Comments appreciated on this hand

[dauler]

I can't get the hand converter to work, going to try to do it manually.

PP $50 NL
I started with 49 in the small blind, most people at the table covered me.

Preflop: Hero is small blind with A [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] J [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls, UTG+2 calls, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, CO folds, button folds, Hero completes, BB checks.

Flop: ($4) 6 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] J [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 4 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (4 players)
Hero bets $3, BB folds, UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 raises to $6, Hero raises to $15, UTG+2 calls $12

Turn: ($34) Q [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)
Hero bets $33(all in), UTG+2 calls $33.

River: ($100) 7 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

On the flop I was confident that he didn't have an overpair or small two pair. His min raise felt like either he was trying to get a free card on the turn or he had TPMK. He took a while to call my reraise so I was thinking KJ, QJ, spade draw, or maybe even AJ. That turn made me very sad, but I was already pretty invested in the pot and I didn't want to give him any free cards to the spade draw if that was in fact what he had. Raising all in on the turn just feels like a bad play to me though, anyone have any suggestions on how to play in situations like this where a moderate scare card comes, you're in first position and the pot is already pretty big?

[schwza]

hey dauler,

pre-flop: fine

flop: the bet is good. i'd bet the full pot with all of the scare cards that could come (overcards, flush cards, straight cards). when it gets min-raised, i'd put in a bigger raise. you're only making him call 9 more (i don't know why it says he's calling 12 - i think that's a mistake in the converter) in a pot of 23. he might call that with overcards or a small pair, so it's hard to know where you stand, and you're giving a flush draw great odds.

i like the turn. your only options are to push or to check, and if you check you'd be hard pressed to call a push. pushing charges him for any draw and you'll likely still get paid off by a smaller J. did he have QJ?

welcome to the forum.

[dauler]

I was typing this hand in manually, the 12 dollar call is a typo, only called 9 more. QJ was what he turned out to have. I was thinking maybe check/calling or check/folding would be the better play when something like this comes out, because I'll only be called with a push when I'm beat. With a pot of that size he could possibly be induced into a bluff when an over to the board fell and I showed weakness. If he were on the flush draw he might be more likely to take the free card since I was already heavily invested and his chances of winning by showing down the best hand had dramatically decreased, so check/calling could end up being even worse since I give a free card to the flush draw and I always call with the worst hand. I think I may have hung myself on the flop reraise with such a moderate hand, I got myself heavily invested in a bad position when a lot of cards could come that would scare me a lot.

[MercTec]

I raise this preflop to 3x the BB. Even though you are in crappy position, AJs is a strong holding and your raise may get rid of any junk out there.

The flop is pretty good for you, however once you're raised, I think I push at this point. You have TPTK with possible straights and flushes out there. Two overcards can beat you and you can put him on a J with a weaker kicker or a flush draw. I cant see him as a straight threat or 2 pair either. I would worry about trips but I still push.