Stud Beginner's Hand - "Out played by a Fish?"

[RobNottsUk]

This was on P'stars, 25c/50c table, which had 50+% flop rate before I sat down. Hadn't been long, but players to my right were tighter, those on left looser (so not good seat). I'd folded a few hands, and won one pre-flop with an A or K door card.

Once I'd stolen a pot off the 2 players, by limping with highest door card, the others had likely weak holdings unlikely to improve. So I saw 4th, caught a good looking card (I held their door cards in hole) and bet 4th, to which they folded.

So now to the hand I'd like some experienced views on.

Forced Bring In, has a 6 showing.
Fish? limps with a 7 showing, it folds to me, holding 6QQ, with 2 diamonds. About 2-1 in my favour here.

I raise, the BI folds, and the xx7 calls with (Q77). I catch a 2, showing 2 hearts. Opponent catches a Queen, making Q's up 7's.

xx Qh 2h
xx 7 Qc (1-2)

I bet hoping for a fold, but get called. It seemed unlikely that the Q helped, so probably my opponent caught bad. Although it made it seem less likely I held QQ, that doesn't help when he's behind to an overpair.

xx Qh 2h Ad
xx 7 Qc 3c (still 1-2)

Decide he's probably calling with pair of 7's, if I'm behind the Ace strenghens my hand, 3-flush + oc. Figure betting ought to be +ve EV and hope again for a fold, get called.

6th:
xx Qh 2h Ad 5d
xx 7h Qc 3d Js (1-2)

Q's, A overcard + AQ flush draw, seems plenty strong to bet, I've seen no strength, and don't want to give a free card. I get called.

River... Don't make my flush. I now check, opponent checks behind, and I lose to Q's up.

To me my opponent played badly, yet possibly I was actually out played.

Firstly, with hidden card crippled, and a load of over-cards behind him (K, J), limping in seems optimistic, as he only has 4 cards to hit.

Then, having caught the 'perfect' card, shouldn't he on 5th, raised me, with plan of betting 6th; hoping I'll fold.

Then on 6th, with Q's up, surely it's a raise, as I have a draw heavy board.

Finally would I have check-ed 7th, with a made flush, or Aces up, given previous action? His board seemed like a weak made hand, with his draw to a set. Actually I'd have made a crying call, for future information, so he missed a bet.

Was my play reasonable, over-aggressive? Or was I out-played, by someone realising my likely QQxx hand was crippled, and my betting was forced as I was out of position? But giving the illusion of mindless calling, to induce bluff.

[Andy B]

There's a hand converter here. It totally rules. Use it.

Also, don't give us the results. It will tend to taint the responses. I think I can make a reasonably objective evaluation in this case, however.

To sum up: the other guy limped with (Q7)7, you completed with split Queens, and he just called. You somehow managed to find the tightest $.25/.50 game in the history of the internet and it's just the two of you. He makes Queens-up on fourth street, and you pick up a flush draw somewhere along the way. You fire on fourth, fifth, and sixth, and you check the river when you don't improve.

Looking at it from your standpoint, you played it about as well as it could have been played. The other guy never showed any strength at all, so you had no reason to believe that your Queens weren't good. By the time the river rolls around, there's a decent chance that he outran you, and he might not pay off with a worse hand anyway, so checking and probably calling is likely best.

From his standpoint, he maybe should have folded third street at either opportunity, especially when you raise with what looks like (and is) split Queens. This is a high-ante game, and it's apparently on the tight side, so maybe raising coming in would have been OK. Once he catches two pair, he's not going anywhere, nor should he. Maybe he should get in a raise someplace, but I think the broken wing act works pretty well in a heads-up pot. He's got Queens and Sevens. You've got Queens with a couple of smaller side-cards (three as it turns out), and it would be pretty hard for him to put you on a diamond draw. From his standpoint, you could easily be drawing to just the three Aces, so why not just let you bluff off your money? I think he missed a pretty easy value-bet on the river, but overall, I don't think he played it all that badly.

If losing as a 2:1 favorite upsets you, you probably shouldn't play poker. You certainly shouldn't play stud.

[RobNottsUk]

Thanks. No I'm well used to losing hands, as much bigger favourites and for higher stakes to.

In future I'll use the converter, but I ran through the hand through number cruncher, to see where I actually was at each stage.

What struck me was the reverse Domination, and how at beginning, I thought I had an info advantage on the limper, but afterwards seeing Q's up I could see why he was initially confident.

But, not trying to make me fold my pair + overcard (or overpair) seems risky to me. Forcing a fold, appears to be more desirable.

Anyway, whilst I'm not a beginner at Poker, I am new to 7Stud, so really appreciate running my thinking by someone.

Actually, it's that, rather than the exact cards and hand, because I can't repeat my investigation which included every single 'seen' card. I'm tending to think, the player is just a mindless caller, rather than laying a clever trap by limping against an aggressive player. Someone stronger would have seen the danger and raised on 5th or 6th, and made the outdraw expensive.