Very interesting live cash game hand

Home game. $1/$2 No Limit Hold 'em. Six players that play together often. Min buyin is $50, a couple people have bought in twice. Most stacks are roughly between $50 and $125. I have about $125 and player in front of me has about $70 to start the hand.

UTG puts a double live straddle on the table. I'm on the cutoff and I get 8s 8d. Player in front of me calls the $6. I call. Button folds. SB folds. BB folds. UTG checks.

Flop is 7h 3d 5d.

UTG checks. Player in front of me bets $6. I feel like I have the best hand but I only min. raise to $12. (1st mistake) UTG folds. Player in front calls.

Turn is Ad.

Player in front checks. I check. (2nd mistake) I feel like he could absolutely have Kd Qd all the way down to Kd 2d in this situation.

River is As.

Player in front bets $15.

I almost called instantly, then thought about it for a minute or two. Based on past experience, in this situation this player could definitely have made any set on the flop, could have A rag, Kd Qd on down to Kd 2d, and slight possiblity of playing 10 10, 9 9, or even J J, like this. I took a couple minutes to think about it and gave up on the hand after playing it so poorly to begin with.

I'm thinking my best play would've been to raise his $6 flop bet to about the pot. Not doing that, betting $20 to his check on the turn was probably a better play too.

The way the hand was played, is there any reason to call this hand here, even with the pot odds? This definitely looked like a value/call-me bet on the river to me.

As I am mucking my cards player in front tosses his cards at the muck pile, and they inadvertently land on my wrist and flip over. After some feedback I'll share the player in front's cards, so as to not bias your thoughts.

The double live straddle of $6 is confusing me - a live straddle in UTG ought to be $4, and if for some reason you're allowing a double straddle (as opposed to a straddle then a re-straddle from UTG+1) shouldn't it be $8, not $6?

Anywho, on with the hand. I'm fine with preflop, though I don't mind raising this sometimes too. It's short-handed and there's only one limper in the pot with a bunch of potential dead money.

Absolutely raise the flop, a lot more than the minimum - if someone's slow played a bigger pair on you so be it, in any other case you want to be charging the potential draws. I make the pot to be $27 after the first bet on the flop, and I'd be betting about that amount and hoping to take the pot down there and then.

After doing that it kinda changes the character of the hand, so you'd have to reassess the later streets based on what the villain did in response to a larger flop raise.

I would raise the pot on the flop. Doubt he had a set, but the I think the Ad made hit flush.

Well as it turns out player in front's cards were Kc 3c. Thanks for the feedback.

Oz is correct, imo. Of course, it is your home game and can play by any rules you want to put in effect. The true straddle is a doubling of the BB to $4 and is not allowed to go above that amount. A re-straddle, or double-straddle, would be to $8.

Also agree that a bigger raise pre-flop was in order. Villain's action after that would determine what you do next.

razin-n-blazin said:

I'm thinking my best play would've been to raise his $6 flop bet to about the pot. Not doing that, betting $20 to his check on the turn was probably a better play too.

The way the hand was played, is there any reason to call this hand here, even with the pot odds? This definitely looked like a value/call-me bet on the river to me.

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I don't understand why you think it was right to bet the turn but not call the river. The river didn't complete any draw, and the river actually improves your hand because it makes an ace less likely and counterfeits flopped two pairs. If you're betting the turn, it's to get value out of draws and weaker made hands. The river didn't make any draws or improve those made hands (and your weak line could induce him to value bet a weaker pair), so I don't see why you wouldn't put money in on the river.

I think this might be a case of making too fancy of a read on the river. Unless he's so tight that his flop range is only flush draws and overpairs, there are going to be many flopped pair or pair and a SD hands in his range. Apparently you didn't think he was this tight, as you thought it possible that he'd have Kd2d. And since you applied minimum pressure on the flop, you can't really rule out any pair or even just inside straight draws. This range dwarfs the range that beats you, and you're getting good pot odds anyway, so I think it's a must call on the river.

The hand plays itself if you raise preflop. The straddle and short stack sizes mean you always have to raise in this spot.

Edit : A double straddle and a caller heh, raise ~$25-$30 pre, shove flop.

I knew I played it awfully wrong and just made bad decisions every step of the way. This feedback is excellent. I'm glad I posted it here and I definitely learned more than one thing from your responses. Thanks again.