Two More Hands -- Weak Set Play

[milesdyson]

#1: Party Poker 0.50/1 Hold'em (9 handed)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with 5/images/graemlins/spade.gif, 5/images/graemlins/club.gif. Hero posts a blind of $0.50.
UTG calls, UTG+1 calls, MP1 folds, Hero (poster) checks, MP3 folds, CO calls, Button calls, SB folds, BB checks.

Flop: (6.50 SB) J/images/graemlins/spade.gif, 5/images/graemlins/heart.gif, Q/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="blue">(6 players)</font>
BB checks, UTG checks, UTG+1 bets, Hero raises, CO calls, Button calls, BB folds, UTG folds, UTG+1 3-bets, Hero caps, CO calls, Button calls, UTG+1 calls.
<font color="green">I don't know why, but the 3-bet on this made me worry he had QQ or JJ but there were no raises preflop so I made my first mistake here by not capping, I think.</font>

Turn: (11.25 BB) 8/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="blue">(4 players)</font>
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets, CO calls, Button calls, UTG+1 raises, Hero calls, CO calls, Button calls.
<font color="green">Is this a good call or should I have raised... I don't know if CO and BTN stay in on a raise.</font>

River: (19.25 BB) 4/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="blue">(4 players)</font>
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets, CO folds, Button folds, UTG+1 raises, Hero calls.

Final Pot: 23.25 BB

Results in white below: <font color="white">
UTG+1 shows Qc 2h (one pair, queens).
Hero shows 5s 5c (three of a kind, fives).
Outcome: Hero wins 23.25 BB. </font>

<font color="green">Decent pot, but it probably could've been a lot bigger.</font>

#2: Party Poker 0.50/1 Hold'em (9 handed)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with Q/images/graemlins/club.gif, A/images/graemlins/club.gif.
UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, Hero raises, MP2 folds, MP3 folds, CO calls, Button folds, SB calls, BB folds.

Flop: (7 SB) Q/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, Q/images/graemlins/spade.gif, 8/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="blue">(3 players)</font>
SB checks, Hero bets, CO calls, SB calls.

Turn: (5 BB) 2/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="blue">(3 players)</font>
SB checks, Hero bets, CO calls, SB calls.

River: (8 BB) 2/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="blue">(3 players)</font>
SB checks, Hero bets, CO calls, SB calls.

Final Pot: 11 BB

Results in white below: <font color="white">
SB shows Kc Ks (two pair, kings and queens).
Hero shows Qc Ac (full house, queens full of twos).
CO shows 8s 7d (two pair, queens and eights).
Outcome: Hero wins 11 BB. </font>

<font color="green">Any ideas on how to get more in the pot, maybe a check-raise somewhere?</font>

[Peter Harris]

hey miles, welcome to the forum.

Hand 1 - raise more. you have no reason to suspect a large set or T9 for the straight. People with QJ or Ax /images/graemlins/heart.gif will rightly play this aggressive, and you have them beat.

Hand 2 - not a lot you can do. Nice PF raise, betting is the right play. c/r here will achieve little as few will bluff bet a board like that. Count your blessings that SB is a weakie, not 3-betting PF!

Keep posting hands, it's a great way to learn.

Regards,
Pete Harris

[spamuell]

In the first hand, I would have 3-bet the turn and just called on the river if the turn was capped. Until that happens, it's overwhelmingly likely you're looking at QJ. Furthermore, you're getting 3:1 on your money so you only need to end up with the best hand here over 25% of the time in order for it to be profitable.

Second hand was played perfectly. What else can you do?

[nepenthe]

Hand 2: Fine. Save the checkraises for when 1) there are more opponents and 2) you know them to bet if checked to.

Hand 1: Says you did cap the flop.
By the turn, someone may have made a straight, but you know what, you have a frigging set and you still have outs to a FH. Cap the turn and bet the river if checked to. If raised on the river after a turn cap, I'd call here as well.

EDIT: Oops, I mean 3-bet the turn in Hand 1 and bet the river if checked to.

[milesdyson]

Thanks a lot for the replies. I didn't notice that I did cap the flop. Yay me.

Every now and then I just get caught up in the amount of money in the pot and the good hand that I have and it makes me make bad decisions.

[HajiShirazu]

In general, if there is a lot of money in the pot and you have a strong hand, raising can never be that wrong. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[afk]

I wouldn't try to check-raise hand two anywhere. You've been the preflop aggressor, so you have no idea where the bet will come from... if it even comes.

[gojacketz]

I would 3 bet on the turn and if possible, also on the river. At least one of the guys was probably on a flush draw and missed, and I see no reason to think that anyone could possibly have a bigger set. Push your sets especially on boards where there is a flush draw, and when the flush draw misses on the river.

In the second hand, check raising seems to not be a good idea - who is gonna bet? Neither guy has shown any aggression on the flop or turn, so I see no reason to think that they will make a bet if you try to check raise.

Gojacketz