First time poster, woo hoo!!

Any ways, I was playing a $5-$1 sit n go on party. I was 2nd in chips and we were down to 4 handed play, so we were on the bubble. I had been playing fairly tight in a no limit hold'em game. I had made a couple of moves but mostly I was playing strongs hands that i hit the flop on. If I missed the flop and was bet into I folded. On this hand I was under the gun and I limped in with 8d-7d. Here is the hand history.

50/100 Tourney Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL)
Table Table 67284 (Real Money) -- Seat 5 is the button
Total number of players : 4
Seat 1: kvthump (915)
Seat 2: mindbenderz (2840)
Seat 3: redhead2711 (2080)
Seat 5: Nimvin (2165)
kvthump posts small blind (25)
mindbenderz posts big blind (50)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Nimvin [ , ]
redhead2711 folds.
Nimvin calls (50)
kvthump calls (25)
mindbenderz checks.
** Dealing Flop ** [ , , ]
kvthump checks.
mindbenderz bets (50)
Nimvin raises (200) to 200
kvthump folds.
mindbenderz calls (150)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ ]
mindbenderz checks.
Nimvin bets (200)
mindbenderz calls (200)
** Dealing River ** : [ ]
mindbenderz checks.
Nimvin bets (200)
mindbenderz raises (2390) to 2390
mindbenderz is all-In.
Nimvin calls (1515)
Nimvin is all-In.
Creating Main Pot with $4380 with Nimvin
Creating Side Pot 1 with $675 with mindbenderz
** Summary **
Main Pot: 4380 | Side Pot 1: 675
Board: [ ]
kvthump balance 865, lost 50 (folded)
mindbenderz balance 5055, bet 2840, collected 5055, net +2215 [ ] [ three of a kind, threes -- ,, , , ]
redhead2711 balance 2080, didn't bet (folded)
Nimvin balance 0, lost 2165 [ ] [ two pairs, eights and sevens -- , , , , ]

Now when the flop came down I had what I figured to be the best hand. It's not likely anyone was going to put me on 8-7 so I bet into the pot thinking everyone would put me on a straight draw. One guy folded the other called. Since I figured to have the best hand I wanted to milk as much money as I could out of them so I continued to make raises, but for the most part they were small raises (in comparison to the pot.) What I was wondering was did I play this hand right or should I have gone all in after the flop? I think that play would have won me the hand right there but I didn't see any likely straight draws and the flush wasn't there. What do you guys think.

Originally Posted by Irexes

Hello and welcome,

As I read the hand history I got to him calling your raise on the flop and thought "he has trips", still hard to let go of though, and the fact I was only right once the river came is another thing entirely. Don't limp 4 handed?
)

I understand not wanting to limp four handed, but also I was just wanting to get in the flop for cheap and see if I hit anything, because 87s is hardly a hand I feel like is the best at the table preflop, even if it is 4 handed. Not a bad hand otherwise I wouldn't have paid to see the flop in the first place, but not something I would want to commit a large part of stack to unless I was trying to steal or something else, and there had been to much calling in this game for me to feel comfortable on a steal.

78s will usually be the best hand PF 4 handed. anyways, you don't want to see a flop, you want to take down these blinds now. 4 handed and less, its not about what you have, its about what they don't have.

After you bet 200 on the flop your opps was getting 550-150 to call (2.75:1).
On the Turn you bet of 200 gave 900-200 to call (4.5:1) Still not proper odds to call but with implied odds I guess he thought it was cheap enough to call - TOO CHEAP! If you had bet at 2/3 to full pot as you had on the flop, he would have at least paid for the privilage of sucking you out.

Nothing wrong with bleeding out a few extra chips - just as long as it still comes at enough cost for them to be making a mistake and discourage going for the miricle card. Even with a strong hand like yours, once you get to the turn, make sure the price to carry on is at least 3:1 if not 2:1. With only 5 outs and 8.2:1 draw odds he would have been paying big time to see the river.

Maybe I'm a little too conservative here but here's my .02, the blinds are only at 25/50 and you only have one more short stack to eliminate to make the money (I'd fold PF). You're getting involved in a pot for 75-100 chips PF you're not really making much going into the hand even if you steal the blinds plus the other guy can possibly whittle the short stack down. If your going for a steal you gotta raise PF, not limp. If you're limping in they're probably not suspecting you have much strength (like a premium hand). He has a piece of the flop (even if it is bottom pair you showed no strength from the begining and that's not a real scary looking flop) but it's a piece so he bet it. To me your raise would make me think you're trying to steal with Ax or maybe just 2 paint cards but I might thing you'd raise PF if you had big cards depending on how you've played up to this point.

The turn could be a scare card, but you didn't bet it like you made kings so it was only another 150 to him and he is the chip leader. The river he just got plain lucky but, when the board pairs you have to consider trips, possibly a full house or just a gutsy bluff then decide if it's worth risking your stack when he puts you all in.

That said I agree with what's been said bet bigger on the turn make him risk a bigger portion of his stack on a pair of 3's. Like I said I might be too consevative here but the blinds are still relatively small to your stack and either you or one of the other guys should focus on getting rid of the short stack. Start going after the blinds and antes when there's something worthwhile in there.

Yeah, pok, 4 handed, thats pretty weak/tight... If there had been more players, then folding to bubble would be a good idea... but personally im raising this to build my stack. I'm not trying to get into the money, I'm trying to get HU with ammo.

That, and with only 20 bb's, the blinds are a decent chunk of your stack... You don't have many rounds to wait here before the blinds eat you up.

without showdown

bet pot preflop
flop raise the open to like 4x
turn when/if he cheks bet pot
river if he called your prolly screwed but commmited.

affraid your showdown is too Confuesing. if you won you got lucky. if you lost you desrve it.

betting weak like hat on turn is bad. calling off your stack on river is poor play also.

Most of what you guys have said is what I was thinking about after the hand. I kept thinking I should have gone all in after the flop to take the pot down right then. I understand going after the short stack too. I probably tried to stay away from a HU with the chip leader, even though I had enough chips to be a threat to his stack. Thanks for the input.