How bad did I botch this hand?

[bettheline]

How bad did I play this hand? Feel free to give me hell. I can take it.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $6 BB (9 handed) converter

saw flop|saw showdown

Hero ($627)
MP1 ($323.40)
MP2 ($1899.95)
MP3 ($649.35)
CO ($1083.20)
Button ($734.30)
SB ($154.50)
BB ($826.55)
UTG ($436)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with [Jc], [Kh].
1 fold, Hero raises to $18, 1 fold, MP2 calls $18, MP3 calls $18, 4 folds.

Flop: ($63) [Jh], [Th], [7s] (3 players)
Hero bets $24, MP2 raises to $72, MP3 calls $72, Hero calls $48.

Turn: ($279) [3s] (3 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets $204, MP3 folds, Hero calls $204.

River: ($687) [Qs] (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets $1605.95 (All-In), Hero calls $333 (All-In).

Final Pot: $2625.95
Main Pot: $1353, between Hero and MP2. > Pot won by MP2 ($1353).
Pot 2: $1272.95, returned to MP2.

Results in white below:
Hero has Jc Kh (one pair, jacks).
MP2 has 7c 7d (three of a kind, sevens).
Outcome: MP2 wins $2625.95.

[lakeoffire]

I wouldnt have been married to the hand after the bet on the turn.Unless you have seen him bluff often.Easy laydown after all in bet....smells like trips. Live to fight another day

[Spicoli]

I'm not a big fan of KJo even though it looks like you're playing short-handed. That said, once you're in the hand, here's what I see...

You hit top pair good kicker and bet the flop, but your opponent reraised you pretty aggressively and, worse, there's a caller of his reraise. What hands could call you preflop and play like that?

Ax hearts and he's on a flush draw, in which case you're 50/50 if he's holding A9h or less, but he's 60/40 to beat you if he's holding AQh;

JJ, TT or 77; he hit his set but the heart draw bums him out, in which case you're a 90/10 dog; probably not JJ, in my experience, JJ reraises you pre-flop;

JT another suit; he hit two pair but again, the heart draw bums him out, in which case you're an 80/20 dog;

AJ; he hit TPTK and if he's got the Ah, your backdoor flush is no good; you're an 80/20 dog to the AJ; or

89; he flopped a straight (and maybe a flush draw if he's holding 89h); you're a 90/10 dog if he's not holding hearts; 94/6, if he is :shock: ;

a bluff or some piece of trash like QJo, in which case you're way ahead, but that's a ton of aggression shown for you to assume a bluff unless you've got some great read on your opponent.

Of the bunch, you can only beat the last one. I think you fold to the PF reraise and caller.

It goes without saying that the turn and river calls need to be rethought. It looks to me like his turn bet was to prevent a flush draw not make one and he wasn't slowing up at the river. Bottom line, way too many hands crush you to put another $500 into the pot after the action you saw on the flop.

If you'd like to work on your game, email me. We'd love to have you in our home game! 8)

[lakong]

Not sure why you are even playing the hand, but once you're raised on the flop and there is another caller you are probably close to drawing dead. You need to fold. Not sure what you were thinking when you called the turn and river bets. What hand could you beat?

[bettheline]

Okay, I screwed up. In my defense the villian was running over the table, playing lots of garbage hands and showing the table big bluffs.

[lakeoffire]

Where do i find out where and how to use the hand converter

[PokerJedi]

You said bring the heat, so I'm going to be blunt in my response, but after reading your extra info about the player in question, it sounds like he might have gotten in your head, causing you to fall into his trap, which is why he was showing all of those bluffs in the first place. Realize that there is a lot of money that can be made at this limit, so even though there are fish, the sharks will be there too. On to the hand:

Mistake #1: Raising in early position with KJo. Why even play this hand? Especially out of position. Hands like this are like A-7o, you will win a small pot or lose a big one.

Mistake #2(a): Betting only $24 after the flop. Look at the odds the villain got: 3.62:1. If he's got 9 outs, then he may not be getting the right odds to call, but if you consider that he has position, implied odds, and is a tricky player, it's probably right for him to stay in. If he's got the NUT flush draw and thinks that the other three aces are outs as well, then he's getting the correct odds right now to make the call. Implied odds are just gravy.

Mistake #2(b): OK, let's say that your $24 bet was an INFORMATIONAL bet, with the goal of figuring out where you stand. Not the worst play in the world, but then failing to act on the information constitutes a mistake. I think it was a huge mistake to call the $48 raise, for several reasons. 1. You have to play the rest of the hand out of position; 2. There was a raise AND a call behind you- pretty clear sign that you don't have the best hand; 3. Given that you were probably beat, you are getting incorrect odds to call even if hitting a king of jack will give you the best hand; 4. If you thought that you still had the best hand, you needed to reraise- you made the mistake of betting to little the first time around, and now they were giving you a chance to punish them. So, I believe that folding is the best play here, reraising a distant second, and calling an even more distant third.

Mistake #3: Rolling over and playing dead. On the turn and river, by check-calling, you might as well just give him the pin code to your ATM card. I can see how the villain, sandwiched between the two of you, might bet with something other than a set, because even on a draw, after taking control of the hand after the flop, he's not going to check the turn when there's someone left to act behind him. If that's what you were thinking at the time, hey, at least you're thinking, but if that was the case, you were probably out-thinking yourself and ignoring the rest of the signs going on here. He bet small enough because he wanted action (though he wanted you to make a mistake, even if you were on the flush draw). Most big bluffers would have put you all-in on the turn. Since you and the other opponent each had less than two times the size of the pot, putting you both all-in would have been a likely play if he was trying to buy the pot.

In the end, you got stacked off with a hand that you shouldn't have played in the first place. My suggestion is to remember this hand. Keep it in your head as a reminder that those are hands that you probably want to stay away from in the first place.