I'm on the SB...1/2 NL $200 max buy in I have about $280. Limps around to me I raise to 12 w AJ and get 2 callers. Flop comes down Jd 8s 5s I check(very aggressive table I know somebody will bet) BB bets out 12, other guy raises to 24, I bump to 100. BB folds and other guy calls I have about 160 left other guy has about 180 left turn is 2h I push he calls. Show down AJo vs. J7 s river Ks. Winner J7 with King High Flush. My buddy says I played it right but I'm questioning my play.

i cant really comment on the hand seeing as i dont play cash games much but the funny thing is the "exact" same thing happend to me in a rebuy the other day. J7 of hearts..i pushed hard as hell.....cause people always try and outdraw in rebuys and he catches. Sucks.

I guess if u know its an aggresive table then why not push like u did.

Approaching this from a pot odds standpoint, it seems like only his preflop bet was incorrect. Preflop, it looks like the guy had to call $10 for a pot that was at least $24. Not great odds for J7s.

So then he hits top pair and a flush draw. When you check-raise him, he'd have to be thinking that, at best, he's up against an overpair because only an overpair would maximize his outs at 13 (9 other flush cards + 2 additional JavaScript + 2 non-spade 7s). With 13 outs, if he's looking at 1 card at a time, his odds are around 2.6:1. If the pot before the flop was around $40, after adding the betting action up through your checkraise, the pot would have around $176 in it ($40 + $12 + $24 + $100) when he has to call an additional $76. That's laying him 2.3:1. So as it turns out, your bet on the flop was a little light and his call was correct if he's put you on an overpair.

On the turn after his flop call, it seems like the pot should have around $250 ($176 + $74) to start. Your $160 push thus makes the pot around $410, laying him right around 2.6:1 to call with his own $160. If he still thinks all his outs are live, then he's getting the right price for his call.

Now it's certainly easy to do all this math after the fact, and who's to say whether the guy was really thinking this way. But it is instructive from your standpoint. You must have thought that the flop hit him because of his flop raise, and so if you thought that he also had another draw (such as the flush), you needed to do more than triple his bet to make his call incorrect. I guess the lesson from the hand is that, when deciding how much to bet, it is as important to think about what outs your opponent may have when you're ahead as about how many you may have when you're behind.

Thats what I was thinking the whole time, that my post flop raise was too small. I put him on a straight draw and not a flush, so I didn't think he had the odds to call. I guess we must learn from our mistakes. Its ok though I'm gonna get that $280 back from him tonight...with interest.