I need an excuse

[Punker]

Please think of some justification for how I played the following hand.

Playing online 2-4 and I am in the SB with the rather pedestrian holding of A /forums/images/icons/club.gif 4 /forums/images/icons/club.gif . Three people call and I also call. The big blind enjoys a free play.

The flop comes favorablish:

9 /forums/images/icons/spade.gif T /forums/images/icons/club.gif 6 /forums/images/icons/club.gif

I fire into the four opponents without thinking. This is for me (and it seems for many players I play against) a default play. Two players call and then the cutoff raises. The button folds and I just call. The other two call and 4 see the turn.

The turn transpires:

9 /forums/images/icons/spade.gif T /forums/images/icons/club.gif 6 /forums/images/icons/club.gif Q /forums/images/icons/club.gif

A good turn card, in my opinion, although my opponents will likely soon have a different opinion of it. I check, the next player checks, and then a new guy swings at the pot. The cutoff raises again, and I call again. The EP player folds, and the turn bettor just calls. Three hang in to the river.

The river indicates:

9 /forums/images/icons/spade.gif T /forums/images/icons/club.gif 6 /forums/images/icons/club.gif Q /forums/images/icons/club.gif 8 /forums/images/icons/heart.gif

Well, if nothing else, I can recognize that I have the nuts this hand. I cleverly immediately bet out. The EP calls and the cutoff now folds. Hand history later indicates the EP to have some J /forums/images/icons/spade.gif 8 /forums/images/icons/diamond.gif (hey I didn't say a tough EP player did I?).

So there's no question I played this hand terrible. Can you think of a good excuse I can tell people when I show it to them?

[dirty_dan]

Why do you think you misplayed the hand? It looks fine to me.

You could have raised the turn because there's a lot of draws out there that people will stay in with, and if EP just hit his flush draw he'll cap it.

The river bet was ok. You could have tried for the checkraise since CO has raised every street and you haven't shown any aggression. But with the bet you are hoping for a CO raise.

There's no big mistakes I can see on the hand. The call on the turn wasn't terrible. Not sure why you think it was played so badly.

[bernie]

who are you trying to impress with an excuse? you dont need to explain anything. if i saw this hand played this way, i wouldnt care why you played it that way. id just hope you kept doing it. who cares why?

btw....cap the flop, bet the turn


b

[Robk]

1. You were tired
2. You were drunk
3. You were on tilt
4. You had a timing tell that everyone was weak
5. You misread your hand
6. You misread the board
7. Your friend was sweating you and you just did what he said
8. Your mouse is broken and jumps around
9. You were varying your play so that your opponents dont catch on to your style
10. You were about to go all in
11. Ever since you read Phil Hellmuth's book you just can't do anything right

[Ed Miller]

I don't see why you think you played it so horribly...

Preflop: Routine

Flop: Betting out is routine. This is a big flop for you... nut flush draw and an overcard. You would have preferred for the cards not to be so clustered together, but eh. When you are raised, your options are to smooth-call to let the callers in cheaply or to raise for value and to eliminate better Aces to potentially give you an extra out or two.

If you know the callers will both call two bets cold for sure, then you have an easy raise. If you think the callers will both fold, then you should again probably raise, as your chances to win this pot will have improved significantly... especially if the CO has a hand like QJ. But otherwise, I think calling is ok. You would probably prefer both of your opponents to call the single raise than for one to call your 3-bet and the other to fold.

Turn: I think your checkraise attempt is fine, as is smooth-calling the turn raise. The only hands that have outs against you that might not call the 3-bet are two pair hands. I think the pot isn't too big to let you take the risk and try to trap EP for an extra bet.

River: I think betting out is fine, especially if the CO is the sort of player who might have raised the turn for a free showdown when he gets called in two places.

I might have played the hand the same way...

[NutFlop]

IMO, you definitely raise the turn. With one card left to draw with, you would of got one more bet out of the raiser who folded when the river card didn't hit him (and even if it did hit, he was most likely drawing dead anyway).

[gonores]

I dunno...I think you played it fine, but I would have probably bet out the turn because a) If CO bets and you raise, the rest of the table is facing two cold, and I would like to extract a couple of bets from the guys in the middle and b) I would be fearing that the CO raise on the flop was an attempt to take a free card.