Played about 1600 hands thus far today and had a very good day overall, in large part because of avoiding major confrontations with beatable hands. These two hands I dumped early on and wanted to see what you guys thought. The first one was against a guy who is very tight (VIP 7%) and buys in short everytime. I thought about bumping him up or calling to see the turn but I couldn't help but think I was in bad shape. He shows AJ and I was ahead but still don't regret the fold. The second hand was against a pretty aggressive guy (VIP 30%, PR 20%). I limped with Ako and he bumped it up a considerable amount and I decided to let it go. Thoughts appreciated.


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (9 handed)

MP2 ($90)
MP3 ($94.90)
Hero ($243.90)
Button ($112.55)
SB ($40)
BB ($22)
UTG ($38)
UTG+1 ($63.90)
MP1 ($32.10)

Preflop: Hero is CO with , .
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $1, 3 folds, Hero calls $1, 1 fold, SB completes, BB checks.

Flop: ($4) , , (4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $3, SB raises to $6, BB folds, UTG+1 folds, Hero folds.

Final Pot: $13

Results in white below:
No showdown. SB wins $13.


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (9 handed)

Button ($10.80)
SB ($80.30)
BB ($23.40)
Hero ($126.80)
UTG+1 ($164.45)
MP1 ($110.60)
MP2 ($214.45)
MP3 ($35.50)
CO ($144.25)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with Ad, .
Hero calls $1, UTG+1 raises to $6, 7 folds, Hero folds.

Final Pot: $8.50

Results in white below:
No showdown. UTG+1 wins $8.50.

Hand 1, I don't like the fold at all. Some factors:
1. He is short stacked, so it doesn't cost that much to get to the river.
2. He is short stacked, so he's an idiot. Even if he's a tight idiot.
3. It's an unraised pot, so the min raise doesn't indicate as much strength as if you'd raised pre-flop. It's common for TP to raise here, so you're ahead a lot of the time.

I'd suggest calling the flop, betting $10 into the $16 pot on the turn, and then $23 into the $40 pot on the river. A short stack with AJ, A9, A8 should have trouble getting away from this one.

Hand 2, either way. I'd probably call against a very aggressive player, since he may overplay a weaker ace or king. But folding out of position can't be too bad.

Al, if you call the flop raise in hand #1, you cant bet $10 into the $16 pot, because the SB is going to bet and hes first to act. I would either fold to the min raise, but would more likely raise the turn all in when the SB bets around $10-$15

Ice beat me to my line on hand 2...

I would have to see a flop on the first hand... you are most likely a coinflip to huge favorite. If you opened for 3 and he came back with 8 I can see maybe folding.