First Post - 2 hands; your comments please

[TJD]

I am still a beginner in this game (only 3 months) so I am not always sure what to do. These 2 hands got me thinking.

HAND 1

I have 44 and call in middle position after 2 limpers. It is a $2/$4 loose/passive on line game. 6 in for unraised pot.

Flop is perfect - NOT!

AAQ

I am ready to fold but it is checked round.

Turn is a 4. Unbelievable.

SB bets out 1 call, 2 folds, I raise and the player behind folds. SB calls, other guy folds.

River blank, SB bets, I raise, he calls and I win the pot. He had A9

I would never consider trying to CR or slow play trips in this sort of game with 5 opponents.

In the same vein, I never even considered just calling his turn bet to pop him on the river.

Am I wrong here? Was he just unlucky? His comment on the end was "bad start losing with trips :-(" I did not have the heart to tell him that a bet on the flop would have won the pot for him.

HAND 2

I have AsQh in a similar game. UTG calls, fold, I am next and raise in order to reduce the size of the field. On occasions a raise preflop does lose some customers in this game but it is very variable.

My plan works perfectly; 7 of us see the flop for 2 bets :-)

Flop is Jc7s2s

Check, check, UTG bets, and it is up to me. 2 good overcards and a b/door nut flush draw. I think I need to stay in with 14 SB in the pot but should I raise? In essence I have nothing. I could already be drawing dead without perfect/perfect.

I decide to just call and see what happens. One drops out. 6 see turn of Qc

UTG bets; NOW I raise with top pair top kicker and no idea whether I am good. At least with a double big bet there will be some folds(surely) and I might get popped to let me know where I am. SB and UTG call.

River Ac. so I have 2 pair

SB bets, UTG folds. I think I am dead to the flush but I have to call. He might have just hit 2 pair himself.

I lose to 5c3c.

Now, IF I had raised the flop would he have stayed? No idea.

Comments would be appreciated.

[Bob T.]

Am I wrong here? Was he just unlucky?

No, I think he was unskillful. Trips is a very vulnerable hand, because everyone with a pair is drawing live against them, as you and he just found out to your benefit.

A lot of players will bet the side card when the board flops paired, so if he bet, some people might have chased him, if they thought that he had a queen, but at the same time, he would have made the field much smaller, and made it much more likely that he was going to win this hand.

My plan works perfectly; 7 of us see the flop for 2 bets :-)


Don't you love when a plan comes together like that?

Now, IF I had raised the flop would he have stayed? No idea.


He cold called, one and a half bets preflop with 53 suited, and one bet on the flop with only back door draws. I don't know if he would have gone away for any amount of money until the turn. Then he would have definately called on the strength of his flush draw. I think that you played it OK, and were a little unlucky.

[hutz]

Both of these hands seem to be pretty routine, although I would have strongly considered raising the flop in hand 2.

"I did not have the heart to tell him that a bet on the flop would have won the pot for him." Nor should you tell him. You should make it a habit not to correct someone's poor play. If, when playing live, I have the chance to privately commiserate with/reinforce someone's bad play I'll sometimes do that.

[eMarkM]

Hand 1 - flop call is fine after a couple of limpers. You'd really like your limp to encourage others behind you to limp to give you better odds. Turn raise is good here, you're hoping this guy had a naked A and was slowplaying it and will reraise you. While he didn't reraise, he did bet into you again on the river and you were able to get more money out of him. You played the hand fine. He was unlucky, but he did give you a free card trying to be cute. Now if he had AQ, that would have been a good slow play hand.

Hand 2 - I think this is a raise or fold situation on the flop, I don't like the call. Raise if it will get it HU or close to it. If these are all calling stations behind you, I'd just muck and wait for a better spot. In this situation I'd probably raise, only because you have the As to fall back on if a flush gets there on the turn. If you put UTG on a J and a A, Q or spade doesn't fall on the turn, I'd check behind and take a free card.

[Nottom]

First of all, welcome to the board and I hope you learn as much as I have here.

Hand 1:
Pre-flop: Good
Flop: I might actually take a shot at the pot here if there weren't so many people. Check is good here.

Turn: Nice hit. With only 1 player behind you, it's probably best to go ahead and raise here. If there were a couple, I would probably call and hope for some overcalls and then raise the river.

River: It was nice of him to bet into you again.

You played this hand fine, you opponent needs to bet the flop he will get payed off by anyone with a Q, JT, KJ, or KT in games like this on the flop, but generally not the turn. Not to mention scaring off small pocket pairs that may spike the boat. /forums/images/icons/wink.gif

Hand 2:
Your in pretty poor position here, but I still would probably raise the flop here since the pot is pretty big and there no reason to let all those people hang around and have a chance to beat you if one of your cards come. You might even get yourself a free card on the turn if your lucky.

Good call on the river, I would have lost at least one more bet there.