How would you have played this hand?

[Zing Zing]

Ok here is the situation, its a $55 Pokerstars NL tourney.
I am the overall chip leader in the tourney with T28,778. The blinds are 200-400 with 25 ante, I am the small blind and hold 2 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 7 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. The guy in second position limps, this table is also 7 handed. It gets folded to me, I almost always limp in the sb with anything, especially after another limper, plus I am getting about 6-1 to call as well. So I call and the BB checks and we see a flop with 1425 in the pot. The flop comes exactly what I wanted, a beautiful J [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 7 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 2 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. I bet out T1200, the limper had T15940 in chips to begin this hand, he raises me the minimum to 2400. I think wow great Im gonna bust up his KJ or AJ or something. I reraise allin, he instantly calls with JJ, I think fuuudge what is that. Stars throws in a 7 river to make my loss even sweeter, but anyways I wanted your thoughts, especially with calling your SB with 72o, that's where I seem to get the most critizem(sp?) from. Some people tell me they wouldnt put an extra penny in with 72o, but I figure if I get a flop like I did, thats exactly what I want. Anyone else think I played this hand bad? Anyone think I played it good? Let me know your thoughts. thanks

[DougBrennan]

Well I think your hand here is a textbook example of why many consider playing trash cards under any circumstances to be dangerous. You can hit your flop hard and still lose to bigger cards. For example, had your opponent had KJ, you would still lose to any turn-river combo that contained K, J, or ANY pair other than 7 or 2.

Think about it. You spent half your considerable stack to play 2-7o.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

Why screw around when you're the overall chip leader? You should be able to keep your advantage by selectively being a bully. The problem with 72o is that when you get tricky and run into someone else who's tricky, his trick is bigger than yours.

[Bozeman]

While there are a lot of hands you could play for half a bet in SB, this is definitely not one of them. The only big hands you can make are full houses (& four of a kind). If you make two pair, there are always hands to be afraid of, but the main reason it stinks is that you can't make 2pair or better often enough, which you could with 79s, for example.

Craig

[sawil]

Some thoughts:

I agree that completing a SB with limpers before you can be a good play when only considering pot odds. However, with only 1 EP limper, I would not play any 2 cards. You are in the worst position for the rest of the hand.

While catching bottom 2 pair on the flop seems quite good, the minimum reraise from and early position limper would tell me that he really likes this flop too. It could be that he has overpair or AJ and the like, but you are not that far ahead of these hands with 2 cards to come. The only hand you really need to worry about is JJ. I'm not sure if I reraised him on flop that I could laydown my hand with the pot so large. I think I would be trapped here. One factor that does play an important part in my SB completion with limpers before me is there stack size. With his stack so large and my position, I would fold quite a few hands here, even small pocket pairs, med suited connectors, etc.

[LetsRock]

I wouldn't have. You could have told me there'd be a 7 & a 2 on the flop and I'd still have to think about it.

Muck that junk!

[CrisBrown]

Hiya Zing,

Even within my very odd worldview wherein trash sometimes takes on the sheen of gold and vice versa, I think I fold 72o unless I'm getting such incredibly huge pot odds (e.g.: 27 limpers plus a toddler and an old guy with a walker in front of me) that I can afford to call it hoping for a 7-7-2 flop.

Cris

[Hotrod0823]

I guess a better question is how do you play it from the BB if you get that same flop??

Not just to Cris but anyone. Is it better to not even play it if you get to for free??

[CrisBrown]

Hi Hotrod,

I'd like to think I wouldn't go broke on 72o in the BB with a J-7-2 flop, but the truth is, I probably would if pushed to it. There are so many hands that an opponent would bet aggressively that my two-pair can beat, that it's really, REALLY difficult to get away from a hand in this situation.

One of the WPT players -- the Swiss retiree whose name I can't recall -- ran into this exact situation in a hand against Gus Hansen. Gus had flopped 1st and 2nd pair, and the Swiss had flopped 2nd and 3rd pair on a BB hand he'd never have played in a raised pot. He busted.

Cris

[M.B.E.]

I would not muck the 7-2 preflop, especially as the chip leader. The only question for me is whether to limp (complete) or raise preflop. Usually I'd limp.

Bozeman is correct that you won't flop two-pair-or-better often enough for the limp to be worth while. But a lot of the time you can bluff at the flop and take it down even if you flop nothing. That's especially true when it's three-handed (you, BB, and one limper).

Generally I would not try to bluff the flop unless I have at least one pair, for example a flop of Q-9-2 or T-7-4. There's two reasons. First, if someone calls your flop bet(presumably with a better hand), you typically have five outs on the turn. Second, people will notice if you always bluff the flop after limping in the SB; waiting for one pair is just a smart way of randomizing it; you're only betting out a third of the time.

Someone else in the thread said something like even if the other player has AJ (on the flop of J-7-2) your hand isn't very good because the other player could hit two pair or trips. Well, whatever. Your 7-2 is a 3-to-1 favourite on the flop against AJ. It's pretty nice to break the other player 3/4 of the time.

In this hand, the other player played terribly by limping with JJ, especially at this stage of the tourney. What would he have done with his JJ if the flop came Q-9-2 and you bet 1200?