Pocket 5's vs. KQ 10c PL -- Did I play Correctly?

This is my first post in the HA section, so if I do something wrong with this, please let me know and I will do my best to never do it again

I had $6 (my buy in), but I had be hovering between $6 and $7 for the entire time I'd been at the table (only 25 hands). My HUD (PokerOffice) is set to display it's auto-rate of players, % saw flop, % showdowns when saw flop and % won when saw flop--it gives me a pretty good idea when someone is bluffing (although at .10 BB, people will pretty much call anything).

The villain in this case was playing relatively tight, but off of a small sample size. I thought I played well, because I felt that the flop (which gave me two pair) could at best only give the villain a pair of Kings (since he would have raised a lot more with pocket kings).

So... did I play correctly? I am new at this (this is my first post in HA!) so, again, if something's wrong with this post or the information I am giving, please let me know. I am just trying to get better at this ridiculously complex game! :icon_sant

Stacks:
* BB with $10.10
* UTG with $8.20
* UTG+1 with $5.00
* MP1 with $18.40
* MP2 with $4.05
* MP3 with $6.00
* CO with $9.75
* BTN with $30.05
* SB with $19.90




Blinds: $0.05/$0.10
Site: full tilt poker
* * Dealt to MP3:5♥ 5♣
* * Sklansky group 6
Preflop:
* * 1 players fold.
* * MP1 raises to $0.35
* * 1 players fold.
* * Hero calls [$0.35]
* * CO calls [$0.35]
* * 2 players fold.
* * BB raises to $0.60
* * MP1 calls [$0.25]
* * Hero calls [$0.25]
* * CO calls [$0.25]
* * Total folds this street: 4
* * Potsize: $2.45
Flop:
* * 6♣ 6♥ K♠
* * BB checks
* * MP1 checks
* * Hero bets [$1]
* * CO raises to $2.10
* * 2 players fold.
* * Hero calls [$1.10]
* * Total folds this street: 2
* * Potsize: $6.65
Turn:
* * Q♣
* * Hero checks
* * CO bets [$2]
* * Hero calls [$2]
* * Potsize: $10.65
River:
* * 8♥
* * Hero checks
* * CO bets [$1.40]
* * Hero calls [$1.30] [ all-in ]
* * Uncalled bet of $0.10 returned to CO
Results:
* * CO shows :
* * Q♥ K♥
* * CO wins the pot ($11.95) with two pair, Kings and Queens

Poker Hand Converter By Cardschat.com Poker Forum

darkshark said:

This is my first post in the HA section, so if I do something wrong with this, please let me know and I will do my best to never do it again

Click to expand...

You included the results.

- Preflop is fine.

- Your stack size is way goofy. You either want to be short stacking with about 25-40 big blinds, or you want to play with a full stack (a full ten dollars). A 60 big blind stack is really awkward, and difficult to play, because it will often leave in spots where you can't shove all in because the pot is too small, yet you can't make a pot sized bet because it would leave you with ~1/2 pot on the next street. This offers more implied odds to your opponents, blah blah. Point is, pick a stack size & maintain your stack at that size.

- Check/fold on the flop for the following reasons:

1) With 4 players seeing a flop, its very likely someone has a king. And if they do, you have 2 outs to a better hand.

2) If you insist on playing this, then check/calling the flop is a lot better than bet/calling. This way, CO may bluff at the pot with a range that is wider than a king, and you can pick those bluffs off. No one is going to call with pocket 4's or worse (which is what you beat) when you bet the flop. So just check, and hope you see a free showdown, or see a blank turn.

facing that much resistance folding ur 5s should be an easy laydown, u just got yourslf in a deeper hole by stayn in with ur sm pair against heavy resistance. plus u face calln another bet on the turn and river if ur wrong.

c9h13no3 said:

You included the results.

Click to expand...

Oh, I wasn't sure if I was supposed to or not. At least now everyone can immediately feel my pain and slam me for my mistakes!

c9h13no3 said:

- Your stack size is way goofy. You either want to be short stacking with about 25-40 big blinds, or you want to play with a full stack (a full ten dollars). A 60 big blind stack is really awkward, and difficult to play.

Click to expand...

Thanks! I'd been looking for some information on this, and I couldn't really find any. I think the reason I went higher than the minimum (short stacking) is that I wanted to be able to have more freedom to bet (even though it's PL not NL). I didn't put in the full $10 because of a bad beat I had last night trying to up my limits to 25pl, when I lost $10 in one hand (that doesn't need HA; I am just a newbie). I will do full stack now

c9h13no3 said:

- Check/fold on the flop for the following reasons:

1) With 4 players seeing a flop, its very likely someone has a king. And if they do, you have 2 outs to a better hand.

2) If you insist on playing this, then check/calling the flop is a lot better than bet/calling. This way, CO may bluff at the pot with a range that is wider than a king, and you can pick those bluffs off. No one is going to call with pocket 4's or worse (which is what you beat) when you bet the flop. So just check, and hope you see a free showdown, or see a blank turn.

Click to expand...

Since the player was playing relatively tight (only 11% saw showdown) I felt that if I bet with my 2 pair I could get him to fold if he didn't have anything--maybe I was right, because he didn't and I lost.

So are there any particular articles that can help me? I feel like I play tight, play hands that are pretty good and then still end up slowly slowly winning money, then getting a bad beat and losing it, going into debt. My profit graph looks like the dow jones industrial average over the last year. Slowly up, then plummet.

When is the government going to bailout my bankroll?

darkshark said:

I felt that if I bet with my 2 pair I could get him to fold if he didn't have anything

Click to expand...

Why do you want him to fold if he has nothing? Nothing is the only thing that you beat! If you fold all the hands that you beat out by betting, then how is that bet earning you money!?

Yeah, there are articles that will help you, but I have a feeling you should play a couple thousand hands with this 1 rule in mind:

Rule: There are two main reasons to bet. One reason is to have worse hands call you. The second reason is to have better hands fold. If you are not betting for either of these two reasons, then you probably shouldn't be betting.

c9h13no3 said:

Yeah, there are articles that will help you, but I have a feeling you should play a couple thousand hands with this 1 rule in mind:

Rule: There are two main reasons to bet. One reason is to have worse hands call you. The second reason is to have better hands fold. If you are not betting for either of these two reasons, then you probably shouldn't be betting.

Click to expand...

I guess I felt that if he didn't have anything but had gone this far... you know what? You're right, I have no idea. Guess it was a mini-tilt of not wanting to lose the hand to nothing when I had two pair.

But you're right. This is probably the single most helpful sentence I've read on this forum. Thank you!