Small Stakes No Limit fun

Since I've been struggling with limit hold'em, I figured I'd try out the online no-limit cash games. So far I like.

Game #727667997 - (blinds $0.25/$0.50) No Limit Texas Hold'em - 2005/02/20-17:23:30.3 (CST) Table "Gau (5 max)" (real money) -- Seat 2 is the button Seat 1: MSU_Poker ($44.50 in chips) Seat 2: idoljAce ($64.75 in chips) Seat 3: ADSPAR ($104.00 in chips) Seat 4: RikiRocket ($11.75 in chips) Seat 5: sckbr1 ($22.00 in chips)
ADSPAR: Post Small Blind ($0.25)
RikiRocket: Post Big Blind ($0.50)
Dealt to ADSPAR [ 6d ]
Dealt to ADSPAR [ 5c ]
sckbr1 : Call ($0.50)
MSU_Poker: Fold
idoljAce: Call ($0.50)
ADSPAR: Call ($0.25)
RikiRocket: Check
*** FLOP *** : [ 2h 6h 8c ]
ADSPAR: Check
RikiRocket: Check
sckbr1 : Check
idoljAce: Bet ($2)
ADSPAR: Raise ($6)
RikiRocket: Fold
sckbr1 : Fold
idoljAce: Call ($4)
*** TURN *** : [ 2h 6h 8c ] [ Js ]
ADSPAR: Bet ($8.50)
idoljAce: Call ($8.50)
*** RIVER *** : [ 2h 6h 8c Js ] [ 7h ]
ADSPAR: Bet ($22)
idoljAce: Timed out
idoljAce: Fold
ADSPAR: Winner -- doesn't show cards
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: $29.50 Rake: $1.50
Board: [ 2h 6h 8c Js 7h ]
MSU_Poker didn't bet (folded)
idoljAce lost $15 (folded)
ADSPAR bet $37, collected $51.50, net +$14.50 [ 6d 5c ] (a pair of sixes)
RikiRocket lost $0.50 (folded)
sckbr1 lost $0.50 (folded)

When the button bet the flop after everyone checked to him, it looked like he was trying to steal the pot. Even though he limped, so could have some low cards, this didn't seem like a flop he'd want to see a checkraise, so I raised a medium amount. I was surprised that he called. He at least thinks he has a chance to win this.

On the turn I didn't want to check and face a big bet, so I decided to bet out. I like to bet weird amounts so I bet $8.50 into a $14 pot. It took him a long time, and he finally called. I'm out of position in this hand, so this was the last bit of information I was going to get before I have to make a river decision. This is a pretty good sized pot now, so I wanted to get it right.

I took a lot of time on the river before deciding to bet $22. The river brought a possible flush, which was good for me. If he had been on a flush draw, he wouldn't have taken so long to call on the turn. His stack was about $50 at that point, so I could have folded to an all-in raise. Given his flop bet and weak call on the turn, I think he probably had a pair of 8s with a weak kicker. There was just too much on that board for him to call with 89 or something like that. I decided on $22 because the graphic of $22 looked more intimidating than $20. I assume his time-out was intentionally not deciding to call, cause he was back the next hand.


Game #727648437 - (blinds $0.25/$0.50) No Limit Texas Hold'em - 2005/02/20-17:04:09.1 (CST) Table "Gau (5 max)" (real money) -- Seat 2 is the button Seat 1: MSU_Poker ($54.25 in chips) Seat 2: idoljAce ($52.25 in chips) Seat 3: ADSPAR ($62.75 in chips) Seat 4: GamecoxGirl ($27.00 in chips) Seat 5: puddler ($37.75 in chips)
ADSPAR: Post Small Blind ($0.25)
GamecoxGirl: Post Big Blind ($0.50)
Dealt to ADSPAR [ Ah ]
Dealt to ADSPAR [ Qs ]
puddler : Call ($0.50)
MSU_Poker: Call ($0.50)
idoljAce: Call ($0.50)
ADSPAR: Raise ($4)
GamecoxGirl: Fold
puddler : Call ($3.75)
MSU_Poker: Fold
idoljAce: Fold
*** FLOP *** : [ Jd Qd 9h ]
ADSPAR: Bet ($7)
puddler : Call ($7)
*** TURN *** : [ Jd Qd 9h ] [ 3d ]
ADSPAR: Bet ($28)
puddler : Call All-in ($26.50)
*** RIVER *** : [ Jd Qd 9h 3d ] [ 7s ]
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: $75 Rake: $2
Board: [ Jd Qd 9h 3d 7s ]
MSU_Poker lost $0.50 (folded)
idoljAce lost $0.50 (folded)
ADSPAR bet $39.25, collected $76.50, net +$37.25 (showed hand) [ Ah Qs ] (a pair of queens) GamecoxGirl lost $0.50 (folded)
puddler lost $37.75 (showed hand) [ Ac Td ] (high card ace)


Another Small Blind hand. When everyone limped, it was highly likely that I was holding the best hand, but I wanted to narrow the field, or even win the small pot before the flop, hence the big raise to $4. 1 caller, and I see a flop out of position.

Good news on the flop is I have top pair with top kicker. Bad news is the board has straight and flush draws. I bet slightly less than the pot, which maybe was too little. He called with little hesitation, and the turn was an ugly diamond. The only made hands he could have that I might want to call my bet were AJ or KQ, but both of those hands would likely have raised preflop. So there was no point of milking him with a small bet. As far as my betting was concerned, he either had a made straight or flush, or was drawing to one of those. With about $24 in the pot already, and him only having $26 in front of him, if he had a made hand, all my money was going in. And if he had a draw, I wanted him to pay for it, so I went all in and hoped he'd fold.

When he called with AT, he had diamonds or straight outs, for a 34.1% chance of beating my AQ. That is 1.93 to 1. He called $26.50 with a pot of $50 in front of him, giving him 1.89 to 1, so it was basically a coinflip. River blank, WHEW!

From his perspective though, I think the call was a mistake, since if I had made a set or had a bigger diamond in my hand, his odds would have been considerably worse.

I'm much more comfortable analyzing limit hands, so if anyone has any thoughts on these no-limit hands, I'd appreciate it.