Backed into trips, now I feel dirty.

[Mossberg]

Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.25/$0.50
5 players
Converter (http://www.neildewhurst.com/hand-converter)

Stack sizes:
UTG: $41.65
CO: $41.95
Button: $75.50
Hero: $53.70
BB: $49.25

Pre-flop: (5 players) Hero is SB with Q/images/graemlins/diamond.gif K/images/graemlins/diamond.gif
UTG calls, CO calls, Button folds, <font color="#cc0000">Hero raises to $2</font>, BB calls, UTG calls, CO calls.

Flop: 3/images/graemlins/heart.gif T/images/graemlins/diamond.gif A/images/graemlins/club.gif ($8, 4 players)
Hero checks, BB checks, UTG checks, CO checks.

Turn: Q/images/graemlins/club.gif ($8, 4 players)
<font color="#cc0000">Hero bets $5</font>, BB folds, UTG calls, CO folds.

River: Q/images/graemlins/heart.gif ($18, 2 players)
<font color="#cc0000">Hero bets $17</font>, <font color="#cc0000">UTG raises to $34</font>, Hero calls.

Results:
Final pot: $86

[bk1]

just push it.

you can't fold trips.

[Mossberg]

Yeah I didn't think so. I'm brand new to NL so I'm questioning every move I make. I'm interested to hear what you guys think of my play up until the river as well.

[SykoraG]

oops I didnt see stacksizes, I thought you were playing against the button :S.

[IceMuncher]

[ QUOTE ]
Yeah I didn't think so. I'm brand new to NL so I'm questioning every move I make. I'm interested to hear what you guys think of my play up until the river as well.

[/ QUOTE ]

I like the flop and pre-flop. I'm not too big of a fan of the turn bet, I don't like betting OOP with 3 people behind with 2nd pair and an ace on the board. If someone calls, I'm in a bad situation on the river unless a Q or J comes down.

River, I probably just push his mini-raise. You've only got $10 left or so, but I'm fine with calling.

[jonyy6788]

Raising KQ suited to $2 from the SB with 2 limpers=bad bad bad

$5 bet on the turn is fine, river bet is awful in my opinion. We want people to call when we have a monster. I would have bet $12-15 depending on how bad the players at the table are. Just reraise him all-in the extra $6 or whatever.

Do you have reads on how UTG has been playing...if he's loose he could easily have Q10 or QJ and we're killing him. If he's tight postflop it's very likely he has 33 or KJ and we're getting smoked, but being results-oriented is bad b/c he will have QJ/10 here enough to pay us off if he's a guppy.

[elgatoesme]

C-bet your weak draw here occasionally especially if you have a lot of loose preflop callers who fold unless they hit. You might take the pot down if nobody caught and ace and you will defintely thin the field. Generally I would check also.

I would check the turn and fold to a real bet most of the time. Basically your hand is a bluff catcher at this point. Call a reasonable bet if you read a possible bluff.

As played or with a C/C on turn, lead out 1/2 pot or so he will probably call with a Qx or AK and pay you off. Think about what reraise you will fold too cuz I think he has KJs, or Q10s fairly often but I have no problem with your call.. A slowplayed set seems pretty unlikely from UTG in this spot but I suppose it could happen too.

[Mossberg]

Sorry guys, no reads.

jonyy6788, could you plz explain why the pf raise "= bad bad bad"? As mentioned, I'm very new to this game and need to figure these things out.

Thanks in advance.

[elgatoesme]

I would probably make it 2.50 or even 3 preflop but no problem with 2 depends on the table. I do want to drive out some of the herd when I am SB and get a bit more in before losing position.

[jonyy6788]

1) You're OOP with a semi-marginal hand.
2) If I'm raising KQ suited here it's to pick up all the dead money in the pot (i.e. the limpers' money and the BB). This is gonna be a stealing type hand unless you flop happen to flop a monster. I'd personally be looking to steal here, not play a big pot.

