Did i play this right?

tbone

i was playing 12 NL at Casino Niagara on Sunday night.  i started with 100 and after about 2 and a half hours i was up to about 300 bucks.  I was in late position when when i picked up  :ah :ac  .......a player in early position raised it up to 12 and when it got to me i reraised to 25....i got two callers, which is about what i wanted.  A little action, but not too much.  the Flop came soemthing like 9 5 2 rainbow.   it got checked around to me and i bet another 25.  The first player folded and the next guy called.  At this point i thought he must have had something betweern JJ - KK and i was happy about that.  there was no real draw visible. i surely didn't put him on a gutshot like 6,7 considering his early raise....the turn was a 6....he checked to me...and i put him all in for his last 50 bucks.   He turned over pocket 6's for a set and got paid off nicely.  i suppose my question is should i have put him all in on the flop and tried to take it there or continue trying to milk a bit more out of him considering the weak flop and no real draws?  i thought it very questionable of him to call my 25 after the flop hoping to hit his set, but he did and won....did i play this wrong, or just get unlucky?

ScoobyD

Preflop: I don't like the min raise. You're inviting people in to stack you with a set. I'd make it 35-40 I think (at least). How big are the other stacks and what's you're read on them?

Flop. 25? Yes it's a great flop and I guess there's no draws, but betting 25 into a pot of 75 just seems brutal. I bet probably close to 2/3 or 3/4 of pot. If I had a read that my opponents were aggro, I might bet half pot to try and make it look like a weak continuation bet hoping they'd come over the top. I probably bet 50ish here (at least)...

Turn: Ah, so he only has 75 left at the flop. I easily put him in on the turn then. Tough luck. But here's WHY he probably stuck around. Your bet of 1/3rd of the pot on the flop looks extremely weak, it's quite likely he thinks you have a hand like AK or AQ and missed and that his pair is good. Obviously the turn he thinks the same and hopes you put more money into the pot (by checking, worried that you'll fold if he bets).

JohnnieH

Make a pot sized bet on the flop and call when he shoves All-In.

Did you keep playing and get all your money back?

Johnnie

tbone

thanks for the advice guys....it's pretty much the same as my friend told me when i explained the hand...he said i should have made around a pot sized bet after the flop at least 50-80...and now i can see that he, and you guys, are right. lesson learned. and to johnnieH, after that i played a few more hands and then took off up about 100 bucks. i was a bit peeved, and i think if i stayed and i may have lost more, so i'll take the profit and be back later, hopefull with a little more knowledge/experience.

Meistro

I'd make it $50 preflop and bet the pot on the flop.

redoak181

tbone wrote:

  i thought it very questionable of him to call my 25 after the flop hoping to hit his set, but he did and won....did i play this wrong, or just get unlucky?

I think you played it alright.  I think your opponent thought you were making a continuation bet on the flop with AKs or another something else that didn't hit and called with a very playable hand, he just hit is all.

In retrospect it's easy for everyone to say "bet bigger and faster" to get him outta the pot and keep those marginal hands away from you but it's quite common to milk it with aces on a raggedy board.

tbone

hey thanks, the first person who didn't make me feel like an imbecile!!! cheers mate.

Soup

Preflop isnt that bad. In that particular 1/2 game that raise generally pushes out drawing hands, and alot of small pairs. The flop bet is where you made your mistake, but now you've learned and won't make the same mistake again.

And grats on the win, doubling your stack is a solid session.

Soup

tbone wrote:

hey thanks, the first person who didn't make me feel like an imbecile!!! cheers mate. 

Thats not their intentions... edges are just a little sharp on this site sometimes and constructive critisim can come across the wrong way

tbone

i know...i was just kidding around. i wanted some advice, and i realize i may have made a mistake, but i was just wondering if anyone thought that in that situation you should try to extract as much as possible when you believe your ahead (which i was until the turn), or just take it down right there. with that board, i think it's not such a bad move to make a bet that might get called once its heads up, but i still agree that the saftest is a bigger bet. i mulled over the hand quite a bit after. I still think if he had somethign like KK's and i didn't scare him off too early, it would have look like i played it smart. basically if i won, i'm sure some would say i did good by milking him a bit, and if i lost, which i did, then everyone would say i messed up and have the brilliant hindsight to say so.

88Fingers

Soup wrote:

tbone wrote:

hey thanks, the first person who didn't make me feel like an imbecile!!! cheers mate. 

Thats not their intentions... edges are just a little sharp on this site sometimes and constructive critisim can come across the wrong way 

yeah, I've learned that. I've also learned if I really want to feel like a dummy, I just open up my good ol' hand history file We all have 'em...