Bad Luck or Bad Play (cross post per recommedation)

[Diesel10]

I posted this in the general forum and it was suggested that I post it here as well....
I can't get this out of mind.
The other night I am playing 2-4NL with a stack of about $120 and am dealt QQ in the SB. Four players limp and I raise $10 and get 2 callers. I don't have a good read on either.
Flop comes 2 of diamonds, 7 of diamonds and 9 of spades.
I go all in with top pair and get called by one player who has a set of sevens. Last two cards are blanks and I lose about $110.
The thing is: I don't know if I'd play it differently again.
I could have gone all in pre-flop, but I thought the queens were worth more than $10. My thinking after the flop was that I didn't want to give a player with 4 diamonds or AK a chance to catch. So I tried to end it right there with the big raise and got nailed by the set.
Bad play or bad luck?

[Daann]

I'd raise by more preflop, to at least $30. There is about $22 in the pot when it get round to you and you are going to be out of position for the rest of the hand so why not make them pay for a flop.

Edit: Actually, it looks like you meant NL $1/2. I'd still raise more though, to about $15 or so.

And I've just noticed that you went all in straight on the flop. That bet is far too big, just pot it next time, its unlikely to be called by anything you have beat.

[schwza]

yeah, i agree with daann... i would raise a little bigger pre-flop. assuming the BB is 2, i'd make it 12 or 14. there are a lot of limpers - somebody will call you.

and you're flop push is too big. do you think somebody with T9 is going to call you? if they are that loose, then potting it might get calls from junk like 56 (gutshot). i'd bet around the pot.

[Wayfare]

We must think about stack sizes when analyzing this play. You only have 30x the bb, yet you only raise to $10 when you open? This is unwise, and not good play. You are definately giving the holder of 77 proper odds to draw just to a set. You need to raise a standard open every time, say 5x BB. That would be $20 in this game, denying the opponent proper odds. I think this was bad play (not enough of a preflop raise) followed by bad luck (the set hitting).

You make money by making others make mistakes. Bluntly, the 77 did everything right in this hand, and now has your stack. However, $120 is cheap in comparison and if you learn the lesson, you will make it back at 2-4 in no time flat.