Bad Call - NL Novice

chucklhead · #1 09-28-2003, 01:50 AM

Howdy all,
I have just started playing the $.01-.02 NL Holdem at Planet Poker. I am wondering if this is a bad call.

UTG+1 calls, UTG+2 calls, button-1 raises to $.22 (player has lost 3-$3 buy-in in 2 hours by overplaying medium pairs), I on button call with A [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]J [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] SB folds, BB raises to 1$, 2 middle players fold, button-1 calls, I call.

BB is chatting it up trying to get inside my head, 3-4 hands before we had split a pot with us both having AKo. He accused me of scaring all the fish away because I don't play enough hands. He has been raising .05-.20 every time he is entering the pot which is often. He has moved up $2.00 gradually during the couple hours I have played. I think he possibly could be raising on just about anything due to his confrontation with me. Perhaps I should have raised all-in here he has $12, I have $4, other player has $2 at start of hand?

Flop comes Q [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]T [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]5 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

BB bets $3, button-1 folds.

I call all in, did I make a mistake?

chucklhead · #2 09-28-2003, 02:02 AM

The turn is a T [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], river a J [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].

He turns over 6 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]6 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

I pull down the pot because my J paired. I figured that he could have had a hand worse than mine (flush draw or just trying to push me around), a hand which I might outdraw (pair of T or lower). I decided the pot was offering me 2:1 and that the combination of the two possibilities said I should call.

Of course I really wanted to believe he was just full of it.

Thanks for any thoughts,

Chucklhead

crockpot · #3 09-28-2003, 02:17 AM

i'm sorry to say this, but you should have folded at all three opportunities. even if the raiser habitually overplays his hand, your position throughout the hand will be terrible, with an aggressive bettor leading through you into the field. even if you flop top pair, you cannot feel comfortable with several players left to act. and the pot could get reraised behind you, as it did. A-J offsuit is much too weak of a hand to be welcoming this kind of action. even with A-K offsuit here i would be wary of calling. remember that top pair is not a great hand in no limit games.

on the river, i have no clue why you would call with this hand. my opponent's most likely holdings are a big pair or a set, giving you somewhere between four and seven outs, and if he has a set you can get redrawn on if the board pairs. this is way too few outs to be calling all in for about 2:1 pot odds.

next time, fold the hand preflop and avoid this whole mess.

PlanoPoker · #4 09-28-2003, 06:33 AM

The first thing to realize is this scenario is that the players do not respect the relative value of their bets versus the blinds, because you are playing for pennies. Even if it will cost you a few more bucks to learn poker, I think you should move to a level where wins and losses actually add up as soon as you are comfortable. In a bigger game, if someone raises 11x the BB preflop you are going to pitch AJo and ask him if he has a window or an aisle seat.