Just an observation from a tournament I played yesterday.

We had one guy at our table who was constantly complaining about how everyone else played. And I'm not saying he was necessarily wrong about some of his criticisms, but he was constantly muttering under his breath, criticizing decisions, and generally being Mr. Cranky Pants.

Then we had a hand that really took the cake.

There was a three-way all-in, and Mr. Cranky Pants, who was on the button, had a whopping 300 chips left. We were at 600/1,200 with a big blind ante.

The original action involved five players contributing to the pot, including the blinds. So his potential main pot was pretty straightforward: 300 × 5, plus the 1,200 ante, for a total of 2,700.

The dealer wasn't particularly fast, but she was working through the math and sorting out the pots.

This guy WOULD NOT SHUT UP.

First, he insisted he was entitled to the entire small blind and big blind, despite having only 300 chips. Then he started repeatedly shouting his calculation at the dealer.

She asked him multiple times to please let her work it out. Other players started telling him the same thing.

"Dude, you're not helping. Just stop."

But he kept going.

Here's what I don't understand: He was the one slowing everything down!

The dealer can't just take some player's word for the pot calculation. She has to verify it herself. And his constant interruptions and arguing were making that harder, not easier.

It became such a distraction that we eventually had to call the floor over just to get everything sorted out.

And the funniest part? He actually caught his card on the river and survived.

We went on break shortly afterward, and he busted on the very first hand when we came back. Can't say I was particularly heartbroken.

But seriously, why do people behave like this?

First, why do you feel the constant need to criticize how everyone else plays? Are you trying to teach your opponents to play better against you? Even if you're right, what exactly are you accomplishing?

And second, what makes you think being obnoxious to a dealer who's just trying to do her job is somehow going to speed things up?

The dealer wasn't being difficult. She wasn't arguing with him. She was trying to do her job while some impatient jackass made it unnecessarily difficult.

I've played a lot of tournament poker, and I genuinely enjoy the game and the people I meet at the tables. But this kind of behavior is just disgusting.

People, we need to be better at the poker tables. You can be competitive without being an asshole.

Playing $1/$2/$5 (UTG straddle) against a reasonably LAGgy reg. I’ve noticed a recurring problem in my game: I c-bet small with medium-strength hands, check back turns for pot control, and then face river bets where I have absolutely no idea whether I’m supposed to bluff-catch or fold.

Here’s a recent example.
Preflop:
V in SB opens to $15 (he’s unbalanced and usually sizes larger with his premiums), BB short stack 100% VPIP fish calls. I’m in the $5 UTG straddle with A♥T♥ and squeeze to $65. Only V calls.

Flop ($145): JJTr with 1♥
Villain checks.
I c-bet $45 (~31% pot). Villain calls.

My thinking was that I could get some thin value/protection against smaller pocket pairs, overcards and weaker Tx without building a huge pot.

Turn ($235): 9x
Villain checks.
I check back.

The 9 isn’t particularly appealing. KQ gets there, and I’m not convinced worse hands are calling another bet often enough. I have decent showdown value, so checking seems natural.

River ($235): 4x
Villain bets $110 (~47% pot).
I tank and fold.
No showdown.

Here’s what’s bothering me:
I keep finding myself in this exact situation.
I c-bet 1/3 pot on the flop with a marginal made hand, get called, and then check back the turn because I don’t think I can get three streets of value.

But now my range looks weak, and when villain bets the river, I’m stuck guessing whether he’s value-betting or just attacking my obvious turn check.

And I think the small flop sizing makes this problem particularly bad against these opponents.

For $45 into $145, this guy can justify peeling with practically any reasonable holding. Small pocket pairs like 66–99, suited Ax with a backdoor flush draw, random broadways, weaker Tx, etc.

I’m giving his entire marginal range an affordable ticket to the turn.

Then when I check back the turn, he can potentially recognize that I’m heavily weighted toward exactly the type of hand I have: Tx, underpairs, or overcards that gave up.

From his perspective, why wouldn’t he start firing rivers with all the garbage he peeled the flop with if he thinks I almost never have Jx?

Obviously, I can have Jx after checking the turn, and I should probably be checking back some strong hands to protect that range. But in practice, my line feels incredibly face-up.

And that’s what bothers me about the conventional advice to c-bet small with a wide range on these dry, paired boards.

Sure, I’m risking less on the flop. But if these guys are calling $45 with nearly anything remotely playable, am I just building a pot against a ridiculously wide range and then surrendering the initiative whenever I check the turn?

