Opps i did it again...another poker hand.?

Question

This time i think i made the right play and got really lucky in the end blinds were at 300-600 and i was in the big blind with about 5k in chips. I was not a big stack and i was not short either. The table is pretty tight and im playing tight as well. I get j-9 suited and the sb just limps in, we see a flop of J-A-2. The blind checks, i bet out the pot for 1200, and he puts me in for around 3k more. At this point i know im beat, but im pot stuck, and i call, He shows A-K, but a 9 comes on the turn busting him for a nice pot. Did i do the right thing in calling off even though i know im beat here? Also did i make a bad play by betting the flop like i did? Should i have taken the free card on the flop? Also did the other guy mess up by slow playing the hand here?

Answer 1

Thats called gambling.....you happened to win.....whats your win/lose ratio?  That will tell you how well your gut instinct, is coming along........................

Answer 2

since you know you're beat, let's do some quick math...1200 in the pot preflop + 1200 from your flop bet + 4400 from the flop raise by your opponent(assuming you had exactly 5k to start the hand) = 6800 in the pot, and it's 3200 more to call...you have 5 outs if he's got an ace, 3 outs if he's got a jack with a better kicker or jacks up(although you have a chop possibility there), and you're basically dead if he has aces up or better, so i would say your call is pretty bad if you felt you were beat

i do think betting the flop is definitely the right play; however, i would much prefer a bet of half the pot here as opposed to a full pot bet...your opponent limped in from the sb, which means he could have most any two cards here, so there's no reason to believe he caught any piece of this flop at all...therefore, there's no need to make a pot-sized bet here, especially considering our chip situation...he definitely doesn't have to have any sort of draw here, and if he does c/r as he did then we save 600 chips if we feel we are beat

as for your opponent, he played his hand extremely badly before the flop, but since he did play it that way he played properly post-flop...apparently, you had him covered, and you only had 5k playing 300-600, so there's no good reason for him to slowplay pre-flop...the blinds mean so much to his stack, that he should just be content to take what's there, especially considering that he'll end up missing 2/3 of flops with A-K, and then he'll be out of position with no chips and no hand, and what's he supposed to do then?...but since he did play it that way before the flop, trying to trap on the flop is the best play, but he definitely can't cry bad luck on this hand because he really made a terrible mistake before the flop

Answer 3

I'm not sure why you needed to bet the pot here.  Either you win the pot right there, you get called or worse re-raised, making you feel you were pot committed.  Don't you think you could have learned the same information by betting half the pot?  To me it just seems like you are getting stuck for close to half your stack with second pair.  Hardly the time or place to take a stand.

Once you get your money in, you are basically drawing to five outs, and you make a draw like that about 20% of the time.  Of course, it is not impossible that he has A2, AJ, jack with a better kicker, or trips.  So he could have actually had you in far worse shape than he did.  Frankly, you were lucky to have five outs here, and even more lucky to catch one!

As for his slow play, I think that is almost always a mistake.  Slow plays look great when they work, but you can never overestimate how strong your hand is.

Answer 4

yep, you should have folded on the reraise.

your odds of making 5 outs: about 1 in 8, or 15%, 25% for turn and river.

his odds beating you even though you make two pair (any ace, any king, another deuce = 8 outs): 1 in 5, or 20%.

25% - (15% X 20%) = 22%, or slightly better than 1 in 4. Pot odds were still enough for you to get out at around 1 to 2. you still would have had 2/3 of your chips left (5000 - 1800 = 3200) so you weren't pot committed.

You made the right move though, but he was trapping. Imho, you should bet about 1/2 to 2/3 of the pot with middle or bottom pair after a check.

but, i think the key issue here was your read on the SB. does he normally raise the blinds? does he often try to steal? is he tight? is he loose? is he trappy? I think if you were able to get even a minimum read on this guy, you could have avoided being check-raised.

Here's how I would have played it:

Let's say I've often seen this player steal from the button, and he's turned over marginal hands like K2 suited.

Same situation:

SB calls.

My thoughts: hmm, he must have a big hand.

Flop

He checks.

Ok, if a loose player checks, I'd better check.

Turn gives me 2 pair.

His bet here will tell me if my hand is good or not. Since he checked the flop, he must have gotten something, probably Ax. If he bets small here, like 1-3X the BB, he wants me to stay and he probably hit trips, has Aj or A9. If he bets .5 to 1X to 3X the pot, I know he's scared and he just has an ace or a pair. at this point i'd go all in (to prevent him from getting his own two pair.)

if he was playing tight, i would do exactly what you did with the full expectation of him folding. if he is tight and paired an ace, he would bet it on the flop.