Slowplaying trips in short-handed NL

[Q8offsuit]

Hello Hello!

I regularly play in a NLHE game with $0.10/$0.20 blinds and $10 starting stacks that is always short-handed (2-5 players). My opponents are loose and kind of aggressive, but make a lot of exploitable mistakes (ignoring pot odds when drawing, overvaluing dominated hands, calling way way too much, etc.)

I have been thinking a lot about my play of trips in this game and in general. Here are a couple of hands where I slowplayed (rare for me without a monster). I would truly appreciate all feedback.

Hand 1:
3-way. First hand of the night. $10 stacks all around. I am the BB with A [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] J [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
Button calls $0.20. SB completes. I make a standard raise to $0.80.
Two callers. Flop: J [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] J [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 2 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
SB bets $0.60. I pause and call. Button folds.
Turn: 4 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. Check, I bet $2.50. SB raises all-in. Call. He tables 44 for the win.

Hand 2:
3 ways. Early in the game. I have about $8. SB has ~$12 and BB ~$10.
I am the button with K [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 3 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. I raise to $0.80. Two callers.
Flop: 3 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 3 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 2 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]. Check, Check, Check.
Turn: Q: [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. Check, BB bets $0.30, Call, Call.
River: 6 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. Check, Check, I bet $3.00. SB raises all-in. I call.
Of course he had 54o for the straight.

I don't really consider either of these bad beats and seriously question my play on both hands. Hand #1 is very borderline? Hand #2 I decided on the flop to slowplay to the river because I rarely (if ever) do this without the nuts and I wanted SB (who I play heads-up a lot) to see it. I felt he could have been doing the same thing (extreme slowplaying is his general M.O.) with a weaker 3. I also really think I needed to raise the turn on that hand. Also, how about a fold on the river? I felt the pot was giving me enough odds to call with the rest of my shortish stack. Looking back, I knew he had 54 and feel I should have saved my chips.

Any thoughts here or on slowplaying open trips with good kickers on ragged rainbow boards like these? Or did I just get stung a couple of times too many?
Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

[SkippingGoat]

Hand 1:
I do consider this a bad beat. There's really no way to read this guy for a turned boat. It's just as likely that he slow played a worse jack or is betting some other garbage. Don't think there's any way to get away from this hand at this level especially with stacks of only 50xBB.

Hand 2:
Unless you're trying to blind steal from very tight opponents I wouldn't raise K3s. If you're deterined to play it, just limp preflop and bet out if an ace, king, or queen falls on the flop representing top pair. Since you did raise, I feel like this board is a great place to play your open trips a little faster than usual. With the preflop raise, it will be extremely difficult for you opponents to put you on a 3. On the end, it's tough to muck the trips. The pot is giving you 3-1 on a call and, unless you have a real strong read on the SB, I can't blame you for calling.

[Q8offsuit]

Thanks for the thoughts Goat. I guess I was most angry with myself about not making the correct reads in these hands. In #1 my opponent (SB) is very very nervous about moving in or calling all-in without the nuts or close to it. In retrospect, the worse hand he could have possibly held was something like KJo, protecting against the flush. He did hit his two-outer which was incredibly concealed.
Hand #2 I was almost positive he held 54 but made the crying call anyway.
I need to be able to act on my reads better. Short-handed makes these situations a lot more dicey.

More generally, however, I think that hands like these open trips are far inferior to flopping a set and should be slowplayed far less often. Anybody else have problems getting away from/overplaying open trips, good kicker?

[SkippingGoat]

I think your intuition that open trips aren't all that powerful a hand is a good one. The bottom line is that on a paired board people simply won't go to the felt without a straight or better (given that they don't open trips themselves). Furthermore, open trips are so commonly slow played that most decent players will not put a second big bet into the pot after the first one is called, limiting the profitability of slowplaying such hands. I've taken to commonly betting out in these situations and hope to get called by draws and overpairs. I think slowplaying is still appropriate against LAG players who will fire a couple big bluffs with less than trips.