AJIP 6 – $0.02 / $0.05 blinds cash game

It’s been ages since I’ve last posted about poker. That’s mainly because I haven’t been playing it much. I’m still interested though, and still want to learn this difficult game, and last weekend I played a couple of hands on a 6-handed table on PokerStars. The blinds were $0.02 / $0.05. Here are some of the hands that had me wonder what I could’ve done differently.

In this hand, I had K8s in the big blind. The small blind was a rather loose player, who had only been at the table for about 15 hands. After four folds, he decided to raise to $0.15, which I called. I was hoping to hit a King or 2 hearts on the flop, so I could get a lot of money from him. I was also in position.

The flop was AJ8. Bottom pair for me. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but still a pair, and if the turn would be a King, I would still like my hand. Mr. Loose bet $0.20 into the $0.30 pot. I hoped that if he had nothing, and this was just a continuation bet, he would shut down and stop betting on the turn and river. So I decided to call.

The turn was another Jack. Mr. Loose bet $0.30 now. I decided to stick with my original plan, and folded, believing that I did not have the best hand. Mr. Loose showed me his 73 of diamonds.

Many things I could’ve done differently here. What do you think of my thought process and conclusions?

A few hands later, I had AJ offsuit in the big blind. The UTG player limped in for $0.05. The cutoff raised to $0.15, which I thought could easily be a steal because of the early limp. The button and small blind folded, and I decided to reraise to $0.50. I would be happy if I could win the post then and there. The UTG limper called, and the cutoff called too.

So, I guess they had something after all. Maybe a pocket pair, or two face cards.

The flop was K66. Since I was first to act, I decided to check to see what the other two players would do. They both checked as well.

The turn was a 3. This was unlikely to help anyone, unless they had 2 spades of course. Would they have bet a hand with 2 spades? I checked again, and again the other two players checked too. I guess nobody had a King, and everyone was afraid to bet because… the other person might have a King? Hmmm.

A blank hit the river. Again, we all checked. I showed my AJ, and the cutoff raiser won the pot with 77.

How should I feel about this? Should I be happy that I lost the minimum? Should I have bet at some point, hoping my opponents would fold?

Poker looks so easy on TV, but it’s much harder if you have to make these decisions within a few seconds, not knowing the other players’ cards, and not having much experience!