What Did I Do Wrong?

Unknown

Final table in a small tournament with an average chip stack.

I was dealt pocket JJ on the button. I raised the blinds up 4x. Everyone folded except a guy early position.

Flop came down 4clubs, 10diamonds, 8clubs.

The man checked to me and I thought I was in pretty good position so I raised about 60% of the pot. He calls the bet and now I'm left with three thoughts. Either he has QQ,KK,AA. Or he has a 10. Or he has a flush draw.

Turn card is 7hearts.

He checks again, I decide the best thing to do is too raise because that card couldn't have helped him. Once again I raise around 60% of the pot. I made sure that this raise wouldn't commit him, but it didn't matter. He went over the top and re-raised me all in.

Now, that didn't really frighten me because I wasn't committed before. So this smelt like a semi-bluff. Personally I thought he had 10's. I was wrong however. This fellow had 5-3clubs.

He hit his flush on the river and I was basically crippled for the tournament. I have analyzed this hand over and over. I can't figure out what I should have done. Who plays with 5-3 in early position

Is this just a fish getting lucky. Or should I have raised pre-flop even more. Or what else could I have done?

Thanks.

compuease

Stack sizes pre? Had he limped in early position or was he in a blind? What had he been doing earlier? What do you think his image of you was?


Oh and welcome to pokerforum.

trigs

like comp said, stack sizes pre are necessary.

did villain limp early? is your 4x BB raise standard at the table because it seems a little high imo unless there were limps before your action.

flop comes and you make standard cbet. depending on stack sizes i'm probably betting more here, maybe 80% of the pot.

after villain's check/call on the flop we have to re-evaluate. sure we have an overpair but that's it. what is villain limp/calling preflop and check/calling this flop with and then checking the turn with? definitely looks like a flush draw and probably a weak one at that. maybe top pair decent kicker. if he did flop a set i think he would have check/raised flop and even if not i can't see him checking the turn again as it just seems like he's losing a ton of value with that line.

without stack sizes i really can't discuss your turn play.

GTA Poker

raising when checked to is pretty advanced stuff

DataMn

OK, I am going to try to be constructive here...

grizzleybeers wrote: »

Final table in a small tournament with an average chip stack.

I was dealt pocket JJ on the button. I raised the blinds up 4x. Everyone folded except a guy early position.

Is 4x a typical raise in your game? Usually towards the final table of a tournament 2.5x to 3x is the range for raises - weighted more towards 2.5x. 4x seems like a hand that you want to take the blinds and want to avoid a confrontation with. This could have been exactly what is going through your opponent's mind - this pot could be one that can be easily taken away from you.

Flop came down 4clubs, 10diamonds, 8clubs.

The man checked to me and I thought I was in pretty good position so I raised about 60% of the pot. He calls the bet and now I'm left with three thoughts. Either he has QQ,KK,AA. Or he has a 10. Or he has a flush draw.

OK.

Turn card is 7hearts.

He checks again, I decide the best thing to do is too raise because that card couldn't have helped him. Once again I raise around 60% of the pot. I made sure that this raise wouldn't commit him, but it didn't matter. He went over the top and re-raised me all in.

Now, that didn't really frighten me because I wasn't committed before. So this smelt like a semi-bluff.

OK, so if it is a semi-bluff (which it is - 13 outs on the river assuming that you don't have the Jc) you shouldn't be scared - you're ahead.

Personally I thought he had 10's.{/QUOTE]

Huh? I thought you said that it smelt like a semi-bluff?

I was wrong however. This fellow had 5-3clubs.

And you do the fist-pump because you are at worst a 73% favorite to double up.

He hit his flush on the river and I was basically crippled for the tournament.

And that's poker. Sometimes you do everything right and it doesn't work out.

I have analyzed this hand over and over. I can't figure out what I should have done. Who plays with 5-3 in early position

Is this just a fish getting lucky. Or should I have raised pre-flop even more. Or what else could I have done?

I don't know how sophisticated your opponent was, or how much the pre-flop raises usually were, but I already explained my reasoning on what the opponent was thinking - if the usual raises were 2.5x - 3x then your 4x raise really says "I'm scared of playing this hand" (usually a middle pair 7s to Js) - so any semi-connected suited cards could be a profitable hand if you combine the chances of hitting the hand and being able to bluff any "scary" flops.

Opponent picked up a flush draw on the flop, and an inside straight draw on the turn - at which point they decided to push with their semi-bluff (with 12 outs). If they read you the way I've stated then the semi-bluff should work a good percentage of the time, and if it doesn't work they still have 11 or 12 outs to win the pot.

Of course I could be wrong - he could have just been a lucky fish who loves playing 53 for their stack - that I can't explain away ;-).

You really didn't do anything wrong. Like I said before - you can do everything right in Poker and something can still go wrong. Don't knock it though - the corollary to this is that you can do everything wrong and still get rewarded - and that's what keeps the fish coming to Poker games.

You've also done a good thing by analyzing the hand afterwords - but you have to change your frame of mind from being "results oriented" to "process oriented". Try to see in each hand if you made the best decisions - although it may not be immediate, if you are making good decisions then eventually the results will come.

moose

GTA Poker wrote: »

raising when checked to is pretty advanced stuff

Damn, beat me to it.