New England Poker Classic $500 NLHE
 

Blinds are $150/$300 with $50 ante

Average chip stack is about T7,500

I'm in the small blind with QT. Suits unimportant.
approx. T4,000 in chips.

Folded to CO who raises $300. He has about T10,000 but is not a good player IMHO. Has been playing some crappy Aces etc.

I call. With antes I'm getting 7/2 here so I think my call is fine. I'm prepared to lay this down if the Big Blind comes over the top and I can get away from it if the flop doesn't hit me hard.

BB calls. Seems a good player again IMHO. T5,000

Flop: Q T 7 r

I check, BB checks, CO bets $600

Action?

Re: New England Poker Classic $500 NLHE
 

Although 99% of the time you are ahead here, I do not think that this is a time to slowplay. You do not want to take that chance that a 7 hits the turn, or a KJ or J9 (both hands that could easily be held by either player) hits their draw on the turn.

I would raise it T1,800 and hope to take the pot right there. If I am re-raised, I probably hope that neither player has hit a set and push in.

Rick Diesel

Re: New England Poker Classic $500 NLHE
 

there's no way you're folding, so push all in! take that pot right now! and if you're "lucky" someone might have a hand like AQ or something and call you

Re: New England Poker Classic $500 NLHE
 

I think pushing in is a bit much because it means a hand like KQ or AQ may be able to get away and a call will almost certainly mean you are in trouble. I prefer a raise to 1500-1800 with the intention of pushing all-in on the turn.

Re: New England Poker Classic $500 NLHE
 

there's roughly 1800 in the pot, and my stack was around 4000 before this hand.. i just want to win the pot right now, so i'm pushing in, but i can understand your argument.

My thinking and result
 

I checked the flop because I was almost 100% certain the CO would bet. I was prepared to go all-in but with his small bet I wanted to try and trap him for more so I raised it by T1,200. I thought this would be enough for the BB to lay down a draw and little enough for him and the CO to carry on if either did indeed have a Queen and good kicker.

Too little? Should I just be thinking of winning the pot right now?

This basically committed me too the pot, something I think the BB was aware off but I have my doubts about the CO.


Result

BB came over the top all-in. CO folds. I call but have a sinking feeling. BB had 77 for bottom set and I got no help on the turn or river.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and obviously with it I would just lose the small blind. But I think I played this OK. Anyone fold pre-flop? Is my thinking sound overall or could I have not busted here? I have this nagging doubt that the BB may have layed this down if I had gone all-in, he hesitated long enough for me to think he thought about it. My table image was very tight - mainly because I had had no cards.

Thanks for all your replys

Re: My thinking and result
 

Maybe better players than me can get away from a hand like that but I sure couldn't have. I'd just chalk it up to bad luck in getting trapped with a hand that's too hard to get away from.

P.S. I don't see him laying down a set.

Re: New England Poker Classic $500 NLHE
 

If you had reraised preflop, do you think the CO would fold his crappy aces or other mediocre hands that you think he's likely to be holding? Or, would he get stubborn and call, causing you to play a big pot with the worst hand?

I would tend towards reraising preflop if I think the CO is messing around, rather than flat-calling. If I don't have enough confidence in my read to do that, then folding might be the better option, as I probably won't read him well enough postflop either.

Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

Re: New England Poker Classic $500 NLHE
 

[ QUOTE ]
If you had reraised preflop, do you think the CO would fold his crappy aces or other mediocre hands that you think he's likely to be holding? Or, would he get stubborn and call, causing you to play a big pot with the worst hand?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not sure. I think he may have layed it down to a big raise, say 1,500 plus, but I was also worried that the BB may pick up a hand. I considered him a very solid player and I didn't want to risk my tournament on cheese if he picked up a hand or if indeed the CO really had something. I had been quite shortstacked all tournament but had a very lucky double up about a couple of rounds earlier on a similar play as you suggest (AT in sb, raised 1 limper all-in about T1200, he had AA, flop came KQJ), and then shortly after had managed to pick up some chips 3 hands in a row, with AJ, AQs and QQ, never going to showdown. I just didn't feel comfortable trying a complete bluff here as I had enough chips to easily see a few orbits and pick up a real hand.

Although still below average (average about T7,500) I'd managed to accumalate enough chips where I was out of fold/all-in mode and I thought I'd take a chance on seeing a flop. I did consider folding pre-flop but I was prepared to lay down just top pair to any action.

My read was confident enough to know I was beating him on the flop. I think I could lay this down if I just had the one pair.

Re: My thinking and result
 

He only hesitated because he wanted to get called. Think about it, is there any way your just calling preflop with TT or QQ, I doubt it, he had to think his 777 was 100% gold. You lost with top 2 against bottom set, not much you can do in this situation with the size of the stacks and blinds at this point IMHO.