critique my play please - Pokerstars $10 no limit

[barrett]

I just busted out of the $10 No Limit tourney on Pokerstars. I'd like some opinions on what, if anything, I did incorrectly.

We're at Level 3 (25/50) and I have 1182. I've had fairly cold cards and haven't been in a lot of hands. I am dealt Qd Qh on the button.

The action before me is one limper, one guy raises the minimum to 100, and another guy calls the 100. I raise an additional 200 making it 300 to go. The original raiser and the caller behind him both call. I have seen both of these guys play mediocre cards such as KJo in early position, etc.

Flop is 2h 7s Jh. First guy bets all-in and the next guy calls. I figure at least one is on a draw and maybe QJ or KJ from the other. I call and first guy turns over Tc Jc and next guy shows Ah 4h. He draws to his flush on the river and takes us both out.

So I'm guessing my problem was not re-raising enough pre-flop. How much is enough to discourage Axs from calling at this level?

[Avivs]

I think your raise to $300 was just fine.
your mistake was calling when both opponents went all in.
the worst scenario is that one of them had made a set and you only have 2 outs.
but even when you read them correctly and you are still ahead you are not a favourite to win the hand.
you would be a big favourite against any one of them heads up but against both of them you have only about %42 chance of winning which is the same as the AxH (the J10C has about 16%).
in tournaments it's usualy not correct to push small edges.
you better wait till you have a big edge before you commit a big portion of your stuck.

[Bozeman]

42% to triple up is considerably better than a coin flip. But I think you should have raised at least the pot preflop.

Craig

[youtalkfunny]

If I'm going to re-raise before the flop, my rule of thumb is four times the last bet. If he made it T200 to go, I'll take it up to 800.

In this case (where it is unlikely that I am against AA or KK), with about T1150, I just push it in.

On the flop, you're in a tough spot. You'd probably call either player who moves in on that flop. But it's TOUGH to call a huge bet AND a huge over-call. I'd have to be certain that I was in there against two idiots in order to call. If I had the slightest respect for either player, I muck the QQ.

But you read them right, and you made the right play, so don't let the final result mislead you into thinking that you made a mistake. You're call on the flop was fine.

So go forth, and promise us that you will NEVER make a minimum-sized re-raise again. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Magician]

I would raise to 475 (twice what it costs to call + the pot before you bet) - that's a pot-sized raise pre-flop.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

A pot-size reraise preflop would be 475. Since that's about 40% of your stack, you should reraise all-in.

[Magician]

But if he does that, Kurn, he might not get any action.

I prefer the play of moving in half the stack pre-flop, then moving in the other half on the flop if there are no overcards, or maybe if there is one overcard.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

The flip side is, if he gets reraised all-in, he'll be getting almost 3-1 from the pot and it will be wrong to fold. Also, you'd rather have AK (or really any ace) fold here preflop. Second, I think JJ is only slightly less likely to call all-in than 475.

Third, there's nothing wrong with winning this pot right now. It increases your stack by 25%.

[Magician]

When people say "raise 4x the last bet" what does it mean.

Say blinds are $0.10/$.25, two people limp, a third player raises to $0.50, and you are on the button with KK - what's "4x the last bet"?

What would you raise in this situation?

[nummerfire]

I almost never want action.

Especially when there already is some money in the pot.

If you do not get action you do not get a bad beat.

I was once beat by somebody who called my AK all in bet with A3 on a AA5 flop. He hit his kicker and crippled me. Since then i have ben cured of wanting action in tournaments.

Kim