Betting and Folding a King high straight

[Julia1968]

Hi. I would love feedback on the following hand...One of my weaknesses is not betting the right amount. What should I have done differently? I think my mistake was not betting hard enough on the turn, when I got the straight. I also probably should have either just called PF, or bet harder.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t15 (10 handed)

MP1 (t445)
Hero (t760)
MP3 (t760)
CO (t765)
Button (t580)
SB (t785)
BB (t1150)
UTG (t755)
UTG+1 (t1140)
UTG+2 (t860)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with J/images/graemlins/heart.gif, K/images/graemlins/spade.gif.
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls t15, UTG+2 folds, MP1 calls t15, Hero raises to t30, MP3 calls t30, CO calls t30, Button folds, SB calls t20, BB calls t15, UTG+1 calls t15, MP1 calls t15.

Flop: (t210) J/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, T/images/graemlins/club.gif, Q/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="blue">(7 players)</font>
SB checks, BB checks, UTG+1 bets t50, MP1 folds, Hero raises to t100, MP3 folds, CO folds, SB folds, BB calls t100, UTG+1 calls t50.

Turn: (t510) 9/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="blue">(3 players)</font>
BB checks, UTG+1 checks, Hero bets t200, BB folds, UTG+1 calls t200.

River: (t910) K/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
UTG+1 bets t400, Hero folds.

Final Pot: t1310

[BigEndian]

This might be a no brainer to most people here. For me, and I'm fairly green at tournies, this looks like a situation where it's a coin flip once you've gotten to the river. This early in the tourney, I'd lean towards calling.

Does anyone push on the turn?

Also, this is a fold PF.

- Jim

[Hiding]

I say fold PF with this hand especially this early, but if you are going to play it bet more than a min raise. That raise isnt enough to kick out Ax hands that already called 15 or were planning on it, I usually go in with 50-75 minimum. Other than that I like your flop bet and turn, easy lay down to the river bet.

[VarlosZ]

I agree that this is an easy fold preflop, especially at the first level. With the blinds so small, there's no reason to play anything other than premium hands, or some good multi-way hands when you can see the flop cheaply -- KJo is neither of those.

I like your raise on the flop, though a case could be made for both flat-calling and making a larger raise.

On the turn, I think you may as well push all-in. Make two-pair or a set (both likely enough given the board) pay to chase or fold. This being a low-stakes Party SNG, you may get paid off anyway.

Good fold on the river.

[cferejohn]

Fold preflop. *If* you are going to raise it (and I don't reccommend it), then make it a raise that has a chance to steal the blinds. With 2 limpers, this means raising to at *least* 75. What was the minimum raise meant to accomplish? It won't make anyone fold and now you are in a big-ish pot with a crappy hand (and if you don't think KJo is a crappy hand, then, umm, you need to realize that KJo is a crappy hand).

OK. Lets pretend that aliens took you over and made you min-raise preflop. Again, you min-raise the flop. Again, what does this accomplish. In limit this might make sense since it gets you a free card to your open-ender, here it just invites a better hand to push back at you.

So you are called. Moving on. You make your straight on the turn. It's not the nut straight, but frankly, if you've played this hand to this point, you've gotta assume that you have the best hand or why the heck are you even still in it? There's 500 chips in the pot. You have ~600 chips in your hand . Assuming, for the moment, that you do have the best hand, it's very likely that you are up against 2 pair and/or a pair with an ace, especially with 2 players remaining. You absolutely have to push here.

OK. You made a small bet and now your hand is counterfited or worse. I suppose you can fold here, since calling gets you a chop if you are lucky, but the real answer is don't get into this situation in the first place:

1. Don't play mediocre hands out of postion preflop.

2. If you *must* play mediocre hands out of postion preflop, try to make them drawing hands, not hands where flopping top pair is going to win you a small pot or lose you a big one. Oh, and don't raise with mediocre hands.

3. If you *must* raise with mediocre hands preflop, raise large enough that you have a chance to take down the blinds preflop or at least get it heads up where you might be able to win it with a flop bet if the flop misses your opponent.

4. Once you feel you have the best hand in a pretty big multi-way pot, push your advantage. Don't make a weak bet when your opponents almost *definitely* have outs. If you had held AK here, the weak bet would have been better.

See how many mistakes can be avoided by folding KJo before the flop always and forever?

Obligtory "It Depends": As the blinds get higher and the number of players gets smaller, KJo may figure to be the best hand often enough when you are folded to in the CO or button so as to be worth a raise, but again this raise should be large enough (at least 3x the BB) to stand a reasonable chance to take the blinds down right there.