PLHE: How stupid was this?

[adam74]

I'm getting into a nasty habit. I play some good, solid poker for a couple of hours and make a decent amount of profit...and then I chuck it all away in one fleeting moment of madness. Here's the latest...I'd love some opinions, especially if they're brutal. [img]/forums/images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

It's PLHE at Stars again, blinds of 0.50/1.00, full table.

I'm on the button with J [img]/forums/images/icons/club.gif[/img] J [img]/forums/images/icons/spade.gif[/img] . I have $162.20. BB has $100 - this is, I think, his first hand at the table. I've never seen him before. He's from Sydney.

Pre-flop, it's folded to me and I raise the minimum. [First mistake? Shouldn't mess around with pocket jacks?] I'm thinking to myself that one of two good things might happen - only one of the blinds calls, leaving me heads-up and with position; or one of them thinks I'm stealing and reraises and I can then reraise or call depending on a number of things.

So...SB calls and BB hesitates for a bit and reraises $6. At this point my feelings are that he is either very strong, or has something like a medium pair or two big suited cards. I decide to just call - I think in hindsight that this was a huge error - and SB folds.

Flop: A [img]/forums/images/icons/heart.gif[/img] 3 [img]/forums/images/icons/spade.gif[/img] 4 [img]/forums/images/icons/heart.gif[/img] . Pot is $18. BB raises $6 and I'm confused. I start to put him on a number of possible hands - a pair from KK to perhaps as low as 88; an ace but he's concerned about his kicker - maybe a ten; the Kh with another heart - Q, J or T. Finally, I think AA is a possibility. As I'm feeling uncertain, and I have position, and the bet is small, I just call. [Mistake? Should I make a decision here?]

Turn: 7 [img]/forums/images/icons/spade.gif[/img] . Pot is now $30. BB has $86 left.

This time he bets $15. Now I feel surer that he's not that strong, that he might be ahead of me - with QQ, JJ or Ax - but that he would put those hands down to a big raise. The turn 7 is useful cos of the obvious straight possibility, he might lay down Ax if kicker is, say, a ten, he'll surely lay down 88-KK and also any flush draw.

So that's what I was thinking, and I raise the full pot which (allowing for the rake) is another $58.55. He reraises all-in without hesitating and I call the remaining $12.45 with a heavy heart - I think I'm up against trip aces.

The river isn't a jack and he shows...well he won. Anyone want to take a guess? And as I said above, I'd love to hear what people think of my big raise. Was it really dumb? I'm not sure. It was fun, though! [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [Apart from the losing $100 bit of it.]

[fnurt]

I think the flop is decision time here. I think it's worth the investment of a pot-sized raise to find out where you are. If he doesn't fold then you are most likely beat and you don't end up investing your entire stack on the turn.

By calling you invested money in the hand without really finding anything out. And you put yourself in the exact same position on the turn plus you gave him a cheap card which might end up beating you.

[DJA]

give up on the flop. You played weakly pre-flop, and he calls. I think you have to fold to a bet when the A is on the board.

Just My Thoughts,

[soda]

My guess for his hand is a well played AK or for a dark horse how about 77?

Ok, preflop - bad raise. Not enough, when someone re-raises you it's tough to put them on a hand. Had you stuck with your original plan and re-raised the raiser, it would be easier to then define his hand. Going back on your earlier plan of re-raising a raiser was also a mistake IMO.

Flop - not good, but he bet hardly anything, so I'd pot it to represent that I hit my AK. If he doesn't fold, I'm done with the hand, but at least I know I was beat.

Turn, why are you not done with this hand yet? Betting pot now is just silly. You can certainly bet less than pot and find out where you stand. Betting pot (and keeping $12) is the same as an all in, only a worse play.

Ok, after reading it over - I was a bit harsh, because mistakes are easy to make in the heat of battle. Hope it helps tho.

soda

[AeonBlues]

Dude.... As has been stated, fold on flop.

My understanding of the turn, was that you were very confidant that he had the better hand. You thought that his hand might be weak enough that you could bluff for the pot. Unfortunately, you didn't actually know your opponet at all. You were thinking too deeply with too little information to work with. This seems to be the root of the error.

AeonBlues