Advice

[happy gilmore]

This is my first time posting so I appoligize if I am posting in the wrong forum.

I have been playing low limit Hold'em for some time now and have been reasonably successful, however I know my game has a lot of room for improvement. Lately I have been playing a lot of Tournaments and I repeataly get nocked out in fourth place which could get to be very expensive. So I was wondering how I can more effectively play a hand like the one below when I hit the nuts on the turn.

I am seat 9

300/600 Tourney Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL)
(Real Money) -- Seat 5 is the button
Total number of players : 3
Seat 5: (1500)
Seat 7: (2840)
Seat 9: (5660)
seat 7 posts small blind (150)
seat 9 posts big blind (300)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to seat 9 [ Ks, 3s ]
seat 5 folds.
seat 7 (450) to 600
seat 9 calls (300)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ As, Ts, 8d ]
seat 7 checks.
seat 9 bets (300)
seat 7 raises (600) to 600
seat 9 calls (300)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ Js ]
seat 7 bets (300)
seat 9 raises (600) to 600
seat 7 calls (300)
** Dealing River ** : [ Qs ]
seat 7 checks.
seat 9 bets (1100)
seat 7 folds.
** Summary **
Main Pot: 4700
Board: [ As Ts 8d Js Qs ]
seat 5 balance 1500, didn't bet (folded)
seat 7 balance 1040, lost 1800 (folded)
seat 9 balance 7460, bet 2900, collected 4700, net +1800 [ Ks 3s ] [ Royal Flush -- As,Ks,Qs,Js,Ts ]

I believe calling preflop with these cards was fine since I was a significant chip leader, and calling the raise on the flop I blieve is ok holding the nut flush draw. My question is when he bet 300 when I hit the nuts, should I have just called and tried to get him to bet bigger on the river, should I have raised more to try commit him to the hand? On the river would a smaller bet have been better to try to get him to raise, or at least call something? Advice at any point of this hand would be helpful.

[lastchance]

Minraising the turn is awful. For that matter, so is minbetting the flop.

With 1200 in the pot, SB only having 2200 behind, I probably would have pushed the flop. Or checked for the free card. I think pushing is correct here.

Considering your line on the flo, which I think is pretty bad, you need to push the turn so a 4th spade doesn't show and your opponent doesn't pay you off.

[Nottom]

I thought this was a limit hand at first with all the crazy min betting.

The PF call is OK and a good way to punish donks for minraise your BB your blind all the time.

Your flop bet is too small, the pot is 1200. Your 300 bet is really weak and isn't folding anything. I'd bet about 1K here. When he minraises, you can either call if you think it indicates strength or just go ahead and push if you think he just senced weakness.

On the turn you make the nuts, Good times. Again your raise is too weak. The pot is now 2700, a raise for 300 is just bad.

[bones]

[ QUOTE ]
I thought this was a limit hand at first with all the crazy min betting.

[/ QUOTE ]

PF is okay. Push the flop. If you get called and are behind, just hit the flush.

[EricW]

Hey guys, I definately agree that betting out larger on the flop is a must. However, since he played the hand the way he did, is there any point in reraising the villain all in on the turn when he hit the nut flush? I mean, since the flush card hit, is that really the best way to extract more chips from the villain?

[lastchance]

Yeah, because anything else looks terrible when you have to raise the river or something.

[happy gilmore]

Thanks for your advice.

I guess that my thinking was rather than going all in on the flop, and taking the pot down, I wanted to try to catch my flush and let him catch a hand as well to try and take his whole stack. I thought at best he hit middle pair or low pair, so I was hoping he would hit two pair or something. On the turn when I hit the nuts, I thought by minraising, he might try to steal the pot by reraising all in with his pair, if he had one. Then I didnt think there was any point in betting small on the river, I figured if he had a spade, I wanted him calling all in.

[drapes]

Min-raising/ min-betting is always wrong.

Always. (Except for sometimes for trickery- but that might be wrong, too.)

[KingDan]

Except as a big stack and people are folding like crazy, giving yourself rookm to fold to a raise.

And HU it can be effective if they are push folding....

But I don't use it.

[drapes]

I never use a big stack as an excuse to play more loose (anymore.)

[snowgurts]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks for your advice.

I guess that my thinking was rather than going all in on the flop, and taking the pot down, I wanted to try to catch my flush and let him catch a hand as well to try and take his whole stack. I thought at best he hit middle pair or low pair, so I was hoping he would hit two pair or something. On the turn when I hit the nuts, I thought by minraising, he might try to steal the pot by reraising all in with his pair, if he had one. Then I didnt think there was any point in betting small on the river, I figured if he had a spade, I wanted him calling all in.

[/ QUOTE ]

I really don't think the play is that bad. I think if you raised to 1000-1500 instead of 300 on the turn, it looks unbelievable that you have a decent hand. If I'm your opposition, I think that the big bet is just you representing a flush, and I'll raise you with anything under the sun. But when you min-raised, you said - hey, I want you to call. It may not be what you intended to say (hoping he'd come over the top), but you said it. If you bet the 1000-1500, your all-in on the river looks like a last-ditch attempt to save a bluff.

Just my thoughts.

[curtains]

[ QUOTE ]
Min-raising/ min-betting is always wrong.

Always. (Except for sometimes for trickery- but that might be wrong, too.)

[/ QUOTE ]

What she means is that I told her never to min raise or min bet. I explained that this isn't entirely accurate and that there are rare exceptions, however it's best not to give beginning players an excuse to min bet.

She keeps yelling at me and saying "trickery, trickery, you are not contradicting me, you are agreeing with me"