Can i play this any differently?

[ordinaryboy]

ok party poker $20 buy-in

blinds = 15/30 hero is utg+1 with ako

Hero has 900 chips big blind has 720 chips

1 fold, hero raises to 90 lp calls and big blind call

Flop = A98r Pot = $300

Hero bets 200
Big blind calls 200

Turn is a 7 Pot is 700

Hero bets 450 odd
big blind calls all-in.

Is my play here sound? Presume no reads on big blind.

cheers

[shoeman]

I think your play was fine here. I would have played this exactly the same way. Even though the turn cards is scary, I can't imagine check/folding here. You will get paid off by lower Aces a good % of the time. Did villian have JT or a set?

[ordinaryboy]

he had j10 which dissappointed me but didnt surprise me.

My standard pre-flop raise is normally 125 at the 30 bb level except when im in early position when i drop it to 90 as i find i just pick up blinds if i bet too big utg/utg+1.

Is this a good idea or should i stick to 125 utg would this have taken the j10 away?

[shoeman]

[ QUOTE ]
he had j10 which dissappointed me but didnt surprise me.

My standard pre-flop raise is normally 125 at the 30 bb level except when im in early position when i drop it to 90 as i find i just pick up blinds if i bet too big utg/utg+1.

Is this a good idea or should i stick to 125 utg would this have taken the j10 away?

[/ QUOTE ]

With no limpers, a 3xBB raise is pretty standard for me in EP. I'm not sure raising any more than would have mattered for the SB. However, if 125 is your standard raise, I would stick with it. I like to raise the same amount each time I come in for a raise.

Bottom line: You raised enough to get heads-up with an inferior hand, you got the flop you wanted and you got the BB to commit a good portion of his chips on a draw.

I think a good number to players lose all of their chips there as well.

[Scuba Chuck]

Ordinaryboy, villain made a mistake calling with a hand that had a 4.8:1 chance of completing, with pot odds of 2.5:1. In the long run, this is how you make money.

Now that you know this, you should realize that your post is a bad beat post. No hard feelings tho... /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[bigredlemon]

1.
90 + 90 + 30 + 15 = 225. I'm not sure how 300 ended up in the flop.


2. you didn't say what BB did, but I presumed he just checked?


3. you bet 200 into a 225 pot, which gave him poor pot odds. He's 5-1 to make a straight, and is paying 200 for a chance to win a 1440 pot. He's getting odds to call all the way up to a 260 bet (to win 1240), so he isn't making a mistake here. It's only a mistake if you wont pay off him straight. He's getting about 2-1 if you don't pay off his straight, so he needs to be about 70% confident you'll either pay off his straight, or else you are betting a low pair and his pair of J/T will be good if he hits that.

4. You raised UTG, and bet a flop with an A. He has to put you on a strong ace. Why is he calling a pot sized bet here? He either also has a made hand or is chasing the straight. If he has a strong A, he would probably have c/r you on the flop. Thus, he's calling because he probably has:
1. weaker A only and thinks it's good
2. two pair
3. set
4. straight draw

What do you do? Check the turn.
(unless you think he's really fishy and is called a flop bet with crapall)

If he has a hand that beats you on the turn, you can check and see a cheaper showdown. You showed weakness so he might think you don't even have an ace. He wants his straight or set or two pair to be paid off, so he'll probably make a reasonable river but not all in bet and you'll be left with a few more chips.

If he has a low PP and thinks you were bluffing with QK, he'll bet the river and you'll pickup a larger pot than you would have if you'd bet the turn.

If he has a weak ace and sees you check the turn, he'll probably bet the river thinking you have KK-JJ and you get more money out of him.

If he checks, you make a small value bet. And a weak ace may pay you off again. If he has JT straight, he's not going to check twice so a value bet is fairly safe, and you win almost the same amount as what you did, while reducing your risk.

Yes you're giving someone with a one card straight the chance to draw to another card, and a weak ace to draw to two pair, but that risk might be worth it depending on the situation.

Personally, I would have made a much larger flop bet, around t300. It's overbetting the pot, but from how you played it, it looked like you were going all the way anyway, so might as well get the get him pot comitted as well. This isn't 5+1, so a person with just a pair of 7s wasn't going to call your pot sized bet on the flop anyway. There's almost no reason not to bet more.