My worst few sessions of poker.

[A.M.P]

Just had them over the last few days. I know that it's probably quite common for gamblers to moan but I really feel the god of gambling is against me at the moment. It'll be some time before I play poker again. Just seemed that everyone was folding when I get AA and when I decide not to answer a raise when holding 77 two 7's get flopped.

OK, so loosing the QQ and JJ all-ins were bad calls.

But what about this one?.

I'm holding 5-6 d and BB. The 50c BB gets raised for 1.50. I'm relatively short stacked with half the buy in, but decide to call.

Flop comes 5 6 3 rainbow no diamonds. A guy calls $3, Another re-raises him $7 and as I've been playing pretty tight I decide to go all in, figuring them not to be raising on 66 and probably holding a high pair.

Re-raiser folds. Other guy goes all in. Turn Q. River Q.

He shows two pair - Qs and 7s!!!!!!

Thank-you and goodnight :

AMP

[mrmuzeman]

Yep runner runner is a massive bitch it really is

Bad runs in poker can be demoralising and you can begin to doubt your game at times but if you get your money infront well there it is, just the cards ran bad. In this case the cards certainly did run bad for you mate.

Im currently in a little spate of having my big pocket pairs cracked on turn or river and never finishing 1st in my stts but no limit poker is volatile and you just have to take it on the chin.

[moDtheGod]

I said this to Christian once and he hated me from that point on. I'm probably going to make another enemy.

Learn to fold your blinds. Why call with such tripe? If you'd folded you'd not have hit the flop and you'd not moaning about this bad beat. Okay, it sucks - runner runner sucks balls etc etc etc etc etc... don't call with shit (without odds) and don't expose yourself to so many flops!

3XBB is a standard raise and he's probably not folding his overpair on that board against a short stack, so whilst it's hard luck, it was always going to happen. I doubt you could have got him off it.

[A.M.P]

MOD,

I usually would have folded that blind.

However, my stack was being decimated, I was getting no where with "decent" pre-flop hands so I decided to try and make something happen out of frustation.
I did - I lost all my chips.

Thanks for your reply though.

AMP

[mrmuzeman]

Id agree if we were talking about J2 or 106o or something but with 56s it aint the worst thing in the world. If the guys got a big pair or hand and hits the flop but you hit it harder, then he could give his whole stack up. Which he did (with admittedly a poor hand anyway).

If you dont hit the flop you can get away of course but 56s is actually the best hand to take out a big pair. This isnt a play id usually make (not that often at all) but to mix up your game from time to time isnt a bad thing.

[Doc]

It may not have been a bad play at all AMP

How many limpers were there before the raise to 3BB. How many people cold-called his raise before coming back to you. What position was he in when he raised. How many people were still to act?
Was this a cash game or tournament? How many players at the table etc?

If the following were true:

- one timid player limping late
- one aggressive player on the button making the raise
- tournament play
- you are short-stacked (with anything less than about 15-20 times the BB)

I'd say it was fine.

You are probably getting almost 3-1 odds, with big implied odds. Even if you are up against a mid-range hand (e.g. AJo, A-rag suited, 77, 66, 55) AND a premium hand from the raiser (e.g. AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKs) you are a little better than 4-1. Your implied odds are good for that, as it is very unlikely that the holder of a premium pair is going to do anything other than bet at the flop. You have the additional advantage of knowing immediately on the flop whether you can continue - you'll want minimum two pair, a flush or open-ended straight draw or preferably trips.

I might even go all-in from here if I thought there was a good chance of him stealing and I was very short-stacked.

If it is a cash game, I'd probably just fold however, unless I had a big enough stack
- I'd let it go.

[A.M.P]

Just had a tremendous bad beat....

I'll summarise after the fact but I got dealt top pair and stuck in four times the BB to get one caller...

Flop K 9 7 rainbow - bet $4 again to get called.

The turn comes a 3 and he raises my $4 bet to 30 bucks (he's big stacked by the way) the river comes a queen and he puts me all in for my remaining $4 to make the pot a little over a $100 (figeures not exact but you get the idea).

He turns over a k q to beat me on the river. Gutted. :

Now - would observers say that I should've been wary of the big raise when I thought he was trying to buy the pot? Or Should I have stuck in a bigger raise rather than flat called???

