$25 NLHE Full Ring: Did he have us beat here?

$25 NL HE Full Ring: Did he have us beat here?

Villian Stats (VPIP/PFR/AF): 17.5/5/1

UTG+2: $47.96 (191.8 bb)
MP1: $28.82 (115.3 bb)
MP2: $18.35 (73.4 bb)
Hero (MP3): $30.87 (123.5 bb)
CO: $25 (100 bb)
BTN: $24.59 (98.4 bb)
SB: $46.40 (185.6 bb)
BB: $17.60 (70.4 bb)

Pre-Flop: Hero is MP3 with 8 A
3 folds, Hero raises to $0.50, CO calls $0.50, BTN folds, SB calls $0.40, BB calls $0.25

Hijack was sitting out so I figured a raise here with A8 is borderline ok, i would be happy with stealing the blinds and if not well I have something somewhat playable at the flop with position.

Flop: ($2) J J A (4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $1, CO calls $1, SB calls $1, BB folds

Well, top two pair and position makes me take a stab at the pot. Bet size too small maybe??

Turn: ($5) Q (3 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, CO checks

Should I have bet here!!

River: ($5) 6 (3 players)
SB bets $5, Hero ??

Final Board: J J A Q 6


This seriously looked like a blank to me but since he called preflop out of the BB, I figured he may have caught 3 jacks, maybe QJ.

A big hint is that at this stakes in particular, big bets mean big hands..theres very little trickery going on...plus he doesnt have hyper aggressive stats...AF of 1.

Thanks gents!

That's a very scary board for the guy who's first to act to bet full pot into two other players. We're never good here.

I'd lay 4:1 odds (and I still think I'm getting a bunch of equity there) that SB has some form of a Jack based on how he played this hand. Fold A8os next time, or if you are going to raise at least make it 3x. Min-raising is pointless preflop, you get no information and you can see why this hurts.

Why did you min-raise? The blinds are getting a pretty good price to call from the start.

In all fairness, the bet on the river does look bluffy. Everyone showed weakness on the turn, but I would probably fold here unless I had a read on villain as a bluffy player who liked to buy pots. If I had a jack I'd be betting like $3 here. I don't think I would have c-bet the flop either.

Thanks for the replies guys,

I folded to his river bet, mainly because the best reads I have at this stakes is the betting. At 25nl they bet when they have it and not when they dont, pot buyers/bluffers included in the mix. I was also pretty sure he had some Jx junk.

Henreiman and benlz: I wholly agree a preflop minraise is not the optimal strategy and this is a case of me losing 1.50$ instead of winning 35 cents (likely) for a total bankroll impact of 1.85$ but I am min raising because at this stake it seems to be enough to drive out most so so hands.

but yeah, im just playing the stakes here primarily and its working so far but i 100% agree on minraising beeing bad.