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So, this has been eating away at me for quite some time now. I’m playing 1-2 short handed with a total stack of $337… I’m on the button and have KK with 5 people at the table. UTG checks, MP bets $15, I raise to $30, SB jams for $85 total, BB folds and the UTG folds as well. The MP decides to call; and now I’m thinking I should probably Jam to Isolate the SB. However, I know that the MP is very loose and, if he at least, catches bottom pair he’s betting, which in turn is GREAT for me. So I decide to call as well, in order to try to get more from the MP.
Flop runs out 9s-Qd-Qs. MP thinks about it and jams for about $390 effective. I now have a super tough decision to make considering the Qs are well within the range, Preflop. I start to really focus on a sort of AQ or KQ being well within his range. He starts to feel really uncomfortable with the amount of time I’m taking to make a decision, which was about 6min. He covers his neck and face and lays his head down. At this rate I don’t know whether to focus on the tell, or the hand history so far. But, reluctantly I decide to fold my hand and let it go painfully.
The Turn card is another Q which felt like getting kicked in the nuts after realizing my KK was golden. The River is a 10h for a board of
9s-Qd-Qs-Qx-Ththe MP flips over 9d,Jd and the SB flips over JJ
I can’t believe I folded and at the time of action I felt that he was very much holding a Q in his arsenal. Let me know if there’s something different I could’ve done other than jamming preflop to make sure he didn’t fly off but also stay interested enough to get the max from him (MP).
-PocketNutz
You want to work on your thought process. Lets start by simplifying the situation by removing physical tells. These are unreliable, so it’s best to focus on the fundamentals.
Pre-Flop: You min raise to $30. It’s normal to want to raise around 3x the main bet, but I will assume that with position and the one player in the hand you may be aiming to keep him from going anywhere. Your image may also play into this, but for now lets stick with this base assumption. The SB jams, and MP calls. Here you do a good thing. You take note of the fact that the MP player is loose. What does this tell you? Answer: He has a wide range of starting hands. Use this for the basis of your remaining thought process. Next question: Call or raise for isolation? Considering the current information, and your position, your hand most likely dominates a wide range of the MP holdings, so calling is actually a good play here. As a matter of fact, you really don’t have to consider isolation as you want to look for more money from such a player as the SB is already all-in. If you were oop and other players were also in the hand, then raising would make more sense. Lets move on.
Flop: 9QQ — MP shoves and you go into the tank. What does this tell us? There are a couple of perspectives here. 1. You are afraid to lose your stack on one hand (normal for many beginners) 2. You don’t know how to work through a decision matrix. Point #1 is psychological, point #2 we can work on.
Logical Thought Process:
A. Do most player jam all-in with a Q here, or do they check?
B. With 2 QQ’s on the board it is unlikely that my opponent holds a Q
C. My opponent is loose, and plays a wide range of handsThe answer to (A) is check…most people check. As a matter of fact, jamming with trip queens in a technically heads up situation is a bad play. Combine this information with (B) and what we know with (C) the odds of our opponent holding a Q are very low. You even made the mistake of putting your opponent on KQ when you hold KK, which makes that holding less likely. Calling is the best play here as the odds that your opponent is holding a Q is highly unlikely.
Fully agree with what Craig has said here. A few slightly different angles that are only echoing his points:
1) It’s a common mistake to make one decision early in a hand based on a set of assumptions (here, calling IP because Villain is loose) and then making a play later in the hand while disregarding or failing to account for the same assumptions. Namely, as Craig pointed out, if we are calling so that Villain will punt off his money with a WIDE range of hands on the flop, but then fold an overpair on the flop because we are afraid of a very NARROW range of hands he could have – KQ and AQ – then we have made an error. You actually got exactly what you wanted; he made bottom pair and put his money in the middle. Remember, a plan is only effective when you stick with it until the end.
When you are trapping with KK in $240 pot with $257 behind, your plan could be:
“I am going to stack off on 100% of flops that don’t come A high because my opponent is loose. If it comes A high I will play solid poker in position.”
Then when flop comes QQ9 you follow through.
2) There are lots of draws on this board. With a wide range of hands your opponent could certainly have lots of combinations of spades and JT that are bluffing. Be a skeptic. Don’t give your opponent credit when they don’t deserve it yet.
@Craig
Thanks man, you pinpointed everything exactly! I’ll try to use the decision matrix much better. I appreciate your input!
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