critique pls
 

Small stakes NL home game, 4 handed, blinds are 1/2, everyone has roughly 100 chips. UTG calls 2, dealer calls 2, I complete it with 6[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]3[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. BB raises to 4 total, everyone calls.

Flop comes 7[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]4[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. I'm thinking semi-bluff - bet out 20. BB folds, UTG calls, dealer folds.

Turn comes J[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. I'm thinking I already represented a J, maybe I pick it up right here. If he's got a J, I still have a strong draw. I bet out 40, he calls (damnit).

River comes Q[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]. No courage left, I check. He checks it down and wins w/ pair of 7s. Looks like, if I fired once more I would have taken it down. Comments?

Re: critique pls
 

If this guy didn't believe you on the turn when you bet 40, I don't see why he would fold the river for another 40, but who knows. Draws out-of-position suck, as I'm sure you know. I probably would have checked and tried to see a cheap turn, and either check-raise all-in if I thought I had a lot of folding equity or call a small bet. I think check-raising is better than just betting because you hate somebody just flat-calling you.

Re: critique pls
 

I'm not sure I would have been in the hand to begin with. Then you called a raise from the big blind. After the flop you had a gutshot straight flush draw. I Ddn't blame you betting here you had 14 outs(about 30% prob to hit). All-in may have done it for you though.

Re: critique pls
 

It depends. I don't like the size of your initial flop semi-bluff (20 into a 16 pot could be construed as suspicious), but the bottom line is that it was a failed bluff attempt. You need to know your opponent well enough to know what percentage of the time it will work. After he called the 20, there was 56 in the pot and you bluffed 40. Will your bluff work 44% of the time? If so, good play, too bad you got caught. If he called you with middle pair unknown kicker, it probably won't work 44% of the time, so bad play. More likely he picked up a tell.

Re: critique pls
 

You lost 64% of your stack with 63h. Would you have played them if they were not suited?
My suggestion is simple don't play bad cards out of position and don't let "but they were suited be your mantra".

Re: critique pls
 

betting out and semi-bluffing is fine but keep in mind its a torny, and you cant afford to lose 1/5 of ur stack on a semibluff, followed by half of ur remaining chips on the turn.
y would u possibly bet 20 chips into a 16 pot like that, if you control the size of your pots esp early in a torny you will go alot farther. $40 into a $56 on the turn isnt bad at all but if u thought a bit more about ur bet amounts and what they were going to accomplish u could have had a better result. a 15 then 25 or even 8 and 15 or 8 and 12 do the same thing.