Not bad. My only recomendation is to put in a small raise on the turn. If he folds, you werent going to get any money from him on the river anyway. If he has any hand he will be enticed to call the raise, and you can probably get some more out of him on the river.

I had the same flop, only with 7's in an SNG a few days ago.

checked around on flop, person bet into me on turn and i raised him just enough to give him odds that he had to call if he wasn't on a total bluff.

On river he checked to me and I put in about a 40% pot size bet and he called.

Theres not much you can really do here. You just have to pray someone gets enough of a hand to give you action.

Yeah, I raise on the turn when the A hits. Probably just min raise, maybe a bit more.

But I don't think you played it horribly. I mean, with 2 4's out there in a sea of limpers, I don't see how you're going to make much more than you did. Everyone has to be afraid that someone has the 4.

Originally Posted by Antneye

Not bad. My only recomendation is to put in a small raise on the turn. If he folds, you werent going to get any money from him on the river anyway. If he has any hand he will be enticed to call the raise, and you can probably get some more out of him on the river.

I had the same flop, only with 7's in an SNG a few days ago.

checked around on flop, person bet into me on turn and i raised him just enough to give him odds that he had to call if he wasn't on a total bluff.

On river he checked to me and I put in about a 40% pot size bet and he called.

Theres not much you can really do here. You just have to pray someone gets enough of a hand to give you action.

Was my advice too...

Minimum raise (small) are often treated like bluffs. He could have reraise.

KJ

What about checking flop and then betting out on the turn? I would always check the flop and check turn here (with no reads - first hand lol)?

In limit I would just bet out all three streets with quads or one 4 and good kicker, or checkraise flop if trash with a four especially if any draws as you really have to just get the bets in when you can in limit. I would only check/call flop if I knew someone was really aggressive behind me.

I am having trouble finding the right combo of slowplaying/punishing draws (obviously not an issue with quads but I mean if I had say A4 in this hand) in NL. It seems like I play really well in these NL tourneys until about 30% left and then I walk into a monster, and it's usually sombody that hits the turn. I have good skills as far as what hands to play in what position and not calling off a bunch of chips from my limit play, but I really am getting killed by the sandbaggers. I do better in the SNG's where it seems like my style does better. I haven't placed in a MTT in 15 tries and its frustrating me.

I am not really sure what I'm asking at this point, just venting, but thanks for any advice if someone can find a question worth answering in my ramblings.

Welcome to NL, where you can think you're betting the best hand on the flop, on the turn, only to have your opponent go all in on the river. Then you're wondering, WTF???

I don't know anything about limit, but it seems like odds and mathematical play are much more important. In NL, you MUST learn to read your opponents. You MUST start to pick up their tendencies and patterns. Every hand has dribbles of information in it, every showdown is a goldmine of understanding.

That being said, here's how my one MTT for the month ended for me today:

Doing well, fairly good chipstack in the middle of the tourney, I've been playing tight. Pick up AQ on the button, 2 limpers to me, I make a big raise (6xBB I think). Flop comes AQ7. Wow, I've got top two, and I really want one of these opponents to come along for the ride. Pot gets checked around to me, and I bet about 20% of the pot. EP calls, MP folds. Turn comes 5 on a rainbow board. MP, a fairly loose-aggressive player jumps all in, and has me covered.

Normally I go into a deep think here, but I'm overconfident that she's got A5 and knows I have a big Ace - though in the back of my mind I'm really afraid of AA, 77, or 55, with a very outside chance of QQ. If I had thought about it, I probably let this hand go (I'm really uncertain, she's way overbetted the pot, and it's for my tournament life). But I didn't think about it, and called. She had 55 and had hit her miracle on the turn. No miracle for me on the river (A or Q), and that's all she wrote.

My mistakes: 1) Getting greedy and not betting enough on the flop to take down the pot. 2) Having a momentary lapse of attention and getting too impetious.

Happens to the best of us.

Jason,

I feel your pain. I always have to resist the temptation to slowplay anything other than the absolute stone cold nuts.

Down to 4 last night in an SNG holding pocket aces, flop comes AXX. Two hrts on board and I dont have a hrt. Everybodies been playing any 2 suited cards. Do I slow play my trips? Can't do it so I bet about 3/4 pot and villain folds. I actually wanted the fold becaise I knew I'g get sucked out by a hrt draw.

Its just safer. I had built a nice pot PF anyway.

Everytime I try to SP a made hand thats not quite unbeatable I run the risk of knocking myself out of the tourney........and it's happened a lot.