As I started making both of these changes, it brought me back to when I used to play a lot a few years back. I used to do a lot of the same things. I definitely raised more preflop (30 was my standard preflop raise in 2/5) and I definitely played more cautious out of position.
Few hands I played:
Hand 1 : Few people limp. I raise to 14 with KQ offsuit. Much bigger raise than I have been making in the past. 1 get one caller, this weirdo guy who has these rubber duckies all over the place. I don't remember if he was in the blind or limped in early position, but I was in position. Flop comes K-9-8 with 2 to a flush. He checks, and I check. In retrospect that was pretty stupid. It would have been a much better idea to bet here because the flush and straight draws were there, so I could get a call with either one. I wanted to slowplay a bit and sort of just remove a betting street because I didn't have a super big hand, but this was just the wrong time to try something like that. Turn was an offsuit deuce, he checked, I bet 20, he folded. Should have bet the flop though.
Hand 2 : This guy just sat down and raises to 11 in position on his first hand. He has about $500 (max buy-in is 300). Younger guy. I have 10-10 in the blind. I decide to just call. I could reraise, but if he calls then I'm just in a really awkward position. I have about $300 as well and don't want to get in some really big pot against an unknown guy with pocket 10s out of position. So I call and an old guy who limped calls. Flop comes A-Q-x and I'm done. I check, and it checks around. Turn is a 9. I check, the old guy checks, and now the preflop raiser bets 12. I call, thinking he probably doesn't have anything. The old guy calls too. I know he probably has a better hand than I do, so I'm going to have to bet the river to win. I'm putting him on something kinda weak, maybe a weak ace or a queen. River comes an 8. I bet out $40, they both fold. I guess I'm representing the J-10, but my real thought was just that they were both weak on the turn and I'd try to take it away on the river, assuming the river wasn't some card I thought would hit them.
Hand 3 : I limp with 9-7 offsuit in mid/late position. 4 people see the flop. Flop comes 7-4-3 with 2 diamonds. Guy in the blind bets out $6. I don't totally love my hand but I figure if I'm going to play it I want to isolate and just play this heads up, and maybe win it now. I raise to $18, he calls. Turn is an offsuit king. He checks, I bet $20, he calls. River is the jack of diamonds. He thinks for a bit and bets out $25. I fold. He was a middle aged guy, I don't think he was going to bluff here at all. And really all I have is a 7. In retrospect I like the way I played this but on the turn I should have bet more, like $35 if I was going to bet it. That would have made it a lot harder for him to call. If I thought he had something like 2 overs with a flush draw, I was giving him straight up odds to call the turn. Plus there are so many cards that can hit the river where I have no idea where I'm at.
Hand 4 : Under the gun with A-Q. Limp. About 4 or 5 people see the flop. Flop is 10 high. Guy bets out 12, I fold. Just figured I'd mention this hand because it's one of those ones where a week or two ago, I'd raise 100% of the time, and c-bet a high percentage of flops too. Now I'm not sure that's really the best plan especially from under the gun. I'm definitely limping more with big hands. I figure I'll either flop a huge hand and can trap a bit, maybe flop TPTK and just call down for value, or if I miss I can just throw it away for cheap. Whereas if I raise under the gun it just makes it harder for me to play, especially when people play bad and don't necessarily want to fold the flop that much. I understand there are some good situations to double barrel boards, but I don't really want to get in a situation where I'm raising, cbetting, and double barrelling the turn out of position if I have to when I really don't know what the other person is doing. I'd rather save that stuff for when I'm in position.
Not very many exciting hands yesterday. I figure I just need to put the time in though, and eventually the wins will come. I ended up losing like $18 over 2 hours, but I had almost no premium hands to play and didn't flop any big draws or anything either. Just a really boring session for me.
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