Standard raise is 4xBB+1BB/limper....that would be $3, but I make it $4 or $4.50 to go here, maybe even $5 since they're short they can't really call looking for sets and profit (5-10% of stack rule) and as mentioned earlier we're OOP. Position is so critical to no-limit.

Now, looking again at this hand, betting the turn isn't very good. If you're gonna bet that turn you should have bet the flop instead (continuation bet). The only hands we get to call that turn bet are Ax, KJ, QJ-2 and we only beat QJ and less. I check here and see what the others do since you're OOP. You could probably call a small bet (~1/4 to 1/2 pot), but fold to any decent sized bet.

A major concept in NLHE is if you're raising preflop you should be C-betting a lot. Betting that flop against 3 others is probably spewing chips since it's quite likely at least one of them has flopped an ace or set. That's why we raise to the ballpark of $4-5 so that we isolate the action to heads up (and this also allows us to put the opposition on a hand range). How many people limp/call $4 with KJ or Ax UTG????

If you had raised to $4 it's likely you would have either taken down the dead money for a $1.50 profit or you would have been heads up to the flop. There would then be $9 in the pot and I would have fired a bet $6 since that board isn't drawy. If you get called/reraised it's pretty clear that villain has 33, 1010 or AJ+(not very likely). A huge amount of the time you're gonna bet $6 and then the villain is gonna fold b/c they missed the flop and you'll win easy money.

[thac]

[ QUOTE ]

River, I probably just push his mini-raise. You've only got $10 left or so, but I'm fine with calling.

[/ QUOTE ]

Villain only has .65 left.

I think this is okay, you bet with your 2nd pair and rivered trips, it's not like you're gonna fold. I'm guessing KJ got there on the turn?

[jonyy6788]

Also, since you're new to the game hopefully somebody has explained to you the good ol' saying:

Play big pots with big hands (trips, etc) and play small pots with weak hands (like one pair)

Do you have any friends that play NL50 or higher??? If you do, watch them play and have them describe to you what they're doing and WHY they're doing what they do (this is the most important thing). If you don't have friends at NL, go watch some videos from the SSNL Sticky or cardrunners.com (they're like $5-8 for 30 min. vids)

[thac]

[ QUOTE ]
Play big pots with big hands (trips, etc) and play small pots with weak hands (like one pair)

[/ QUOTE ]

This is great advice.

[Hattifnatt]

I prefer just calling preflop but raising is not THAT bad. Just call the river raise.

[Sir Winalot]

[ QUOTE ]
Raising KQ suited to $2 from the SB with 2 limpers=bad bad bad

[/ QUOTE ]
IMO only the raise size is bad, I like to raise here pretty often because there's nothing to indicate we're beat. But calling is definetly ok too.

I don't think there's any value in shoving the river, I would just call his raise.

[jonyy6788]

Sorry I didn't make that clear enough. I love to raise here from the SB after 2 limpers (with reads only). I am constantly popping it up to $4-5 any time I get a dececnt hand. You'll take down the dead money a huge % of the time and then the odds of them flopping something worthy of calling your C-bet is not very good either.

Just remember that unless we hit the flop super hard we're playing this as a steal. For example, let's say the flop was KQ3 and UTG is still in the hand, you bet $6 and he instacalls. If he called we pretty much know he either has AK or 33 (since we raised so much). I'd definitely check the turn and would definitely consider folding if he bets the turn even though we hold top two pair.

This of course depends on how aggressive the player is preflop (that's why reads are critical). If he would limp AK UTG, we could play a pot, but he's gonna have a set more than likely after limp/calling preflop and then calling a C-bet on a K high flop (VERY doubtful anybody is gonna float you with 44-JJ after that flop and your raise preflop.

[Mossberg]

jonyy6788 (and everyone else who has contributed)

Thanks a ton for explaining everything so thoroughly. I've signed up for cardrunners, so hopefully within a month or so I'll have a better understanding of the game, and I can start giving back to this forum a bit more.