the original raiser
fold. I made a good read and my TT holds up against his 88.
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