Cold Call with QJs OTB ?
 

[sorry, prima hand with no converter seeming to work, even the prima converter]

Game is somewhat loose - VPIP ~30, Villain is 37/18

Hero on the button with Jack of Spades, Queen of Spades

2 folds, 1 limp, 1 fold, Villain raises, Hero calls?, SB completes, BB folds, limper calls

Flop: 7 of Spades, Queen of Clubs, Ace of Clubs

SB checked, limper checked, Villain bets, Hero raises?, SB folds, limper folds, Villain reraises, Hero calls

Turn: 4 of Clubs

Villain bets, Hero folds


So how bad is my play here?

Re: Cold Call with QJs OTB ?
 

I think cold-calling pre-flop can be all right. This is a pretty marginal situation, though. You have to think that one of the following two things is often true:

1. You'll get action from the blinds and so the hand will often have at least 4 and usually 5 players.

2. You think that the pre-flop raiser will often give up the hand unimproved and so you'll be able to take down a lot of hands post-flop through leveraging position alone.

The problem is that villain is generally not raising with a hand worse than QJ, even though he's laggy. Getting in a position 3 or 4 handed with a hand that is dominated and not getting enough action to play for straight/flush potential is bad.

As for the flop, I see little reason to raise. You're drawing against and A, have smaller pocket pairs crushed, and are only vulnerable to one overcard (the K) which gives you striaght redraws anyway. There's really very little reason to raise here.

I'd just call. Reevaluate on the turn. If you think your hand will win a showdown against this play often (he'd keep betting KT, 88 or whatever), then consider calling down if the pot becomes short-handed.

Re: Cold Call with QJs OTB ?
 

[ QUOTE ]
As for the flop, I see little reason to raise. You're drawing against and A, have smaller pocket pairs crushed, and are only vulnerable to one overcard (the K) which gives you striaght redraws anyway. There's really very little reason to raise here.


[/ QUOTE ]

If hero's hand is good, he wants to get it HU with position. I don't see why villain can't be betting KQ, KJ, JJ, or even a smaller pocket pair here.

Re: Cold Call with QJs OTB ?
 

I would usually fold this preflop, but then again my VPIP is below 16 percent.

Re: Cold Call with QJs OTB ?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
As for the flop, I see little reason to raise. You're drawing against and A, have smaller pocket pairs crushed, and are only vulnerable to one overcard (the K) which gives you striaght redraws anyway. There's really very little reason to raise here.


[/ QUOTE ]

If hero's hand is good, he wants to get it HU with position. I don't see why villain can't be betting KQ, KJ, JJ, or even a smaller pocket pair here.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think the fact that he's in position means he has less need of the hand being heads-up. I also don't think he's ahead often enough to make this raise for value. The tactical value of a raise given our specific hand in our position are minimal, as we have little to protect.

Re: Cold Call with QJs OTB ?
 

Sounds like this was a very marginal play on my part, especially given that this Villain is not going to release any sort of a hand very easily. Best to wait for when I have a stronger hand before trying to punish him. Thanks for the responses!