Newbie question: To fold or not?

Hello,

I am quite new to the game and would like some comments on this hand that I played. Being new I am probably the guy that screwed so any hints for performing better in the future would be appreciated.

I get KK and I am in middle position everyone has folded before me and I raise for 3BBs - I get 3 calls and the flop comes K - 10 - 7 rainbow.

I bet 5BBs and everyone calls. The turns shows a 4 and I bet 8BBs and everyone calls again.

River shows a Jack and the guy before me goes all in. Should I call? I did in the game and lost to AQ... With KKK should I fold here? More importantly... are these guys doing the right thing in calling my bets?

Well I'm not the best person to answer this, I don't know the chip stacks, or if its ring games, mtt etc. But based on what your presenting I think your bets were solid, AJ, Aq, AK gonna call if possible for a chance at st8 etc. Unlucky river for you, but yes I would have folded my trips at that point as I already put them on a good hand as they continued calling...when he pushed on river J that was an automatic red flag for me.

I can't help but wonder tho what the chip stacks were and if a push on a rainbow board may have been more of the route to go

It was a cash game with 9 people. I was the only one doing any betting/raising everyone else just called. So before the All-In we had 64BB on the pot.

I would possibly fold in a MTT but in a cash game I would call.

What would also help is if we had an idea of how much people had put in the game.

If it is say $0.01/.02 then they will chase anything so u r probably behind.

More importantly... are these guys doing the right thing in calling my bets?

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This is the least important!!! What other people do or don`t do is something you can`t control. All you can do is make them make the wrong calls -they have here.

In a low buyin cash game, if u hit a set like you did, and u seemed to be acting first, I would have checked the flop hoping for a bet. If I had got a bet I would have then pushed all in. U r ahead at that time, so make the most of it. If they catch their runner runner so be it.

In lower buy in TPTK will probably call.

It was a $0.10/$0.25 game (starting out as I said, so low levels here).

I said it was important to know what you guys think of the opponent (especially the AQ chasing a straight until the river) because I rarely call the bets when they're too high (like, more than 4 BBs) indicating the opponent already has a made hand.

So I am trying to put myself on his shoes with AQ, I get KT on the flop and someone is betting me 5BBs should I call and wait for Jack that will make me win?

Is it sound to call again the 8BBs on the turn still waiting for that jack?

I ask because it is not something I would do (especially on the turn, and maybe I played the KK hand right but playing all my other hands wrong

So there is $16 in the pot?

How much does he push in and how much will it cost you to call? (Does he have you covered?)

I said it was important to know what you guys think of the opponent

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We don`t know your opponent.

Let go back through the hand. This is how I would have played it so far.

KK - Folded to in middle position. Raise about 5 times BB (The blinds will be happy to call for 2 bets with most holdings - make it a more difficult decision)

Flop K 10 7 - (Yipppeeeeee!!!) Set. But 3 in pot. Looking back, yes raise. 1/2 pot

They all call. Based on flop, what do they probably have?

Villian 1 - AK/ K 10
Villian 2 - JQ/ 89
Villian 3 - QQ/ JJ

They probably won`t have set 10`s or 7`s they would have reraised on flop.
They probably won`t have AA as they would have raised preflop.
I doubt they are chasing a gutshot, unless your bets are giving them the odds to call...on the turn, for example, if I`m reading it correct, when the 4 hit u raised 8 bb into a pot that had 32 bb in - u r giving everyone 4:1 to call, probably about enough if they are all gonna call - this could be the problem?

At this stage can I make a point. When talking about the flop and after, you should be betting based on size of pot, not number of blinds.

I don`t think I need to go any further!!!

The all-in was about $14

So I had to pay $14 while the pot was at $30... and yeah... I probably should have made a larger bet... was trying to milk it

I would have played it as you did. You just ran into a lot of bad luck. Don't agonize over this. Just rebuy, that is the nice thing about ring play. If you were in a tournament for $10,000 and on the bubble, the pain would be a lot worse.

I am far from being a pro, intermediate at best but I know that in Mid pos. can be very dangerous with a hand like that. My strategy in that situation would be a much larger preflop raise, more like 8-10bb's, you may still get callers but they are typically the better hands that will call, like QQ AA AK thru A10, online poker is very tricky that way, seems the best starting hands are the worst on the river. good luck to you, on and off the felts

Mike

Branco said:

Hello,

I am quite new to the game and would like some comments on this hand that I played. Being new I am probably the guy that screwed so any hints for performing better in the future would be appreciated.

I get KK and I am in middle position everyone has folded before me and I raise for 3BBs - I get 3 calls and the flop comes K - 10 - 7 rainbow.

I bet 5BBs and everyone calls. The turns shows a 4 and I bet 8BBs and everyone calls again.

River shows a Jack and the guy before me goes all in. Should I call? I did in the game and lost to AQ... With KKK should I fold here? More importantly... are these guys doing the right thing in calling my bets?

Click to expand...

I think your bet sizing is too small after both the flop and the turn.

Preflop the pot is $3 (Let's assume the blinds both called here)

So your bet of $1.25 is too small. I'd say something like $2 here would have been better (you want to let the hands you beat stick around but not give the drawing hands the right price to call if several people stick around).

After the flop betting the pot is $8 and your turn bet is only $2. Way too small a bet here with 3 others still in the hand. I like a bet to $6 or $7 here. It's possible (depending on when the guy with AQ acted after your bet) that he actually had odds to draw to the gutshot (especially if he thinks his Ace is an out). If he closes the action on the turn he's getting 7:1 on his money more than enough to stick around and see the river.

Moral of the story here is that you thought your hand was unbeatable and bet too small to try to keep everyone in the hand, unfortunately one of those hands you let stick around cheaply beat you on the end. Learn from your mistakes.

Sounds to me it seems like you thought you had the stone cold nuts and were betting WAY too small. If you bet that small you are probably giving somebody with a gutshot/overcard odds to draw...

Branco said:

Hello,

I am quite new to the game and would like some comments on this hand that I played. Being new I am probably the guy that screwed so any hints for performing better in the future would be appreciated.

I get KK and I am in middle position everyone has folded before me and I raise for 3BBs - I get 3 calls and the flop comes K - 10 - 7 rainbow.

I bet 5BBs and everyone calls. The turns shows a 4 and I bet 8BBs and everyone calls again.

River shows a Jack and the guy before me goes all in. Should I call? I did in the game and lost to AQ... With KKK should I fold here? More importantly... are these guys doing the right thing in calling my bets?

Click to expand...

All in the moment the turn card came over.If not maybe sooner.

The bets were too small and it gave them value to call..

Whether they are right to chase their draws isnt really the issue. Its your own hands that you need to worry about...

If everyone before you folded preflop how did the guy before you shove?
Your bets were to small for a cash game you were betting like you were in a tourney

well to put myself in your opponents shoes every once in a while i will forget that there is a chance that someone has a pocket pair. so i might be more likely to chase the straight.