Welll played or donked off?

Would be right if the turn was a 3 of diamonds (thats what i thought it)

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (6 handed) from (Format: Bet The Pot)

Button ($4)
SB ($23)
BB ($24.10)
UTG ($2.95)
MP ($10.75)
Hero ($25)

Preflop: Hero is CO with , .
2 folds, Hero raises to $1, Button calls $1, SB calls $0.90, 1 fold.

Flop: ($3.25) , , (3 players)
SB bets $1, Hero raises to $3.5, Button folds, SB calls $2.50.

Turn: ($10.25) (2 players)
SB bets $2, Hero raises to $6, SB calls $4.

River: ($22.25) (2 players)
SB bets $4, Hero raises to $14.5, SB calls $8.50 (All-In).

Final Pot: $49.25

You didn't say anything about the type of player he is, so I'll assume for now that he's a standard $25NL new player.

Flop bet: Looks like a 'blocking bet' meaning he has a mediocre strength hand (weak queen, middle pair) or a draw (JT, hearts). Make a pot-size raise in this spot in a multiway pot frequently. A pot-size raise here is to make it $5.25. If you get cold called by the button then the spidey sense goes off, but at least you have that information.

Turn: one of the draws that concerns you just got there. Your opponent block bets again. This could be a badly played JT, a worse queen, or a made flush trying to get value (in not a very good fashion). Getting 5:1 I probably call and see the river. Shove the turn if it's the , you're heads up with the SB player, and he would call with KQ or QJ.

River: I don't think raising that river is going to be profitable in the long term. Your opponent is obviously very interested in sticking with the hand. Sure, you have TPTK but your relative hand strength is not that great. There aren't too many worse hands at this point he is going to call you with if you raise. Just call and see the showdown, you are getting a little over 6:1 to do so.

I would not be surprised if your opponent showed you A9 in the showdown here.

[EDIT: to be more exact, a flushdraw has ~20% of hitting with the next card, not 25% =) ]


well as you said, the flush is disturbing, but to be honest - I lost a lot of such hands too against 2 pairs or sets. So lets imagine the flush was not there!

Raise flop higher, think of it:
25% chance to hit a flush per card, about 33% including river. I'm used to calculate it per card because if someone raises turn all in I can't see the river anyways. But thats not how all players do it.

he has to call 2.5 in a ~8 dollar pot.... only slightly too much for him and as he has a chance to win after having hit more it's not a big of a discussion for microtable players. If you calculate it with 33% then its even below his odds, 2.66 would be 33%

Minimum raise by the potsize on the flop, dont bet the pot, raise his 1 dollar bet by the potsize, as he is showing with his 1 dollar raise that he's got something so I make it at least 5.25 dollars... I think thats pretty important, dont forget the odds and that if he just raised, you have to remember he has already money on the table when you reraise him.

If he calls this hand he normally is not on the flush and has at least top pair. So you know after him calling your raise that he got something. Time to relax, only hands that you are beating are KQ and QJ. KQ would be a possible hand, but think of it, only one hand you are beating. Check/fold then and dont bother doing so


back to your hand
lets imagine there is no obvious flush on turn: he bets 2 dollars, you raise to 6
again think about odds.
25% of 18 dollars are 4.5 so he has perfect odds to call your raise because he only has to call 4 dollars. Again: if you want to raise because you think you're ahead with your hand then raise high, if the other one calls you know that he too thinks the same of his hand, but with this raise you know nothing about him.

Because you still know nothing of your enemy i'm not surprised that you played on the river.

I'm sure he has a Fullhouse, 4 of kind or a flush.
Please post results =)



Any comments on my reply are welcome, as I'm too a beginner[/b]

Okay this is what I was thinking. (no read on him)
When he led out on the flop, i put him on a queen, not a draw. I found more players would either check call, bet 25-50c, or check raise all on, open push. I am not very familiar with raising amounts, as some of you mention, its by the pot size, i did it according to his bet size, 3.5 times. Turn card, I SAW a 3 of diamonds and when he led out again, I was sure i had him beat. Since he didnt re-raise preflop, didnt put him on aa, kk, qq. Again on the turn, i raised the wrong amount. River card seemed pretty harmless to me as the way it played out since he led out once again.

He had QK

Im pretty new to 6 max and usually when playing full ring i dont get as involved with hands like these.