Pot Limit HE Hand...

This is a hand that occured the other night. It has been bugging me ever since the hand played out. I keep thinking I made the wrong decision and it cost me money.


Game is 1-1 PL, 5-handed.


I am in the 2nd blind with KJh. 2nd UTG calls and button . The player to my right in the 1st blind raises the pot to make it 4 straight. He is a very solid player but will make loose plays preflop as it is a home game, more for fun then for profit, he plays very well postflop. I call and so does the other limper.


I have about $100 in front of me and am covered by the other two players in the hand.


Flop comes Qh 10s 9s


Preflop raiser bets out $15. As I see him reaching for his chips I start to think about my play. Do I just want to call, giving a flush, or dry jack decent pot odds to call the bet? Or do I try and come over the top to induce a call from a set, or overpair? I ended up raising back $60. Which I now realise was by far the worse play possible. As I did this, the button had tot hink about a call for about 5 mins. He folded and so did UTG. UTG showed AcJs and the button held Q10 for two pair. I think I made a very costly mistake, I have been thinking about how this could have played out if I had just called and I came up with two scenerios.


The first I just smooth call the $15 and the button comes over the top to try and protect his very vulnerable top two. IF he did this I am very sure the original bettor would fold and I'd pump him back all in and win a decent pot(we rolled the hand out, although it doesn't matter, the turn brought the 7h and the river was a blank).


In the 2nd scenerio I call, and the button also just calls, which the more I think about it, it makes less sense for him to do so. If this was the case, the turn brings the 7h and the better hammers into the pot with his straight which I either call all-in or go all-in, and take a nice pot. No way the button calls here.


So, with 3 probable scenerios that can occur, two of which net me either $75 or $100 more, I pick the one that takes the original bet. I geuss I would say that I played it wrong, but I haven't been playing much PL, and I figure when I'm unsure of the correct play, and I know I have the best of it, might as well push your chips in the middle. And hopefully make someone else make the mistake for you.


Comments on the hand or how you'd have played it welcome.


Thanks

Oops, sorry about that last msg. I need to correct somehting, there was no caller on the button. The button folded and as I talk about the 'button' I am reffering to the UTG player preflop who now aquires the button.

Calling raises in the blind with KJ is a quick way to go broke unless you have extremely reliable reads on your opponents and can get away from vulnerable hands when they hit. Catching a king, or even two pair, can ruin you.


So, in the future, I would say you should tighten up in the blinds, especially when the raiser is coming out of the small blind.


Now, onto the flop play.


When you refer to UTG after the flop, I'm guessing you're talking about the small blind. It's easier to understand if you just refer to him as the small blind.


So you have raised pot, three handed, and you have flopped the nuts, with the aggressor on your right and a limper on your left.


Here's why your raise was good.


Anyone with a flush draw is probably coming anyway. The preflop raiser is supposed to have a monster, a big ass hand. Raise and get him to go after you. Hopefully he has AA. The way to win big is to make big pots when you have the best of it. Your raise was fine, as long as you are often willing to raise the pot on the flop without the nuts.


Perhaps they have a great read on you and when you raised they knew they were dead. The fact that you got top two pair to fold would concern me quite a bit. You are probably playing way too tight and conservatively on the flop in this game. Raise it up and start stealing some pots until they realize they should call you more.


The rest of your analysis is pretty results oriented. Yes, you might have been able to trick the button into donating another $50. But that's hindsight. Here's another scenario. You smooth-call and so does the button. Now the turn brings another ten. Are you going to check fold? Suppose the button only had AA. Well, that card is going to freeze up the both of you and kill your action. Get the money in when you know it's good and when other players are more likely to commit with hands that are worse than yours.


In your case, you have a problem in this game if players can fold top two against you. Time to mix it up.


Slowplaying in no limit is not often correct. In pot limit, slowplaying is practically never correct.


natedogg