Bad Call or bad Read?

[jcm4ccc]

I agree completely with Bobbo. You played this way too cute. Your biggest mistake, I think, was limping in with KK. What if the villian hadn't raised? Then everybody else limps in, an Ace hits on the flop, and you're toast (I understand that limping in didn't cost you anything on this hand, but I still think that was your biggest mistake).

Let's say that you made your normal raise, everybody folds except one person, and an Ace hits on the flop. Now you're able to figure out if that person has the Ace. If he doesn't, go for it. If he does, then more than likely you'll just have to fold the hand. But at least the Ace didn't completely kill your hand.

Bottom line: With KK, QQ, or JJ, don't limp in. Try to clear out the limpers, so one of them doesn't kill you on the flop. Make your normal raise and take it from there.

[Azrael_AOD]

Thanks for the brutal commentary BobboFitos. It was extremely refreshing.
I guess I should have been more specific in my initial post. Preflop: UTG (Hero? seems more like retard now)limps, MP1 calls, MP2 calls, CO calls, Button calls, SB folds, BB (Villain) raises $1, Hero reraises $2 on top. I still don't think my raise preflop was a mistake, although I do agree I should have raised more. I also agree with the fact that I misplayed the flop. It does makes sense to get all his money in when I think he has KJs or JJ. Anyway, I appreciate everybody's comments, thanks guys.

[Azrael_AOD]

Jcm, isn't is correct to slowplay AA and KK UTG while playing no-limit? I'm pretty sure I've read that in several books, or at least in THEFAP (Sklansky and Malmuth) and Super System (Brunsen). And I don't limp UTG with AA and KK all the time. This was one of those times where I decided to change up my play- though it did prove to be expensive.

[aLittleFish]

You are correct that it is recommended in Super System to limp with A-A and K-K UTG. You completely miss the whole point of this play however. The goal when you limp is to allow someone else to raise so that when it gets back to you, you can put in a large raise to get a lot of money into the pot. Now this achieves getting a lot of money into the pot pre-flop when you have the best hand, as well as dramatically cutting down the implied odds for someone hoping to limp in with a small pocket pair and catch a set. By limping and then re-raising the mininum, you have declared what kind of hand you have, didn't get that much more money in that pot and didn't scare off a small pocket pair. In this particular instance, you would have preferred an opponent to hit a set vs your larger set and being drawing to one out, but that would be the rare exception. If you regularly slowplay A-A or K-K all the way through a hand, you're gonna find yourself putting all your chips in "trapping" your opponent with the worse hand. If you read Super System again, you will find that you played the hand almost completely against everything Brunson recommended in his book. He puts a ton of emphasis on the being scared of potential straights and straight draws. He also recommends, I believe, over betting the flop when you catch a set with your A-A or K-K because the only hands that are gonna give you any action are other hands that hit the flop hard as well. By slowplaying, you're allowing someone to catch up which is terrible when the only way they can catch up is by passing you. There's no slight improving of your opponent's hand if he has a draw. In one card he can go from way behind to way ahead.

[Azrael_AOD]

After going over it again in my head I think I'm inclined to agree with you. The purpose of the limp reraise is to make a huge reraise to get more money in. And Brunsen does say to come way over the top when you flop a set. Taking everybody's posts together I must now conclude that I played the hand very badly.

[aLittleFish]

When you post a hand asking for help, you always have to be prepared to take criticism. In many instances it will be very harsh and hard to swallow. Remember to not take it personally. Hopefully, no post will directly insult you, but it does happen. For the most part, the posters in this forum are only very critical out of necessity so you don't repeat the same mistakes. Most people here are here in an effort to help eachother become better players. None of us play perfectly, but by sharing hand histories and analysis we can all learn to play better. I hope you aren't discouraged from posting a hand again in the future.