A few beginner hands at 1/2:

Hey all, after playing in Vegas, I had a great time and won a bit of money ($200 or so in 12 hours) I had some hands that I didn't feel great about, so I was hoping to get some advice. First some notes - I have been playing pretty tight at the table, and I think everyone has noticed (I played maybe 5 hands per hour?). I usually hold good hands at showdown, but I did end up at one showdown with air (pretty small pot though, tried to pick it up on the river after it was checked to me). Also, I'm playing $1/$2 with 7-10 players throughout the night. Anyways, onto the hands:

1st hand - Early position (~$900 behind) raises to $6, folds around to me with AA (either button or cutoff). I raise $14 to $20. Folds to original raiser, who thinks for a bit (seems like he wants to muck), and then he calls. Flop comes 9 10 10 (rainbow if I recall correctly), he checks, I raise $25, and he shoves (I have to call ~$200). What should I do here and why? I don't have much of a read on him, but I haven't seen him get out of line, and I haven't noticed him in many hands.

2nd hand - Two limpers to me in middle position with AA, I raise to $15, one caller in late position (this guy seems to play a good amount of hands), and another caller on the button (this guy seems to me to be a loose-agressive type, but I am still a noob). The limpers fold. Flop comes 3s 4c 5c, my action. What should I do here and why? Will post my action after some responses (also, how do i add in the "spoiler" things?)

Hand 1 you need more specific reads, but if he is decent, he should correctly understand that 95% of 3 bets at 1/2 are AA and KK because fish always call and get stacked. Therefore I don't expect him to jam this flop for that stacksize thinking you are going to fold AA. I expect him to think you are never folding AA here and to have you beat which is kinda gross. I don't think a call is THAT bad here either, since you have pretty limited reads.

Hand 2, once again pretty read dependent, but I would bet the flop and continue betting the turn as long as I don't get raised. Live plays extremely passive and ppl only raise nut type hands. It is important to have specific reads and understand how people feel about top pair. How people feel about draws and if they will play them aggressively at all.

Hand 1: You have to stack off, and i'd be happy about it. you will show massive profit here.

Hand 2: Bet and get it in, the pot is already $53 and I'm guessing you are about 100bb deep?

I'm not that happy stacking off in Hand 1, but sometimes you have to. Flip a coin if villian is unknown or something.

Hand 2: do you have the Ac in your hand? That could make things easier if you face opposition / aggression. Start by c-betting at least 2/3 pot and see how the action goes. If you don't get raised, feel free to barrel on, and get ready to bet / fold on bad cards mentally (a 6 on the turn, for example). I wouldn't be folding the flop if I don't know squat about my opponents, because even if live is passive, a good amount of people raise combodraws (A7cc for example, if you don't have the Ac).
The important mindset that I've found success with in live poker is to not be intimidated when a bad card (for you) rolls off. Since the opponents can always hold a massive amount of crap, usually it scares them too and if you get raised, you can usually be confident that folding is the right play, and not second-guess yourself. But you can extract a lot more value if you keep betting, 'cause people just LOVE calling, and will call with worse (even if the board should be scary for them too).

Hand 1 is a 3bet pot 125bb deep on TT9r, how can you not stack off.
Even vs a range of only 9Ts-ATs, 99+, we are still a 55% fav and we need ~40% for the call to be good.
If he calls with all those suited Tx, he will also have QJs, KJs, KQs in his 3bet calling range that he might
also shove with. Vs. that range we are 61%

Hey guys, thanks for the replies. Here is my action

Hand 1 - I unfortunately folded (as I had followed the logic that patti mentioned). I just couldn't believe that he would do that with hands that don't beat AA (I have AA here too often, right?). I read it as a value shove. I fold, and he shows deuces. >__>

Hand 2 - I am a noob, so I don't remember if I had the Ac.. I check. I felt pretty gross about the board, but I thought that if I come out betting here, they will think that I'm comfortable with the board, and that I have an overpair, allowing them to fold things that didn't connect with the flop and make no mistakes. Next is a raise from the person to my left (not button) to $50, then a call from button. My action?

P.S. Anyone know how to do spoilers? I'd want to just put this all in one post, but I guess its not the end of the world.

I hate checking in hand 2, because when V1 bets and V2 calls, you have no idea where you're at. You're rarely behind though, so I'd raise to get rid of the caller and get it in vs the original bettor if I can.

Thing about hand 2 is that they can have an overpair as well really easily - there are a lot of people who only 3-bet QQ+ AK+ pre, and flat with TT-JJ. They could also have a smaller overpair, the board is really low, or middle-ish suited cards (not even necessarily with FD), trying to hit their gutshot / OESD + pair type of hand.

As you can see, their range is really wide here - you don't need to be afraid, if you get it in on the flop you're good an extremely high % of the time.

[ spoiler] text [ /spoiler] Do this without the spaces

If you are afraid, play with smaller buy in.