[mrmuzeman]

Need more info AMP mate, what was your hand? AK?

Your bet on the flop, how big was that in relation to the pot at that point?

Your bet on the turn was very very weak as well. If you could give some more info on how big the pot was on each street that would help

[Beanie]

AMPs hand was AA I think

[christianu]

I think so, I went through this stage a while ago A.M.P, right at the very start of my poker life where absoultely everything went against me and bad beats were all over the place.

Us giving you sympathy wont help, I took a break for about 2 weeks if I remember correctley and it did me a world of good. I also went down a level in cash games as well whilst I feeled my way back into poker, im back up that level now.

Its the best advice I can give you as ive been through the same, take a big break and take down your stakes a level and in the long run it'll do you the world of good.

I said this to Christian once and he hated me from that point on.

Dom I actually quite like you and I think your very helpful to anyone posting questions in the begginners thread, and you talk sense.

As I already said you were right and I was wrong, although I actually think where as you tell everyone that suited connectors are over rated, I think you under rate them and treat them like 72o

[mrmuzeman]

Oh right DEALT top pair I get it. Just say you got dealt pockets rockets AMP!

Some info I can give. If that $4 bet on the flop was roughly the same amount that was in the pot at that point then that was a sound bet. In general you want to be pot size betting to force out draws and make people pay for their good but not as good as yours hands. For example in this case a top pair King which he did have.

Now when the turn comes a blank you pretty much know youve got the best hand. The fact you got called probably means he has a King or was drawing. You should have bet MUCH more here, again a pot size bet. Youre bet stinks of weakness and he pounced on you with the big raise cos he though his top pair was good and you were weak.

As it happens that came in your favour here as you had the best hand. Although once he raises it that amount id be a bit fearful for what he might have. Could have a set etc. If youd bet the pot size (something I advocate strongly in cash games) there is NO WAY he would have raised like this I shouldnt have thought. The reason he did that raise was because you showed weankness with the small bet.

When your out of position with a hand like AA, you dont want to be playing guessing games as to whether your hand is the best or your hand is beat. You need to be the aggressor and put in a big bet. To be a big winner you have to bet big, dont get caught up in the AA hype and try to slowplay it the whole way, its only a pair.

When he raised you big, you should either fold or go all in here. As it happened he outdrew you and you were unlucky.

Hope that helps a bit mate

[christianu]

Your right that he could of played it like that Mrm but in fact by showing weakness with his AA he actually got a lesser hand to think it was in front and put a whole lotta chips on the table. Maybe it was tactical genius from A.M.P

The point is you have just lost $100 by being unlucky but I agree with MrM that there might of been an opportunity to take the pot there and then but more or less all your chips were in ahead.

To be honest with such a massive raise by him I would of folded as Ive quickly learnt AA is just a pair and thats all, but you made the right call as you were in front.

[moDtheGod]

Originally Posted by christianu

you tell everyone that suited connectors are over rated, I think you under rate them and treat them like 72o

Funny, I almost never play 72o but I frequently play suit connectors. They ARE overrated. I play a lot of FL remember, drawing hands are where the big pots are at. N00bs who have read Super System will happilly 3 bet it preflop or cold call lots of raises, just cos they've got "suited connectors". That's what I mean - a lot of people overplay them.

In fixed limit hold'em, you (mostly) don't win big pots with AA (unless you get paid off by KK which is rare or you're against a moron) - the money comes (mostly) when you're AGAINST hands like AA and you have a big draw...

[christianu]

How many decent draws can you make with Q7o?

[A.M.P]

"Now when the turn comes a blank you pretty much know youve got the best hand."

yep - and he raised 33 bucks odd which I called.

Christian, I was level betting to put him off the scent of AA. Like I said prior he had about a hundred and twenty bucks preflop to my fifty so he had a bigger stack.

This hand came about an hour in and I'd been playing it pretty tight and the player in question would've seen me fold 2 or 3 raises of the same kind of magnitude before. That's why I put him on buying the pot with a KK at best as his raise of 30 bucks or so was roughly what was in the pot. When he raised this all he had was KK Q kicker. The river saved his bacon so I think I am going to class this as a bad beat.