[Jason Strasser]

Shaniac this hand is disgusting.

[ QUOTE ]
Blinds 25/50. I have 5900 carlos has 4900 and he raises to 125 in 3rd position and gets 3 callers. I have 2 cards (62o) in the BB and call. Flop is A72 all spades and I bet 250 for whatever reason. Carlos calls and everyone else folds.


[/ QUOTE ]

Your lead is really puzzling. Even more puzzling is your justification for it. There are good reasons to lead here, but I would lead for more, and I would also have a reason.

[ QUOTE ]
Turn is another deuce and now I actually like my hand and fire out 550. Carlos eyes me suspiciously and makes the minimum raise to 1100. I consider keeping the pot as small as possible and then decide I oughtn't give him a free out. I make it 1800 to go, 1250 more to Carlos. Now Carlos pushes.

[/ QUOTE ]

Jesus christ. You lead for like 1/3-1/4 the pot. So he's already getting immediate odds to draw to a spade, which shows that your logic to 'protect your hand' is so flawed. If you wanted to protect your hand you wouldnt offer a spade draw pretty damn close to immediate odds, woudl you?

He min raises you. At this point, the idea you are 'protecting' your hand is completely dumb because the bottom line is the cost of 'protecting' your hand here is your stack because any raise is going to commit you to the pot & u will likely have the odds to draw to a boat if he puts in a turn reraise. Additionally, you arent maximizing your value versus hands that can pay you off. Carlos may have a weird combo draw or a bluff, but reraising here all but limits him to having better hands (for the most part). Maybe you will see some weird A(Ks) type of hand if you get it all in on the turn, but good luck to you with that.

It's nice to protect a made hand, but get your priorities straight. It's way more important to get value out of your hands. Plus realize that when he makes this turn raise, a large chunk of the time you are drawing, and a smaller chunk of the time you might be drawing to 1 out. He's offering you immediate odds to fill up, which is a +EV situation... If you are ahead you are risking a spade losing you the pot... but if you are behind you are being offered a great spot with his turn minraise!

It sounds like this great player is inside your head and you arent thinking straight. Or maybe you just need to start putting together more solid thought processes than:

"I bet 250 for whatever reason"

"Turn is another deuce and now I actually like my hand "

" I consider keeping the pot as small as possible and then decide I oughtn't give him a free out"

-Jason