What Did I Do Wrong?

[jtnt1096]

$10 NL Tourney on Stars. Blinds are 25/50. I am third in chips at my table with 3180 and the player I go up against is second with 3680.

I am dealt Ac Ah in early position. I raise 150. Everyone folds except SB who calls.

Flop comes 9s Kh 8s.

I under bet the pot with a bet of 250. Opponent calls.

Turn is 5c

I bet 550. Opponent calls.

River is Js

I check. Opponent bets 200. I call.

Opponent shows Qh Ts - Nine to King.

Any thoughts on what I should have done differently. Should I have bet more on the flop or turn?

[PokerNeal]

You underbet before the flop. But if it makes you feel any comfortable I bet 50% of my stack with pocket Ace's in an identical situation and still got beat two times tonite! :-) But... in the long run, you gotta win with a hand like this but you can't give them buggers such a cheap entry to come into the hand with rags and make a better hand than you.

[Hal 2000]

"I under bet the pot with a bet of 250". Against another big stack and a board with all those potential draws, make it prohibitively expensive for him to see anoter card.

[jtnt1096]

How much should I have raised to before the flop. I was going to raise to $300 or $400, but I was hoping to draw 2-3 callers instead of one.

[PokerNeal]

With the stack sizes and the composition of the table you detail I would bet about 30% of the stack. Now note that anyone holding K-K or Q-Q (and maybe even J-J) will not be deterred by this bet and they will still come in and could get lucky. But in this case you made it too cheap for a rag hand like Q-10 to come in.

[betgo]

I don't see anything wrong with your play.

The initial raise of 3xBB was plenty for early position with a hand you want action with. You said you wanted 2 or 3 callers. I don't care whether I have 1, 2, or 3 callers. What I really want is to be reraised.

You bet less than the pot on the flop and the turn, but you were putting in standard substantial raises. Your opponent got lucky and hit an inside straight. There is not much you can do about that.

Your opponent's play of the hand was terrible. He seems like a real calling station. First, he calls an early position raise with QTo. Then he calls your flop and turn bets with an inside straight draw. When he hits his straight, he makes a tiny bet when you check to him. I guess he was hoping for a checkraise. The straight was not obvious, and you presumably had a hand, so I would have put in a decent size bet.

[TheJackal]

You played it right and I don't think you underbet the pot. If you got overly aggresive you would not (probably I don't know the player), not gotten any action. Sure the flop bet wasn't very large, but the 550 on the turn made his play incorrect. Maybe next time bet a bit over the size of the pot on the flop, and if he calls, move in on the turn.