5/10 Online. KQs from UTG. How badly did I hash this hand?

[Allday Everyday]

I decided to take a shot at 5/10 level for the first time today. I did okay, and the cards ran very well for me. I'm intrested in what you guys think about the hand that gave me the most trouble.

I think I might have made two mistakes in the hand. I'm certain I made a hash of the flop and I'm unsure if I was correct preflop. Here is the hand:

5/10 Limit Hold 'Em Online. 10 handed.

I'm new to the table and don't have any reads on the relevant players.

Preflop: Hero is UTG with K [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], Q [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
UTG/Hero raises, UTG+1 reraises, MP1 reraises (caps), 7 folds, Hero calls, UTG+1 calls.

Flop: 7 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 4 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], A [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (3 players).
Hero bets, UTG+1 calls, MP1 raises, Hero calls, UTG+1 calls.

Turn: 8 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (3 players).
Hero checks, UTG+1 checks, MP1 bets, Hero raises, UTG+1 folds, MP1 calls.

River: 8 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (2 players).
Hero bets, MP1 calls.

I believe I made a mistake on the flop. I called the raise intending to check-raise the turn. However, I think reraising the flop would have been much better.

Also, I was unsure of how what to do preflop. I considered folding to the 2 reraises but instead called.

Would people mind telling me how they think I played the hand?

Any comments greatly appreciated.

[Marlowe]

I think calling the two reraises preflop is fine. You're getting 6-1 on your call assuming UTG+1 calls too, which he will do nearly 100% of the time. You're probably in bad shape (it's fairly likely that one of them has at least AK or AQ) but you're mainly calling to hit a flush draw, two pair or better. If it was KQo I would fold in this situation preflop.

As for postflop I reraise the flop and bet out on the turn and river.

[Darrone]

being drunk aside... i thought he flopped the flush and played it well.. i think i might have donked the turn to try and get a bet and a raise, as opposed to squezing out that mid position.

[JJNJustin]

Nice hand.

I dont usually raise KQs UTG, and the hand you posted is an example of exactly why. I bet once the flop came you wish there were some more callers. Also, by raising, you open it up to get 3-4 betted and you are OOP almost always with the worst hand pre-flop. There are so many hands that could put you in bad shape. The hand is far too good to fold, but given its vulnerabilities and its high multiway value, I almost always just limp UTG.

Once it goes to the cap pre-flop, you shouldnt try to keep players in when you flop the nut flush. Go ahead and reraise. Who cares if UTG+1 folds, even if he is drawing dead. Protect your hand and the pot and get more money in. If there were more callers your way of playing it might be better, especially if there was no raise pre-flop. But the vulnerability of a flush against the types of hands you might be up against + the massive size of the pot rules out any kind of slow-play, IMO.

Turn check raise is beautiful, a bit risky, and it also gives away your hand somewhat. But at this point in the hand, that is mostly irrelevant. I would almost definately have just bet out since you were first to act, hoping to trap UTG and let the last guy raise so I could reraise. I dont want to give a free card with the pot so big here. I'm not going to leave it up to my opponent whether to bet my hand or not.

The river is excellent. You are getting called here by many hands since the pot is so big. If you get raised, either just call, or if you are feeling really frisky, go ahead and reraise, even though there is a pair on the board, but most of the time just call. Most importantly, dont fold the hand, even if it gets raised and reraised behind you. The pot is so huge good players and bad players alike may be raising with inferior hands.

-J

[chesspain]

[ QUOTE ]
I dont usually raise KQs UTG, and the hand you posted is an example of exactly why. I bet once the flop came you wish there were some more callers. Also, by raising, you open it up to get 3-4 betted and you are OOP almost always with the worst hand pre-flop. There are so many hands that could put you in bad shape. The hand is far too good to fold, but given its vulnerabilities and its high multiway value, I almost always just limp UTG.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is horribly weak-tight advice. KQs is far too good of a hand with which to only limp from EP. It will be fairly uncommon for any hand to be "3-4 betted" preflop, unless it is a game with maniacs. Furthermore, in the unlikely event that there is a raise and reraise behind it, it is fairly easy to let go of the hand after the flop.



[ QUOTE ]
Who cares if UTG+1 folds, even if he is drawing dead. Protect your hand and the pot and get more money in. If there were more callers your way of playing it might be better, especially if there was no raise pre-flop. But the vulnerability of a flush against the types of hands you might be up against + the massive size of the pot rules out any kind of slow-play, IMO.

[/ QUOTE ]

More weak-tight thinking. Although reraising might be the better plan, it isn't because you need to protect your hand. Any likely hand you are up against besides for AA (e.g. AK, AQ, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, etc.) is drawing to a very slim runner-runner to beat you.

[JJNJustin]

If you use hand distrubtion probability calculations, you will find that KQ UTG is dominated in a 10-handed game roughly 27% of the time. That's enough to make me limp rather than raise. Also with the handed being suited, there is more multiway value to the hand. EPR's dont encourage multiway pots.

Secondly, me telling the OP to be more aggressive on the flop and protect his hand has nothing to do with "weak tight" by its very definition.

I dont want to get into semantics. If this advice falls under some random heading "weak tight" then so be it. It makes no difference to me. But I fail to see what part about it is overly "weak" or "tight". I think you are confusing "weak tight" and "gay". They are not necessarily the same thing.

-J

[imashyboi]

Limping KQs in a loose game is perfect but not when the table is tight. KQs wins many hands when the table is tight especially when your mainly playing with 1 or 3 players instead of 4-6 when the table is loose. I would raise in this stop pending on the table condition.

Flop: I would 3bet in this situation. Seems like UTG has a flush draw and MP1 probably has AK/set. If you 3bet in this spot both players who have a hand will likely call or MP1 might cap. You might take UTG out if you 3bet but that's not bad either since he is likely to fold if he doesn't have a strong draw.

Turn: I'll play it standard here seeing that you just called the flop. I might bet in this spot though if I knew how MP1 plays. If he's aggressive I'll consider donking so I can 3bet. Without any reads donking might not work as well because if its just called then you just lost an extra big bet on the turn.

River: Standard, call if raised since you have no real reads yet.

[SeaEagle]

I'm for betting/raising every chance you get in this hand. Big pots are not the place for deception.

Your opponents likely have big PPs or big Ax, and they're not going to believe you actually flopped the flush since there's only 1 or 2 UTG raising hands with 2 hearts in them - so you'll get played back at from AA or AK who thinks you're behind and drawing.

I would have expected to see a capped flop and probably a raise on a non-heart turn before both your opponents finally backed off.

[kawelljd]

I would have to agree with SeaEagle.

[Chipspin]

Welcome to the graceland of 5/10 where you flop only nut flushes and straights.[img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

I don't like the turn c/r. There are better two lines that I could understand here:

1. If you want to just call the flop raise, and lead the turn in order to keep UTG+1 around and solicit 3 bets out of MP, that's okay by me; or

2. 3-bet that flop, and maximize your return from MP.

But check-raising the turn knocks out the guy in the middle, and shows MP that you have a power hand. Neither result is optimal when you flop the nut.