44 - badly played?

[tees]

How bad did I play this hand? After I played it, I just cringed. Thanks for any comments.

10 handed $2/$4 LHE. No reads on the players that matter:

2 folds,
mp1 calls,
4 folds,
Hero calls on the button with 4d 4h,
sb folds,
bb checks.

Three to the flop (3.5 small bets):

4c As Tc

bb bets,
mp1 calls,
hero calls.

Three to the turn (6.5 small bets):

Jd

bb bets,
mp1 raises,
hero re-raises,
bb calls,
mp1 calls.

Three to the river (24.5 small bets):

7d

bb checks,
mp1 checks,
hero checks.

24.5 small bets

[chief444]

I think calling the flop with the intention of probably raising the turn if still 3-handed or even waiting to raise the river if heads up is fine and good.

But for the sake of all things holy bet that river.

Also, with only one limper I may raise this preflop on the button, especially if the blinds are tight and the limper plays badly.

[Fat Nicky]

I think pre-flop is raise or fold territory on the button w/1 limper, even moreso if the blinds are tight.

And bet the damn river.

[molawn2mo]

argh....

preflop is a fold or raise (if you have a read that the blinds are weak) but calling is not realy playable.

flop is ok though a raise looks juicy. it may get you in an immediate battle but also may lose a customer.

turn, nice.

river, what? hit the wrong button, eh?

[private joker]

If they were setting you up for a check-raise with KQ, then so be it. Bet the river.

I also think it's okay to raise the flop here -- you have bottom set and with a bet and call, nobody is folding to one flop raise. They might slow down on the turn, but the board has possible straight draws, so it doesn't kill you to get people out either. Just fast play your set.

[tees]

Thanks for your comments, it's appreciated.

I agree pre-flop is either a fold or a raise - I don't know what I was doing just calling - some hands I just lose concentration.

I flat called on the flop to get a big bet raise in on the turn. The pot wasn't very big, and I thought the best way to build it was to wait until the turn. Miller suggests that raising the flop with bottom/low sets is the way to go and that most people just flat call, but maybe that's only when there is already some decent money in the pot.

As soon as I made the turn re-raise I froze (afraid of the straight), and I just checked the river. This seems to be a serious fault in my game, and I often find myself fearing the worse on the river - probably because I like to check-raise a lot myself on the river (however I seem to be losing more river bets than I would like by trying the check-raise). Maybe I need to shift my approach to how I should use aggression on the river?

Thanks again for your comments - I've read a lot of posts on different hands, but it's not until you post a hand that you've been grumbling over yourself, that you see the true benefits of this forum.

As it turns out MP1 had AJ and bb mucked.