yeah i limped in with no raise i would usually fold this hand but the circumstances seemed ok too limp in. i think 4 players also limped inj but all folded apart from the player with probably the worst hand. i guess i need to read up on my betting, thanks for the advice on bankroll management ive skipped over these chapters and give them a read. the tips on books too read is great aswell im pretty knew and not really involved with a big poker community in my home town. advise is far and few XD these sugestions are great tho i have seen these titles and not known wether or not too go for them.
i see my play needs alot of fine tuning if my flaws are so clear. what is the issue with a pot bet? i generally use the pot bet too indicate they i have an ok hand at this point. i am hoping anyone with a bad draw that limped in would fold, unless they had a great hand. the friend i have that i play poker with always laughs at my betting techniques.
Ok, a few pointers:
If you were on the big blind (BB), and no one raised preflop, it's not called limping, it's called
checking. Limping is when you have a hand preflop and you just call the BB instead of raising. But because
you were the BB, the money was forced in before the cards were dealt and you didn't have to call anything because nobody raised preflop. It's a small detail, but using correct terminology will help people better understand your hands if you post a question about how you played or something.
Next is your hand. Even though you flopped top pair, your hand isn't that strong because you have such a weak kicker (the 4). And depending on what those two "rags" are, someone could be drawing to a flush or straight, or maybe has two pair. It turns out you had the best hand at the time, and just got unlucky. But be sure not to overvalue top pair, it's not a strong hand.
Lastly, your bet on the flop. You said 4 players limped in. So 5 people saw the flop. Even if the small blind was one of the limpers, that means you bet a weak top pair hand with 3 people behind. Why did you bet at all? Yes, you have top pair, but how often is a worse hand going to call here? If there is a potential flush or straight draw out there, someone may call and you could get value from them, but most of the time you don't gain value from a bet here. Personally, I would have checked the flop. If it gets checked all around and the turn doesn't look like it helped anyone much, then I might make a bet of 1/2 pot to 2/3 pot. Why? Because people are often more likely to call with a weaker hand if the flop is checked. And with a smaller bet size, worse hands are more likely to call.
There's a lot I could say, but I'll just repeat the advice about the books. Find a very beginner friendly poker book and study the fundamentals. It will make a drastic improvement in your
poker game.