I think i made the worst fold ever! what do you think?

Question

I was playing in a live No Limit Hold'em tournament. Starting chips was 8000, 55 players. blinds were 300-600. I was in the small blind. The guy two seats to my right raises to 12000, next person reraised to 2400. I've played with these guys a few times before and i'm not worried about the initial raise but i put the guy who reraised on a big pair. I look down at my cards and see JJ. Now usually i would go over the top probably all in with this hand but considering i had just won a massive pot in the previous hand i didn't want to lose them straight away. I thought if i flat call and a small flop comes i could get myself into trouble against a big pair. I should have just called considering in only cost me 2100 with 15000 left behind and hope to hit a jack and if not then fold. But i decided to fold. flop comes 99J. The initial raise bets about 5000 and the other player flat calls. Next card 4. Raise and then fold. he shows 44 full house. I would have doubled up!

Answer 1

At that point, the only way you could have made that call is if you were willing to risk almost all of your chips.  If you weren't ready to do that, it was a good laydown even if you could have doubled up.  Had the third J not come and the other guy is sitting on AA, then what?  Sometimes it helps to have luck on your side too.

Answer 2

You did not mention the stack sizes of the raisers so it is impossible to determine your implied odds if you hit a Jack.  

If you think that the original raiser is going to call (and not raise) then you are getting over 2-1 on your money to call.  Sometimes the re-raiser will not have a pair (A,K) so the choices seem to dictate a raise or call.  I would normally make a call here and see how they react to the flop.

Answer 3

That's why it's called gambling. You did what you thought was right. Myself, I would've called and waited for the flop. Even if the flop wasn't in my favor, I would probably hold out for the turn. If that too wasn't in my favor, then I would've folded. But that's my style of play. A JJ hand is good in most cases and you can usually double up. But it's all up to you and your final decision. In hindsight, yes it was a bad fold. But hindsight is too late. No use crying over split milk. Better luck next time.

Answer 4

was this in a videogame? and are you so sad about it that ur posting it HERE of all places???

Answer 5

Dont think so, you assesed the risk and decided that it was better to get out. I make stupid mistakes all the time, folded with better cards than that more than once

Answer 6

I think you made a great laydown preflop. You are talking about putting m ore than 10% of your stack into a pot HOPING to hit a J.

The 2 moves here are to fold or just move all in. But your gut instinct was that you may be against an over pair. If that is the case, you are a 90%-10% dog right away! Your best bet was to fold preflop to stay out of trouble and I think you made the right move.

By the way, how did the rest of the tourney go?? Did you end up winning??

Answer 7

Do I have this right?  You have about 12x blinds left and you wilt with JJ because the guy on the button raises?  Idon't like calls from sb, but if you're not willing to see a flop with JJ and try to outplay your opponents, you're sitting at a table past you.

Also, I have a hard time believing that the tourney started with 8k in chips and 300-600 blinds so I gotta think you're shortstacked.  If so, the only play here is to shove.

Answer 8

same thing happened to me 10 seconds ago, i had queens which would have caught trips on the river, button bluffed with 7's with an ace on the flop. I folded, but I would have tripled up.

I have 2 thoughts about this situation:

1. There's always a chance to take a bad beat. Just now, I lost with KJ vs KQ with trip kings on the board. During one streak, I lost with AA 18 out of 20 times. There's no shame in folding a big hand if you think you are beat.

2. You can't be gun shy. During that streak where I lost AA 18 times, I played it the same way every time: slow play, if they held up, i would double or triple up. You _have_ to do that to win tourneys. if you throw away KK every time you see an A on the board, you're never going to win. You have to play to win, regardless of the possible outcomes.

Answer 9

The ways that you and I would play are different.  I would account for the SB and smooth call.  After that flop and a raise to me, that's when you pounce and flip over the winning hand.  Take into account as well, when i play from the Button and i look down to see a lil pair, i would bet or raise from the button to push you off the table and take down the pot.  The question is, was what you did a bad fold, or was what he did a good raise?  It's poker, you folded.  You learn for next time, good luck next time.

Answer 10

This isn't a too bad fold in my opinion.

With a raise and a reraise in front of you, you analysed the situation and put the reraiser on a big pocket pair. Ok, fair enough your read on the player wasn't right this time but you still played with what you thought was the correct read.

I don't like a call in this situation. You will gain no more information on the players unless they reraise you and based on your read, if they do reraise you will have to fold therefore losing additional chips. If they call, you gain no further information and you will be a huge dog to any higher pocket pair.

A reraise / push is possible, but again you already think a higher pair is out there making you a huge underdog again.

To sum up, this was just unfortunate that your read on the other player was incorrect this time and that the flop would have been favourable if you had played. Never the less I wouldnt worry about this as a bad fold, just take the positives out of it, ie info about other players.