Oddly Played hand & Justification

[toby]

Villain (UTG) had twice reraised me exploiting his position to my left, once PF and once on the flop, and I folded each time. I expected him to continue his aggression towards me and was willing to take a bit of a risk to trap him.

Party Poker Pot-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (9 handed)

saw flop|<font color="C00000">saw showdown</font>

MP2 ($59.50)
MP3 ($17.80)
CO ($23.75)
Button ($5.90)
SB ($54.20)
Hero ($38.65)
UTG ($27.90)
UTG+1 ($5.50)
MP1 ($28.90)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Q/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, J/images/graemlins/diamond.gif.
UTG calls $0, <font color="666666">6 folds</font>, SB completes, <font color="CC3333">Hero raises to $2</font>,50, UTG calls $1.50, SB folds.

Flop: ($4.50) 3/images/graemlins/spade.gif, Q/images/graemlins/club.gif, 4/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
Hero checks, UTG checks.

Whiffed on my planned check-raise here. Pray for no spades or overcards.

Turn: ($4.50) 2/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
Hero checks, <font color="CC3333">UTG bets $2</font>, <font color="CC3333">Hero raises to $6</font>, UTG calls $4.

Alright, no scare card. Trust his aggression to make him bet after I check again. I didn't expect him to call the raise - maybe he's being stubborn here because he bullied me off two hands before.

River: ($16.50) K/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">Hero bets $10</font>, UTG folds.

Didn't like this, but also did not expect villain to call that raise with merely overcards. Since this is low stakes Party, I put him on 2 clubs. Spray and pray - villain folds.

Final Pot: $26.50

Results in white below: <font color="white">
Hero shows Qd Jd (one pair, queens).
Outcome: Hero wins $26.50. </font>


Comments? This was a sort of experimental hand - I would normally bet out my pair of queens right off the flop.

[toby]

*bump*

[SkippingGoat]

I don't like the preflop raise too much. You have a drawing hand in bad position relative to villain.

The board has a flush draw and a straight draw and you have a one pair hand, I don't know that this is a great place to get tricky. The only reason I like a checkraise on the flop is that you say villain has reraised you a number of times and you don't have a hand that you should be comforatable pushing with.

I bet the pot on the turn after whiffing the cr on the flop. Another draw just came out and there's now a 3-straight on the board. I really don't think top pair mediocre kicker is a hand you should be giving two free cards with.

[Daann]

If you put him on a busted club draw, then check and give him a chance to bluff at it.

Apart from that, raising QJs out of position is not a good idea and bet the flop because there are so many draws out there.

[unagi]

i agree with daann - the only person calling your $10 here probably has you beat - and by making it ten, you're even encouraging someone with a middle pair or TPLK (though apparently not the case in this situation) to fold.. at least value bet their hand, if not check on the river.

[SpiderMnkE]

Good lord... don't raise QJ preflop out of position.

And don't "trap" with top pair middle kicker on a drawy board.

Don't attempt another "trap" on the turn when more draws come in.

Don't bet 2/3 of the pot when an overcard hits. He's certainly not calling here with less than a king. And not folding a king or higher.

I don't think I like any of it... it also looks like you were looking for revenge on this dude. Don't play bad poker because some dude raised you twice...

are you some kind of chick? Are you on your period? Would a piece of chocolate make you feel better because this guy was being a meanie head?

[toby]

CW says you need a stronger hand to call with than you need to bet with and I didn't want to be put to the decision to call if he bet the pot here. I probably would anyway but I wouldn't like it. Also I figured the check-raise signified strength, and I wanted to follow through with that by leading on the river.

[Daann]

This doesn't apply in this case when you put them on a draw, a bet gains nothing as they won't call unless they picked up a pair which in this case would probably be the K but they might have a go bluffing at it, and your hand is a good bluff catcher.

It does apply however when you have a hand that you want to get to showdown and you reckon your opponent also has a made hand, but yours isn't really strong enough to call a large bet with. So you bet an amount that is large enough that your opponent won't raise you thinking you are weak and small enough that he will call with worse hands.