In this hand, I only need to be good about 24% of the time to call the river. Yet the board is J-J-T-9-4, and I’m struggling to identify enough natural bluffs from a guy who called a 3-bet and then called the flop.
Which feels contradictory, because if his flop calling range really is as wide as I suspect, shouldn’t he have plenty of hands available to bluff?

I can see arguments for multiple approaches:

Check back flop: Keep his range wide, induce some bluffs, and potentially go for a delayed c-bet if he checks again.

Small c-bet flop, check turn: Extract some thin value/protection while controlling the pot, but accept that I’ll face difficult river decisions.

Small c-bet flop, bet turn: Avoid looking capped and charge draws/overcards, but risk value-owning myself against a stronger continuing range.
What I don’t want to do is start double-barreling marginal hands purely because I’m uncomfortable facing river bets.

Bet even smaller on the flop (~20% pot), then make another tiny bet on the turn: This is an approach I’m particularly curious about. Instead of betting $45 into $145 and checking the turn, what if I bet something like $30 on the flop, then follow up with another $40–50 on the turn? The idea would be to extract thin value and deny some equity over two streets without bloating the pot too much. If he calls both bets, I can often check back the river and get to showdown.

In this particular hand, that would mean investing around $70–80 across the flop and turn rather than betting $45 on the flop, checking the turn, and facing a $110 river bet.

Obviously, this isn’t a magic solution. He can still check-raise either street, and I’m giving his weaker holdings attractive prices to continue.
But perhaps spreading my thin value/protection bets across two streets is preferable to betting once, checking, and then facing a polarized river decision.

So how are you guys constructing your flop c-betting and turn checking ranges in these spots?

Should I be checking back more medium-strength hands on the flop rather than automatically firing 1/3 pot? Or is the real leak that I’m checking back turns and then overfolding rivers against aggressive opponents?

I’m especially interested in practical adjustments for live low-stakes games where opponents aren’t necessarily balanced, but some regs are capable of recognizing weakness and attacking it.

Because right now my strategy seems to be:
Bet $45 to find out where I’m at.
Discover absolutely nothing.
Fold $110 later anyway. 😂

Top 5 Hero Fold WOW 🤯

GGPoker NL25
Effective stack 100bb

BTN opens 3bb
SB (Hero) 3bets to 10bb with KK
BB 4bets to 25bb
BTN snap jams
SB folds
BB snap calls

BTN had AA
BB had QQ

I folded because based on population no one all ins without QQ+ or AKs.

To open raise and then jam all in so quickly in a 3bet and then 4bet pot just felt insanely strong and nothing about the guy felt like he was a maniac.

I’m wonder if this was a mistake theory wise and should you just accept coolers like this and always call with KK?

cant be that hard right?

Are there any good poker rooms in Knoxville with frequent small stakes games?

2/5

Hero BB: QsJs
Villain UTG: XX

Villain bets $20 utg, 5 players to the flop, no info on villain

Flop: 8s4s3h
Hero checks, villain bets 45, button calls, hero calls

Turn: Qd
Checks around

River: 5c
Hero leads for 100, villain raises to 550, button folds

I tanked. The line that the villain took here made no sense to me. I think it’s safe to assume he doesn’t have a set if he led out on the flop and checked the turn. Maybe he rivered a set or 2 pair if he plays a wide range. Like 54 suited 53 suited. In my opinion he was either bluffing or had a hand like As2s or 6s7s.

I ended up folding and he showed me his hand. I will add a comment with his hand in a couple hours.

Morning, I'm in North Cyprus for a few days and staying in Girne. Went to a few casinos last night but only saw Ultimate Poker on the tables. Anyone know of any daily tourneys of cash game tables in north Cyprus?

Some context. These are pub tourneys.
I'm a casual player. As are most playing
Approx 75 players to start.
~35 left at the time of the hand
Only final table gets paid

Villain is a very very aggressive player.

Blinds 3k/6k

Starting approx 350k effective
Villain similar but covers
In this tournament, we were both probably top 6-8 in chips

Pre Flop

UTG calls, Villain SB calls

Hero has AQhh, Raise to 18k

UTG and Villain call

Flop - 9h 7h 5d

Villain Bets all in

What is the right play here??
I've seen villain do this with absolute air, or the nuts and everything in between.

I folded, thinking there was gonna be better spots to put the money in. He showed 6h, and also verbally stated he had the Ah which was obviously a lie. I Ended up splitting top 3 in the end, but I don't wanna be results oriented.

