Correct play

Goodday all,
I'm new to the forum, and I have mainly been just reading, looking to gather as much knowledge as I can in order to take my game up a level, but I had a question about whether I made the correct play in an online SnG I played in the other night.

There were 7 players left, I had about 1900 in chips left, placing me 5th.
Blinds are 100-200
I was in Late Position and picked up JJ.
the 3 players in front of me all folded, I raised to 1000
SB (2nd in chips) called

Flop came J 5 5, giving me a full house!
SB checked and I checked (trapping)
Turn was a 10
Sb bet 200, I raised to 400, SB went all-in, naturally I called.
(***not a bad beat story***)
He had a 5, river was not, I doubled through.

My question is about the next hand....
In the very next hand, I picked up QQ and had no idea how to play them!

Based on how the last hand played out, I knew a big raise would be perceived as a very big hand again. So when the 2 in front of me folded, I raised to 500, everyone folds and my QQ gets me 300 in blinds.

My question: based on the fact that I just doubled through on pocket jacks, how do I play these pocket Queens pre-flop?
Blinds are still 100-200, I'm in MP on this hand, and about 2nd in chips now.

Comments

  • I'd play it the same way by raising. Winning blinds is better than getting beat by A-rag. Especially since you were in middle position.
  • Welcome to the forum, both of you! I agree that I like the way you played both hands. QQ and JJ are not shoe in vicotories by any means. A small win is better then a big loss anyday.

    stp
  • You play QQ exactly the same..

    Then when you decide to steal the blinds with 76s, you play it the same.

    Don't give your opponent any information from the size of your bets.

    One point about your trap with a monster.. If you always slow-play your monster hands, you are also giving your opponents a lot of information on those flops when you do bet. Now, if you are not an agressive player and check a lot of flops, then slowplaying is good for you. Personally, I like maintaining the lead when I raise preflop so slowplaying would be detremental to my playing style because suddently, I stop betting..

    Food for thought.
  • Exactly.  Play it the same as you would play any hand you decide to bring in for a raise, including your steals.  I played a multi last night and won a pot after raising UTG with Q5o.  You have no idea how much action you'll get on your big hands after you get away with something like that. 

    The bottom line is: you want your opponents to have NO IDEA what you're holding when you raise preflop.  Thus, it's best to keep your preflop raises consistent, regardless of your cards.
  • Without seeing the other replies yet, here's what I think.
    There were 7 players left, I had about 1900 in chips left, placing me 5th.

    A relatively short stack, but not quite to the desparation level.

    The amount of the buy-in of the SNG is quite important to the analysis. With 7 players still in at the 100-200 level, I'm guessing something like the $30 buy-in range. It is probably a somewhat tight & conservative table (relatively speaking) if this was a $5 or $10 SNG.
    Blinds are 100-200
    I was in Late Position and picked up JJ.
    the 3 players in front of me all folded, I raised to 1000

    This raise is too big. I would have made it something like 500 or 600 to go.
    SB (2nd in chips) called

    At this point (had I bet 1,000), I would decide to move all-in on any flop if my opponent checks. I am counting on the fact that my opponent will miss a lot of flops in addition to the fact that my hand will still be good on many flops that my opponent does catch a piece of. If the opponent bets out on the flop, he/she has made good use of the "right of first bluff" and I may have a tricky decision to make depending on what the flop is exactly. Even still, with only 900 chips remaining and a T2,200 pot, I'd have to be calling on a lot of flops, scary as they might be.
    Flop came J 5 5, giving me a full house!
    SB checked and I checked (trapping)

    I would not abandon my previous plan. However, there is nothing wrong at all with checking here.

    I prefer betting out myself, because I am also going to bet a lot of flops (that I miss) in future hands. Therefore, I will almost never fail to bet my legitimate hands also, even the true monsters. I prefer betting my strong hands and betting my weak hands to checking my strong hands and betting my weak hands.
    Turn was a 10
    Sb bet 200, I raised to 400

    I do not like the amount of this raise.

    If you have decided that now is the time to pounce, just push the rest of your chips in. Otherwise, just call and allow your opponent the chance to fire again on the river. By raising the minimum amount, you are essentially giving your opponent a "free" chance to get away from the hand if he/she is in fact on a stone cold bluff.
    , SB went all-in, naturally I called.

    Seems to be the right play. :)
    (***not a bad beat story***)

    Yay!
    He had a 5, river was not, I doubled through.

    That's a heck of a flop. Seems to be a virtual certainty that you would double up here.
    My question is about the next hand....
    In the very next hand, I picked up QQ and had no idea how to play them!

    I would make my standard raise again, that is, around 500 to 600. You should have made the same raise to 1,000 as in the previous hand.
    Based on how the last hand played out, I knew a big raise would be perceived as a very big hand again.

    I actually doubt it. It is human nature to be skeptical, particularly at poker. If you made the exact same raise again (in your case, to 1,000), I believe that your opponents are much less likely than usual to believe that you have a big hand.
    So when the 2 in front of me folded, I raised to 500, everyone folds and my QQ gets me 300 in blinds.

    Nothing wrong with raising. Again, varying your pre-flop bet size may have let the cat out of the bag here. However, it's far more likely that your opponents just had nothing worth calling a raise (to either 500 or 1,000) with. That's poker, and adding 300 chips to your stack at no further risk with a powerful yet vulnerable hand is no result to sneeze at.
    My question: based on the fact that I just doubled through on pocket jacks, how do I play these pocket Queens pre-flop?

    IMO, exactly the same as you played the Jacks.

    ScottyZ
  • I'm with everyone else. Play it the same as the Jacks. With Jacks and Queens, you don't want to let anyone in for cheap, and have them catch the cards to beat you. Make them pay if they want to see the flop.
  • No need to confirm what alot of people have mentioned already ( I may add there is some solid players posting above me here!!!) you play the JJ and QQ the same,although I would think about ScottyZ betting advice as there is alot of merit to it...the only thing I thought I would mention is to repeat what All_Aces had mentioned , it is very important to play all the hands the same relatively,dont get in the mistake of making betting patterns where a person can tell if you have a suited connector for 2.5BB or medium PP for 4BB,you get the gist...Keep them offgaurd wether you are stealing with 57o or AA..at the level which you are playing no need to get fancy ( will kick you in the ass in the long run)

    Just thought that should be mentioned once again
    Solid advice from many players in this forum
  • I like the size of the raise preflop, you don't want A2sooted seeing an Ace on the flop. Checking the flop is good. I would've raised to 600-700 on the turn. The rest is history...
  • Jay wrote:
    I would've raised to 600-700 on the turn.
    I think he only had 900 left going into the turn. I would have been very suspicious if someone had held onto so few chips with such a big pot. I'd have to wonder if this was a pot building raise in that case.

    What do others think about this aspect?
  • Oh, I didn't realized that he was that short on chips post-flop. I like the min-raise for value now....
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