Did I play this right? First time post...THX!

[jwombles]

In retrospect I really regret just calling on the turn when I hit the straight, but I guess I was thinking I might get more out of him on the river by just calling.

I can't say enough about the quality of advice I read on here and thank you in advance for your thoughts or comments on this hand.

***** Hand History for Game 1139241359 *****
NL Hold'em $20 Buy-in + $2 Entry Fee Trny:6960158 Level:2 Blinds(15/30) - Thursday, November 04, 17:53:57 EDT 2004
Table Table 13815 (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Total number of players : 8
Seat 4: jazzyfresh45 ( $605 )
Seat 5: Stoneboat ( $450 )
Seat 9: usnlt ( $840 )
Seat 1: bigdippin15 ( $1670 )
Seat 6: ***HERO*** ( $735 )
Seat 10: Fourmillier ( $1205 )
Seat 7: PIGLET51 ( $470 )
Seat 8: chowhi ( $2025 )
Trny:6960158 Level:2
Blinds(15/30)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to ***HERO*** [ 6 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif 8 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif ]
usnlt folds.
Fourmillier folds.
bigdippin15 calls [30].
jazzyfresh45 folds.
Stoneboat calls [30].
***HERO*** calls [30].
PIGLET51 calls [15].
chowhi checks.
** Dealing Flop ** [ 9 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif, 3 /images/graemlins/heart.gif, 7 /images/graemlins/club.gif ]
PIGLET51 checks.
chowhi checks.
bigdippin15 bets [30].
Stoneboat calls [30].
Wombles raises [150].
PIGLET51 folds.
chowhi folds.
VILLIAN calls [120].
Stoneboat folds.
** Dealing Turn ** [ T /images/graemlins/heart.gif ]
VILLIAN bets [30].
HERO calls [30].
** Dealing River ** [ 8 /images/graemlins/spade.gif ]
VILLIAN bets [600].
***HERO*** folds.
VILLIAN does not show cards.
VILLIAN wins 1140 chips

Obviously, I figured he must have a Jack. It would have put me all in and as angry as I was with the 8 hitting on the river I felt that I was beat. Now I'm not so sure. Maybe he bluffed me with the weak call I made on the turn bet he made.

Would you have done the same? How would you have played differently?

Jwombles

[rjb03]

Who is wombles on the flop? I assume it is you and you are semibluffing. Anyways, don't slowplay the turn with the sucker's straight. You don't want to see a 6, 8, or J. He could have been drawing to the nut straight with his T8 on the flop and the river could have given him two pair, but it's just hard to say. If he is on a draw you want to make him pay on the turn because the river action is dead if he didn't make it.

[stripsqueez]

welcome to the forum

its early and your relatively short stacked - as a general rule you should avoid marginal situations in such a spot - that makes the pre-flop interesting - on the button i can live with limping after a couple of other guys but i'm not unhappy to fold

usually i advocate that bluffing is a bad plan but from the button i also think the flop betting is ok - presumably you will take a free card and fold if you dont hit - losing your stack on a continued bluff at this point would be a shocker

when you hit the turn i think you should raise - your happy enough to win the largeish pot now and your putting chips in with a very big advantage

as it was played i probably call the river - you invited a bluff a bit by just calling the turn bet - your opponent might play lots of hands this way that you beat or split with - i often see a slowplayed 3 of a kind for this bet

stripsqueez - chickenhawk

[jwombles]

Yeah, I'm Wombles. The call on the button was a little loose with one gap but the level was still low and being on the button I went for it...then the open end straight draw flopped so I bet a good bet b/c I figure I can win it right there if nooone has much and they fold, or win it if I improved to the straight on the turn...

I think my big mistake was just calling the turn bet...it's so obvious now that I should have protected my hand but at the time I was wanting to get the most out of the hand and I felt that if I raised on the turn he would have folded...but look who ended up folding!!! Geez...thanks for your input...

[lorinda]

I think my big mistake was just calling the turn bet...it's so obvious now that I should have protected my hand but at the time I was wanting to get the most out of the hand and I felt that if I raised on the turn he would have folded

This is why the more you play, the better you get, and not everything can be learned from a forum.

Congratulations on being aware enough that you made an error and for understanding the reasons why.

Another reason for getting chips in on the turn is that people will often draw to their two pair and the suchlike on the turn but lay it down on the river. Even if the river doesn't help your opponent, it will often make the board scary enough that he can't pay you.

Lori