No Limit Hand at Foxwoods - Bad beat or bad playing?

[Murph]

Game: $5/$5 Blinds No Limit Hold'em at Foxwoods.

I start this hand with $2,700. (It had been a good day so far. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] )

I am on the button. 3 players limp in for $5. I have 5d and 2s. I normally would not call with such crap but we have a family pot going and I figure (based on past observation) that neither SB or BB will raise so I limp in for the $5 to see the flop. Both SB and BB check.

Flop comes 3c 4h Jh. Everyone checks to me. I'm open ended so I bet $40.

Everybody folds except one other player. Let's call him "Joe," a loose and aggressive player but not one who qualifies as a maniac. Joe calls the $40.

Turn comes Ad.

Joe bets $100. I raise to $300. Joe reraises to $900, leaving him with about $700.

I'm thinking this is great. I have the nut straight so I go all in. Joe then calls.

He flips over As and 3d.

And sure enough, a 3 on the river giving him the boat.

I thought I played this hand well. But now I don't know.

Am I an idiot or is this just a bad beat?

Thanks for your input.

[Paluka]

You limped with 25o.

[MrBlini]

This is 0.3% of the stack he almost busted with it. I don't think it's a cardinal sin.

[MrMoMo]

I would think you'd be up against a set when he raises you to 900 at the turn, so you would gamble he doesn't get the 10 outs. I thought you played well and got victimized.

[cero_z]

Hi Murph,

Are you serious, or just complaining? Here's a rule of thumb: whenever you get your whole stack in with the nuts, and someone hits a 4-outer on you, you played it well, and took a bad beat.

[Murph]

[ QUOTE ]
Are you serious, or just complaining? Here's a rule of thumb: whenever you get your whole stack in with the nuts, and someone hits a 4-outer on you, you played it well, and took a bad beat.

[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe I am complaining, but I am still a relatively inexperienced player and need all the feedback I can get. While I had a good run a while ago, I am in a bad streak such that my confidence is shaken and I am second guessing myself.

[34TheTruth34]

I actually witnessed this hand and thought that you played it well (except for the preflop call) and handled yourself well afterward. That couldn't have been easy. Better luck next time.

[Tommy Angelo]

"I am on the button. 3 players limp in for $5. I have 5d and 2s. I normally would not call with such crap but we have a family pot going and I figure (based on past observation) that neither SB or BB will raise so I limp in for the $5 to see the flop. Both SB and BB check."

Assuming you are willing to take what is given to you and seek nothing more, then I think your preflop limp here should depend entirely on stack sizes and their location. If any of the limpers will put in 1.5K or more on the flop or turn with two pair, as your opponent did, then any three-gapper is a playable lie before the flop on the button.

"Flop comes 3c 4h Jh. Everyone checks to me. I'm open ended so I bet $40."

I think that's a very bad bet. Take the free card to bust or bleed someone. That's how you can afford to see flops all day long for $5 each with your big stack, by not giving anything away or getting strung out.

Also, by leaving everyone in on the flop when you are drawing to the nuts, there's more chance of getting action when you get there on the turn. It's okay if you don't get rich when you hit because the pot stayed small. You're on the button. You can pick your prices with precision. And don't forget what it cost you to get there. $5. To be sitting in last seat on the turn with the nuts after a checked flop. This is good. And when someone does have two pair or a set, and their spring is wound, the money will get in there often enough, on the turn, even without a flop bet.

Also, by checking behind on the flop, no one can checkraise you and 1) blow you off the hand 2) get you to pay the wrong drawing price based on wrongly assumed implied odds.


Tommy

[Murph]

Thanks.

I certainly have gotten lots of good feedback; quite the learning experience both at the table and at this forum.