JJ clearly misplayed

[CrisBrown]

Hi All,

Waited half an hour for the next $55 SNG to fill, and on the third hand I get JJ in the BB. UTG limps, EP limps, CO raises, I call, UTG folds, EP reraises, CO calls, and I call. I don't know any of these players.

Flop is K-K-Q.

I check, EP min-bets, CO folds, I call.

Turn is: 8.

I check, EP bets the pot, and I call. I think this was my mistake, although I'm not sure. I think my mistake was ever calling the initial reraise with only JJ, but oh well.

River is 7.

I check, EP pushes, I call, and he turns up AA.

From the way he'd played it, I didn't think he had a K or Q, and I put him on a smaller pair. Oops.

Oh well. I'd really like to spend longer playing a SNG than I do waiting for it to fill....

BTW, I'm focusing on the $55 SNGs because that's the level I've had the most trouble with. So I'm trying to focus on improving my play at that level.

Cris

[chesspain]

Cris,

Your play on this hand was rather startling. Since you gently scolded me in a recent post for raising JJ preflop, I assumed that when you just called the CO's raise that you were playing it for the set.

However, after catching a really bad flop against a PF limp-raiser, you allow yourself to be dragged by the nostrils into an ill-conceived pot call on the turn and then a suicidal all-in call on the river.

I'm curious...you said that you did not think that EP would play a K or Q this way (although I don't see why you thought that), but did you remember that he limp-raised PF when there were only two players left in the hand? That would have told me that he had big hand that played well in a small field, such as AA/KK/AK, and possibly QQ/AQ, all of which make you toast.




[ QUOTE ]

BTW, I'm focusing on the $55 SNGs because that's the level I've had the most trouble with. So I'm trying to focus on improving my play at that level.

[/ QUOTE ]

Cris, I really think you need to take a break. However, if you feel like you cannot tear yourself away from the game, then maybe you should switch to a completely different animal for a while, such as microlimit ring games or even something like 7CS, as a sort of mental crop rotation.

[CrisBrown]

Hiya chess,

[ QUOTE ]
Your play on this hand was rather startling. Since you gently scolded me in a recent post for raising JJ preflop, I assumed that when you just called the CO's raise that you were playing it for the set.

[/ QUOTE ]

I didn't mean it to sound like scolding. Oh well. And yes, I was playing it for the set, and got dragged into a pot I should've mucked pre-flop. It was a silly mistake.

Cris

[chesspain]

By using the term "scolded," I didn't mean to imply that I felt patronized or insulted. Maybe I should have said that you "gently offered correction..." /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[PrayingMantis]

Hey Cris,

Yes, I do think it was seriously misplayed. I fold it in a mili-second, on the flop, to almost any bet, no matter what buy-in or level. On some circumstanses I fold it PF, since you're clearly in a middle of a raise-war. True, It's possible the flop mini-bet looked too small to fold to, but from the turn on - clear clear fold. Moreover, I cannot see how you were able to put him on a "small pair", on the 3rd hand of the game, and while he was playing it like a very big hand PF.

I really think it's a good example of "falling in love with a poket-pair" - a habit one should fight strongly to overcome, since it's a sure way to lose a lot of money in NL poker.

Only some thoughts,

PrayingMantis