Busted out very early - what should I have done differently

[Magician]

PokerStars Game $50 buy-in Tournament No Limit Hold'em
Table 'xxxxxx' Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: (1440 in chips)
Seat 2: (1490 in chips)
Seat 3: (1480 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 4: (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: Magician (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: (1500 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 7: (1590 in chips)
Seat 8: (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: (1500 in chips)
3: posts small blind 10
4: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Magician [Qh Jh]
Magician: calls 20
6: folds
7: folds
8: folds
9: folds
1: raises 20 to 40
2: folds
3: folds
4: calls 20
Magician: calls 20
*** FLOP *** [7d Qc 4c]
4: bets 20
Magician: raises 130 to 150
1: calls 150
4: folds
*** TURN *** [7d Qc 4c] [3d]
Magician: bets 450
1: raises 450 to 900
Magician: raises 410 to 1310 and is all-in
1: calls 350 and is all-in
*** RIVER *** [7d Qc 4c 3d] [Qs]

Magician: shows [Qh Jh] (three of a kind, Queens)
1: shows [6d 5d] (a straight, Three to Seven)
1: collected 2950 from pot

I'd never seen the guy in Seat 1 before and it was just a few hands into the tourney.

The double belly buster straight is so hard to detect - I didn't put him on it at all.

On average, should I check on the turn every time there's a chance that an opponent hit a double belly buster straight?

Even if I knew he might have been on a double belly buster straight draw, would potentially giving a free card if he actually hadn't hit one worth it? I mean, if I was actually ahead and a K or A appeared on the board then checking would have been sub-optimal.

Is betting the pot on the turn usually still the right move?

I admit betting out with top pair + non-nuts kicker may have been dubious - but when he just called I thought he might have 2nd pair or a pocket smaller pair or maybe even Q + kicker, which might be better than mine but which he might release to a pot-sized bet on the turn.

[yct]

Even if I knew he might have been on a double belly buster straight draw

It's actually an open end straight. Sometimes hands like QJs, KQs, JTs look good, but I don't think they are that great because they only make 2nd best flush and even if you have top pair, someone might be sandbagging you with a baby set, so I guess you need to play them with caution.

I also bust out very early today in the first orbit of a PokerStar tourney. I held AA and then other two guys had AKo and JTo. We got our money in preflop and JTo made two pairs on the river. Thought I would triple up when I saw their cards, but you never know even with AA.

[BB King's]

Early position - early in tourny. Easy fold !!!

[fnurt]

You simply can't be putting your whole stack in every time you hit top pair, particularly with a mediocre kicker. In this case it's hard to justify betting anything more than 150 again on the turn. If you get raised, or if you check the turn and face a big bet, I'd chuck it without much thought. Hands like this are where you lose lots of money, not where you win lots of money.

Recognizing what draws are out there is a basic skill you should try to work on. In this case there were only two obvious draws on the flop, clubs and the open-ended straight draw. Had you correctly recognized these you would have realized the 3 could possibly complete a straight. I'm not saying you should have assumed someone made a straight as soon as it fell, but at least you'd know that was one possible bigger hand you might be up against.

By the way, a "double belly buster" (also known as a "double gutshot") would be something like, you hold JT, board is K97. either a Q or an 8 completes a straight so it's the same odds as having an open-ended draw.

[FeliciaLee]

I agree. I am from the Cloutier tourney school of thought. You know, his various quotes on tourneys:

"You can't win a tourney in the first few rounds, but you can sure lose one."

"The only hand I'm willing to put in all my chips on during the early rounds is pocket aces when I flop a set."

I might not have the quotes down verbatim, but that is what he is saying. I play tight, tight, tight in the early rounds. I mean, who cares if the average stack is 1600 and I have 1300? I'm not really that much of a dog. Let the maniacs who are willing to go all-in on any draw knock themselves out, you will place in the money more often.

I try to just take a pot here and there, pick the right spots (which is harder to do online than live, I know). If I am short stacked, but not desperate, that is exactly the position I want to be in, when the stakes go up and most of the maniacs have picked each other off.

One quote I have always loved by Cloutier is:

(when he gets knocked out of a tourney by a bad player)
"You have no chance whatsoever of winning this tournament, but you just killed any chance I had with that play."

Don't let yourself get trapped like that. Waste of money, IMO.

[sam h]

Magician,

It is hard to put him on that hand. But regardless, the important thing is that in this situation you will almost always be behind when you get raised on the turn like this except against very tricky players. With an unknown opponent, you should fold.