Where did I screw up this hand?

[Skater T]

Hi. I was recently playing a low limit game online. I had QQ in late position. The action came to me with three callers. I raised. The player behind me reraised. The three players in front of me folded. I decided to reraise, as I had seen this player trying to bluff earlier. He called.
The flop came 9h 7c 3d
I bet my queens and he raised. I reraised and he called.
The turn 5d
I bet the queens again, and he bet into me again. This time I called.
The river 3s
I check to him then call when he bets. He had pocket aces.

My question to all of you coming from a learning player. What did I do wrong? Probably many things, but please let me know.

[Bob T.]

Welcome to the forum.

My question to all of you coming from a learning player. What did I do wrong? Probably many things, but please let me know.

Your main mistake was getting dealt pocket queens when someone else had Aces. /images/graemlins/grin.gif I think you played your hand reasonably. Next time try to flop a Queen, or even better river one /images/graemlins/grin.gif.

[SoCalPat]

You did fine. There are some who might say you should have check-called the turn instead of waiting to the river, or not cap the flop, but that's hardly bad poker. Against that board, I can't say I would have done anything differently.

Good of you to recognize when you did that your queens were in trouble. Still, you're not laying them down against this board. You could be up against an overly-aggressive JJ or 10-10. But sometimes, you just run up against better cards. No shame in that.

[Clarkmeister]

"Hi."

Hi.

"I was recently playing a low limit game online. I had QQ in late position. The action came to me with three callers. I raised. The player behind me reraised. The three players in front of me folded. I decided to reraise, as I had seen this player trying to bluff earlier. He called."

Be careful. It is easy to see someone bluff and assume they are always doing it. However, most people won't bluff or make power plays with a lot of opponents, particularly pre-flop where they are almost certain to get lots of callers. When you raise three limpers and get 3-bet, it is a mistake to assume he is making a play, even maniacs don't screw around here very often.

That said, your 4-bet is ok, but you give up some decpetive value postlop, however it should make your opponent more readable postflop since you have very clearly defined your hand. This isn't always a bad thing as we shall see below.....


"The flop came 9h 7c 3d
I bet my queens and he raised. I reraised and he called."

OK, you have 4 bet preflop screaming not just overpair, but big overpair and he raises you anyways. Not a good sign since even an idiot should know where you are at. This is where the benefit of having a readable hand comes in, because it makes it almost impossible for someone to make a move on you since they MUST know that you wouldn't fold. His raise is trouble. 3-betting is likely a bad move against most opponents.

"The turn 5d
I bet the queens again, and he [raises] me again. This time I called."

You are screwed. Look, you've capped him preflop, 3-bet him on the flop and bet into him on the turn and he keeps cranking you? You are drawing to 2 cards almost 99% of the time here. This is an extension of the mistake you made by 3-betting on the flop, now you pay 2 bets to see the river in what has become an altogether too-large pot because you aren't listening to what your opponent is telling you. Namely: "I don't care that you have a big pair". Folding isn't wrong here.

"The river 3s
I check to him then call when he bets. He had pocket aces."

duh.

"My question to all of you coming from a learning player. What did I do wrong? Probably many things, but please let me know."

You should have simply called the flop raise and check-called him down.

The pot is large already, you don't want to go spraying chips out of position when he is repeatedly telling you that your hand is no good. Quietly and meekly get to showdown as cheaply as possible. Remember that you have done everything possible to tell him exactly what you have....and he doesn't care. Losing 4.5 big bets postflop here is a big mistake given the way the action went down.

Good luck.

[rharless]

Quietly and meekly

Didn't know these words were in your poker vocabulary /images/graemlins/smile.gif