10NL Was I just a calling fool?

[jasdell]

Well, I ran pretty bad over the past few days and was beginning to get pretty disheartened. Mostly because I was playing pretty much the exact way I had grinded my way up.

I was probably down the most because over those past 3000 hands I only hit sets of the flop 1/11.75 instead out of the expected 1/8.5 and I tend to overplay pocket pairs vs the full stacked tag players.

Anyway... Now that I'm back I have a question about this hand...

Villain is pretty new to the table, I saw him on another table or two I was playing on, but I still didn't know too much about him because I hadn't sat down so long ago. I had about thirtyish hands on him. Just telling you all that to show that he probably wasn't as bad as most the players at 10NL.

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HAND #1
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party poker, $0.05/$0.10 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 9 Players
Hand History Converter by Stoxpoker

MP2: $4.05 (40.5 bb)
MP3: $6.55 (65.5 bb)
CO: $8.05 (80.5 bb)
Hero (BTN): $14.40 (144 bb)
SB: $8.30 (83 bb)
BB: $10 (100 bb)
UTG+1: $5.55 (55.5 bb)
UTG+2: $5.05 (50.5 bb)
MP1: $11.95 (119.5 bb)

Pre-Flop: Hero is BTN with A

Q

UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 calls $0.10, 4 folds, Hero raises to $0.40, SB folds, BB calls $0.30, UTG+2 folds

Flop: ($0.95) Q

T

9

(2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.70, BB raises to $2.20, Hero calls $1.50

Here I really thought he might just of been trying to make a play at the pot. A big reraise to my cbet

Turn: ($5.35) Q

(2 players)
BB bets $2.50, Hero calls $2.50

If I had called for the hell of it, if he thought I was the type who hated getting reraised and refused to fold just after putting in the cbet the Q would have been a good scare card for him to bet.
River: ($10.35) K

(2 players)
BB bets $4.90 and is all-in, Hero calls $4.90

Results: $20.15 pot ($0.95 rake)

Well I missed my outs if I'm not ahead and if he is playing a bluff the K is a good scare card for him to bet. I don't know how often a player would bluff at me here but I'm thinking its still possible. Anyway what would you guys have done in this situation.

 

[c9h13no3]

In full ring, you do not want to go broke with just 1 pair against an unknown opponent. When he check/raises you, I certainly wouldn't hate folding at all. Since its 10$NL though, 3-betting wouldn't be horrible either. I'm really not a fan of just calling, as any J, K, 8, or T is a scare card & the pot is already bloated so much that you're going to be playing for stacks.

After the Q hits, you must shove the turn. You are pot committed no matter what comes on the river, so all your doing is allowing his draw to get there for cheap.

I could probably find a fold on this river. We have to have the best hand 25% of the time. Once in a blue moon this will be AK, 9T. However, I don't think its going to be one of those hands 25% of the time. The K was the worst card in the deck for us, and AK/9T/AA are the only hands I can think of that could *possibly* (altho, not probably) take this line. We don't beat KQ, KJ, KT, JJ, JT, J9, J8, KK, everything else. So we're either hoping villain has pure air or is overplaying his hand like crazy, and I just don't think that's the case 25% of the time.

Also, don't get discouraged. You must not consider results when you're playing poker. The only thing you can ask yourself is "did I play the hand well?" Often you can play poorly and make money, or play awesome and lose a ton. The trick is that awesome play will make you lots of money over the long term. So you have to put the short term results out of your brain, and focus on improving your play.