$500 NL, Busted with 10 10. How did I play this?

[spex x]

This hand took place in a live 2/5 NL game. This game plays on the semi-tight side. The players are pretty good, and I generally look for other games if there are any in the area. So I respect these players - they are not donkeys. When this hand came up, the SB had about $450, I was the BB with about $425, and the button had about $125 (he was playing pretty loose, pushing in a lot with the small stack). Here's how it happened.

There was a middle position raise to $15 and there were 5 callers before it got to me (pot = $75). I found 10 10. I called the $10. The flop came down 8[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 8[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 7[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. SB checks and I bet out $50. Everyone folds to the button, who moves in for $125. The BB thinks for a long time, hems and haws, mumbles, makes pained faces, etc. and finally calls. I immediately move all in for about $300 more. The BB thinks for a very long time, hems and haws, mumbles, makes pained faces, picks his cards up, puts them down, looks at them again and again, and finally calls. Does anyone think that moving in here was a mistake?

[pokahjokah]

I think you missed a raise from the BB to about $75 or so. This forces the button to play for stacks, while you force all the dead money out.

Edited for horrible spelling.

[spex x]

Well, it definitely crossed my mind to raise. I didn't raise for three reasons. The first is to give my have a little deception. I recently read an article by Annie Duke where she says that against several limpers, she'll play QQ out of the blinds like this to maximize the value of a set. Of course, I was facing a raise and several callers, and I would have been alright to get the money that was already in the pot. But I thought I'd give it a try.

Second, I was a little worried about original raiser. At this table the standard raise is $20 to $25. People don't raise to only $15 very often. So I was worried that he had AA or KK and was trying to get some action. I haven't played with the guy enough to know how to interpret the small raise.

Lastly was my table image. I'm not a really tight player, but I wasn't getting much to play. I'd been folding for hours, and about 20 hands prior to this one, I'd shown a big bluff. So I was a little worried that my opponents would interpret the big raise as a move and come over the top.

So I was in a situation where if I raised, the big reraise wouldn't give me any additional information about my opponents hand. If I got reraised, he either had a bigger pair or he thought i was bluffing and he was trying for the rebluff. And then if I called the rebluff I'd still have to play the stupid 10 10 out of position after the flop, and we all know how hard that is. I'm open to criticism on this line of thinking, but that was what I was about at the time.

[spex x]

So here is what happened. The SB finally called and showed JJ! What a great call. I would never have made this call given the action on the hand, but good for this guy. Jeez. Does anyone think different? The button showed 99, and the SB dragged a fat pot.

[Requin]

I probably would have folded once the guy cold-called, but there are definatly some live games where your play is good.

[soah]

This is a complete spew and your explanation of why you didn't reraise preflop pretty much sums up the reasons why.

[spex x]

Yes, that occured to me too. But I just couldn't see his reluctance to call as an act. What would he have been so reluctant to call with? Maybe an 8 with a small kicker or something I guess. But he just seemed so reluctant to call to me. It took him like 2 minutes to call, and the whole time he was mumbling and sighing.

[dfwben]

you got slowrolled by bb. anyone who does that much acting and cold calls has you beat probably 90% of the time.

[ChicagoVince]

I agree with Pokah. You have to re-raise pre-flop. A 3x BB raise in this game means nothing. Anybody that was gonna limp will call the $15. I would have made it about $90 to go before the flop. If a deep villian pushes on you, you can get away from the hand. What is more likely to happen is the short stack pushes and nobody that doesn't have AA, KK, or maybe QQ can't call given the amount of strength that you've shown.

I don't like your flop push. As played, you should treat your hand about like a pair of fives. You played for the set an missed. You only have $15 invested and a good villian is showing a bunch of strength. I think I would have released the hand and waited for a better opportunity if I was in your position. But, ideally, you wouldn't have been in that position.

[Ellsworth T]

Your shove is horrible IN GENERAL when someone chechk overcalls a bet from "a tight player" and then an all-in from another player. If however, you surmised that he had a hand in the range of JJ/A9 and was seriously questioning the strength of his hand then your play is actually pretty good given your read. It doesnt seem like this was your read, however, but rather your manifestation of hand win-rates and you believed TT should be good here a decent amount of time, but your logic is seriously flawed if your thinking this way.

Also just calling preflop and leading post flop is not BAD given some live game dynamics so don't absolutly buy-in to the generalities about preflop raising that some of the posters have given you so far because this might not fit into your image or playing style , but once BB calls you have to shut down. You can call obviously but don't put another cent into the pot.