home game hand help

[jaydoggie]

$10 buyin everyone starts with T1000. 13 players, divided into 2 tables.

the first hour or so i played extremely tight, didnt pick up any hands, lost about half my chips in blinds and missed flops. we make it to 10 and combine tables.

10 handed, blinds 30/60. stack 580.
dealt AQo in EP. this is by far the best hand ive been dealt all night. i take a moment to think how this hand might play out in my mind a few ways. i decided to 3X BB, raise to 180. this left me leverage to push on a rag flop, or if i make a hand. i find average/poor players have a bigger tendancy to fold after they seen and missed a flop. MP calls. rest fold.

Flop T T 5

[censored], dont like this. he could easily be in there with KT/AT/QT/JT/T9. i check. he checks. obviously take that as weakness.
turn 6. i push 400. he folds.

thoughts?

a few hands later the blinds raise to 40/80 on my sb.
5 limpers to me. im holding A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
i push for 720. folds to BTN, one of the guys girlfriends who says "im gonna go for it this time." and pushes 540. shows 99.

i spike an A, she doesnt improve. now my stack is looking ok around 1900.

thoughts?

now this is the hand that has me talking to myself.
same orbit, im dealt 77 in EP.
i openraise to 250. (this is a very passive game for the most part.) folds to blinds. both call.
pot 750.

flop Q[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 7[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 5[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

both check to me, i bet 400. wouldnt mind taking it here, but i would also like action from a Q, or a flush draw. i think to myself as i bet, if the turn isnt a heart, push and take down the pot. BB calls.

turn 8[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

the BB isnt an extremely experienced or tactful player. i dont think he would have just called with QQ preflop. i do think he would hold onto the flush draw, QJs KQo AQo. i automatically dismiss 96, 64. as he is not THAT poor of a player. hes far from great but hes not bad.

pot 1550. he checks again, i push for 1165. he hesitates for just a moment and calls. i roll my set, and hear "7s? I got 8s." Hoping to see A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]8[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], i look up to be very disappointed and read an 8 on both of his cards. :[

i put my head inside my hood, and replayed this hand 100 different ways trying to figure out where i went wrong. i think if i went harder on the flop it might look like i was trying to buy it, and get a call anyway. if i would have went lighter he would have called just with the chance to improve or the slight chance he was good. if i checked, he would have caught for free and i would only have my self to blame. if i checked behind him on the turn, again i would be giving him a free card to the hand i thought he could be potentially holding. if i bet another 400 on the turn id be giving him pretty good chance to chase the heart, but he would have raised in all likelyhood and i dont think i would have been able to get away from it.

maybe allin on the flop would have induced the fold, and the pot was 750, maybe worth it?

how bad did i mess this up? or please tell me this just happens on occassion and its always going to get paid off. the thing that makes this hurt, is the previous two times ive played in this tournament, i moved in with 88 and was called by 44 (hit quads). and raised allin with QQ, called by 55 (turned set).

please fix my spinning head. thank you<33

[CrisBrown]

Hi jay,

I think you did fine. If you're going to play a baby pair, you want to either: (a) take the blinds and antes; or, (b) make a big hand when you hit a set. You hit a set, and you tried to make a big pot with it (as you should). You ran into a bigger set. Oh well. That's going to happen on rare occasions, but really I wouldn't worry about how you played the hand.

Cris