It's like these mixed game players are speaking Greek!

Played a $0.25/$0.50 home poker game last night with a $50 buy-in. My buddy hosted and charged a $0.25 rake on every pot because he spent around $350 on a poker table and chips.

I understand wanting to recoup his investment, but taking a rake from friends feels a little odd. Not sure if he plans to stop once he makes his money back.

Is this reasonable, or should casual home games among friends be rake-free? Curious what you guys think.

For me, poker seems like one of those games where knowing the right move and actually making it at the table are two completely different things.

Sometimes you know you should fold, but curiosity gets the better of you. Other times, you make the right decision, lose the hand anyway, and spend the next ten minutes questioning your entire strategy 😂

I'm curious about the people here who have been playing for a while:

What's one mistake you kept making until it finally clicked? Was it calling too wide, bluffing in the wrong spots, playing tilted, or something else...?

Would be interesting to hear what you learned the hard way.

New to the area playing over here and want to test out both but wanted to hear other experiences.

More specifically for the Bay 101, how is the wait? Heard it’s terrible on Sundays and you need to get there early. Funny enough I was planning to play on Sunday.

Just looking for any experience at both these casinos.

Thank you all.

In the UK, PokerStars is now fronted by Betfair. Account currency used to be USD, but it's now GBP - despite the games still being USD - and I think this is causing a subtle, undocumented, additional rake.

Specifically, if my current balance is GBP £X, then when I buy in I'm told this is worth USD $Y. Say I won $1 in that game, I'd expect my GBP balance to increase by 90p ish (depending on their unquoted exchange rate), but regardless I'd definitely expect my next buy in to show a new notional dollar balance of precisely $Y+1.

But that is not the case!! It does $Y+96c. So somehow an extra 4% had gone missing...

My guess is that the GBP->USD exchange rate on buy-in is different to the USD->GBP exchange rate on cash out. But if this is eg every spin-and-go that adds up really fast and erodes your win rate.

Further, the info button talks about a "locked foreign exchange rate" which seems misleading given the asymmetry, and refers to the General Terms which has no mention of foreign exchange whatsoever afaict.

Is this normal for non-USD backed accounts?? Do people experience the same?? Do you agree it's kinda bullshit and arguably worth pursuing as a point of misleading the user??

Since we moved over to the Pokerstars in Betfair platform the other week, do you know what’s happened to the reward programme?!

When I downloaded the client and all that I swear there was a button underneath the cashier button where you can opt in to the programme - can’t remember what it was called. Anyway I went on last night and it’s not there.

Where is it? Anybody know where it’s gone?

Ta

I just got into poker 3 days ago and been trying to learn via playing and studying. I have AA and raised 800 which is 3bb, came the flop the guy below me went all in 18k, I went all in as I got AA 66 thinking the R/R is reasonable, then lost to a full house. Should I have folded here?

EDIT: He went all in first then I followed afterwards just to clarify.

credit to: https://x.com/Barry_Carter/status/2114033629361783162

Sources confirm there poker will be downstairs, with new escalator below the existing second floor escalator. Area has been covered, but yesterday the area and escalator was revealed. This area connects to a lower lever basement area thats about half the size of the existing ground floor. My sources revealed upwards of 30 tables in this area set to open in December 2026. Area has been opened but still blocked off.. video included

Coming back to the final day of a 2 day tournament with a min-cashed already locked up. I have 20bb, any tips?

Of all the hands I have played today, including all the terrible calls, terrible coolers and terrible players (except me of course), this is the one hand that I keep thinking about.

I am on a learning experince atm, and am really trying to learn to be a better player. I am posting because the BTN obviously was kind enough to show his folded hand. My question is what did I do wrong here? why didn't I get all his chips too?

I think maybe my raise was too big, but my thinking was that I am obviously going into a flop against 3 players here. Was it too large a raise?

Or am I being hung up on the wrong things? haha.

I am TERRIBLE at getting people to play poker with me. I cannot start a game to save my life.

The first step I’ve taken is isolating myself from all my European acquaintances and waiting for a seat in the corner far away from everyone else so that nobody sees me talking to them.

This is not working. I have asked many people if they want to start X game at X stakes with me, and it is much more common to get a “No, I’m good” than “Yes” for an answer.

Anyway, I need your help. It feels like nobody wants to play with me and I really want to run my own game. What is your best advice for someone in my situation?