I wanted to bring up a couple hands that have been sticking in the back of my mind. I find myself in the position where I am steadily winning small amounts but I can't seem to grow my bankroll because of the stack busting hands I am getting involved in. I am not sure if I am overplaying my hands or I have just hit some situations that you can't get away from. Any insight would be appreciated.

Both hands on Gaming Club $0.10/$0.20, $20 max buy-in

Hand 1 - No reads on anyone, Villian has a massive stack (6x buy-in) and I have just less than a full buy-in. I have been at the table less than one orbit and haven't seen anything unusual.

Hero dealt on the button
UTG & UTG+1 both limp to Villian who minraises to $0.40. Table folds to me and I call, SB folds, BB, UTG & UTG+1 all call.

FLOP: - Pot=$2.10
Checks around to me and I bet out $1.80. Folds around to Villain who raises to $5 total.
**What is your play here and why?**
I felt at this point it was an all-in or fold situation. The only reasonable hand I feared was QQ and I felt that I might get a call from somone holding AQ. I pushed all-in; he called instantly and flipped over QQ.

Hand 2 - no reads on anyone, this was maybe the 8th hand since I sat at the table. Villain has $17 and I have him covered.

Hero dealt on the button
UTG+1 limps, folds to me and I raise to $0.80. SB & BB fold and UTG+1 calls after thinking a few.

FLOP: - Pot = $1.90
Villain checks to me and I fire out a bet $1.80 and Villain flat calls.

TURN: - Pot = $5.50
Villain checks it to me again. After a flop that has basically no draws and him calling a pot sized bet I put him on AQ or KQ type of hand. I want to make a bet that pot commits him so I fire out an overbet of $7 hoping it smells like a bluff.
**comments on that play would be appreciated as obviously this is where things went wrong**
Villains comes over the top all-in as I expected he would with a top pair hand. I am somewhat worried about a set at this point but I have pretty much pot committed myself as well as my opponent. I call the all in and he shows J9o for the turned straight.

I am trying to find the balance between being an aggressive player but not overplaying my hands and shooting myself in the foot.

Arx

Hand #1 is fine. I would be willing to play for my stack here, but I would most likely wait until the turn to do it. I want him to pot commit himself on the turn and then push in. He might fold to your flop all in if his hand isnt that strong. Losing your stack here is unavoidable.

Hand #2. When someone calls your flop bet when there are no real draws available, you should be more willing to check behind on the turn than overbet the turn.

Most times he will either have a Q or a set. If he has a Q, he only has 5 outs. Giving him a free card isnt that bad. If he has a set and you check behind and then call his river bet, you will lose much less.

if you check behind on the turn , he is going to bet any Q or his set, so you have to call, but you will come ahead playing it this way most times.

In this case if you had checked behind fearing a set, he wouldve bet about $5 on the river and you wouldve saved about $10. Half a stack.

The first hand is an unfortunate flop, I'm all in on this one too. It is the perk of playing suited connectors to hit disguised trips, it is lousy have them boat up at the same time, he could have a wide range of hands that you are beating.

The second hand, raise more preflop. If he still wants to play J9 for the gutshot so be it, lose your money or drag the pot. I've found that you can go up to $1 or $1.50 and still get action. In your game with more limpers I like all in preflop with AA or KK, you will get called by many hands you own.

[quote=iceman5]When someone calls your flop bet when there are no real draws available, you should be more willing to check behind on the turn than overbet the turn.

Most times he will either have a Q or a set. If he has a Q, he only has 5 outs. Giving him a free card isnt that bad. If he has a set and you check behind and then call his river bet, you will lose much less.

if you check behind on the turn , he is going to bet any Q or his set, so you have to call, but you will come ahead playing it this way most times.
[/quote]

This may be one of the best pieces of advice EVER.

And as for rdale, I absolutely agree. You need to raise emphatically. 6BB+ easily.

Wow Ice, I sure could have used that advice a couple days ago. I had a similar situation where I raised 6BB with KK and led out with a pot sized bet on the flop which was called and the turn gave my opponent his gutshot. By this time I was all in and losing my stack.

So, as I understand it, try and check it down if your hand is unimproved on the turn, or call down reasonable sized bets keeping the pot small and fold to an all-in