Boat vs. Boat- could I have played this better?

[Deamon2]

I was playing in a fairly straightforward live no limit game, and this hand happened. Fred is a weak player who I had seen enter large pots with as little as bottom pair/moderate kicker. The hand went as follows:

I'm dealt J /images/graemlins/diamond.gifJ /images/graemlins/heart.gif

UTG limps in, UTG+1 limps in, UTG+2 limps in, Fred limps in, I call the small blind, big blind checks

The flop comes A /images/graemlins/spade.gifQ /images/graemlins/diamond.gifJ /images/graemlins/club.gif

with bottom set, I check, it is checked around to Fred, who raises 4BB. I reraise to 8BB. Everyone folds to Fred, who calls.

The turn comes Q /images/graemlins/heart.gif

Fred raises 10BB, after thinking for a little while, I reraise all in (about 20BB). He calls.

He flips over A /images/graemlins/spade.gifQ /images/graemlins/spade.gif, queens full to beat my jacks full.

Do you guys think I played this wrong? If so, what could I have done better?

[Silent Assassin]

There were only two moves to make in that position and that was either fold or go all in. You picked one of the two so you did the right thing. I would have seriously considered folding after he bet the flop then bet 10X the BB on the turn. The only wrong move you could have made in that position would have been to call.

[K C]

Let's have a look at this. I would have raised PF with the jacks, to get more money in the pot. You wouldn't have gotten rid of Fred with this though I don't think.

Fred's raising on the flop, and it's probably not a better set. Perhaps two pair or top pair top kicker. You aren't particularly worried about this so you re-raise. Everything is good so far.

Then the second queen comes up. It gives you the boat, but let's look back to how it might have hit Fred. He's going bigger now, so he's showing improvement. What could he have? Well if he had the two pair, you're probably screwed, since it's probably AQ. If he only had top pair, this card doesn't help him much. Would he be betting this way with only top pair? Against a tight opponent this would be an alarm, even to the point of throwing away your boat. Or, more likely, to slow down with your hand and just call. It's Fred though, and you've got to ask yourself if he'd be the type to raise with less than 2 pair on the flop. You seem to think he would, so it's the right call.

In any case, this is the kind of hand where it's hard not to lose your whole stack over. Considering what you knew about this guy, you played the hand properly. This will illustrate how a low set or trips can run into a lot of trouble though /images/graemlins/smile.gif

KC
kingcobrapoker.com

[XXXICEXXX]

Unfortunately situations like this come up in holdem and The correct answer doesn't always have the best outcome.
Anyway, I also would have raised the jacks preflop,for Three reasons 1)protect your hand 2)See where you are at in relation to the the other players that called your raise(remember, only you know how vunerable your hand is).
3) Although remote, you create a chance for all those limpers to fold. If someone chooses to call, you now have some more information about potential starting hands that they could be holding.( Like big pairs, A-K etc..) since they thought there hand was worthy of calling a raise. Flops of that nature are very troublesome, because three jacks can create a false since of security, there are so many things that can beat you( but playing worried poker is playing losing poker).Since he called the raise you will have to think that this flop hit him pretty square, in some shape. When fred called the raise on the flop then came out firing on the turn,thats when I would of hit the brakes. Flops that tend to pair big cards with other big cards out there, are usually big losers for someone. Although I am being a monday morning quarterback, i dont think throwing the hand away would be much of an option against a loose player like Fred( whos know his goofy butt may be callin with k,10)but i wouldn't have ruled it out as an option either. Believe me I have have lost my fair share with the "sucker" full house. If this happens again just proceed with a little more caution and slow down, just beacuse its a full house doesn't mean that youre a lock to "take it down."

[beta1607]

Lose your stack here every time. Given your read on Fred and the fact that you are playing so short stacked it is impossible to not go broke here. Just rebuy and take it back from him next time he gets in a big pot with "bottom pair/moderate kicker."

Also this should probably go in one of the NL forums and dont post results in the future so people give unbiased answers.

[Ozzzz]

1) You're risking 20 BB to win 39 BB. Going all in seems an obvious play, as Qx, Ax, KT or even a random bluff like 88 has to take up greater than 34% of Fred's possible holdings.
2) Calling preflop instead of raising is a major mistake. Your JJ has a pot equity of far greater than 16%.
3) Isn't 29 BB's an awfully small amount to be playing No limit? If you had a larger stack, you would have more options here. With a small stack you are in an all-in/fold situation. A larger stack gives you more options.