The hand I can’t get out of my mind.
All things considered, I feel like I had a good weekend. Played a lot of hands and ended up money, but this hand has me scratching my head. Take a look at it and I’ll give my thoughts below.
Poker Stars, $0.01/$0.02 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter
Hero (CO): $2.09
BTN: $4.81
SB: $3.64
BB: $5.41
UTG: $1.54
MP: $3.59
Pre-Flop: K
K
dealt to Hero (CO)
UTG calls $0.02, MP folds, Hero raises to $0.10, 3 folds, UTG calls $0.08
Flop: ($0.23) 7 7
Q (2 Players)
UTG bets $0.12, Hero calls $0.12
Turn: ($0.47) 9 (2 Players)
UTG bets $0.12, Hero raises to $0.24, UTG calls $0.12
River: ($0.95) T (2 Players)
UTG bets $0.30, Hero calls $0.30
Results: $1.55 Pot ($0.05 Rake)
Hero showed K K (two pair, Kings and Sevens) and LOST (-$0.76 NET)
UTG showed 6
8 (a straight, Six to Ten) and WON $1.50 (+$0.74 NET)
After calling my preflop raise and betting into me on the flop, I put him on A-Q, K-Q, Q-J or similar, giving him what he thought was top (two) pair and maybe top kicker. With that being my read and knowing I had position I just called his flop bet for value knowing I was going to raise his turn bet. With his river bet and the 3rd spade on the board, now I wondered if I missed my read and he was chasing a flush draw, but people at this level treat top pair like the holy grail, I was treating my top pair like the holy grail. 
Anyway I still thought he was betting his Q. Come to find out I was wrong in all my reads. If he is going to bet 68 offsuit needing runner runner to beat me, then I have to assume if I raised his flop bet he was going to call it, and that seems like the only thing I could have done differently, aside from folding after his river bet, or maybe betting more which would have meant I just lost more. Thoughts?
January 28th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
When someone donks the flop and makes the same size bet on the turn, they are often trying to draw cheap by “setting their odds”. I would raise the turn enough to make all 8-9 outers call incorrectly. This means more than a min-raise. The spade draw was still out. Punish villains for calling raises OOP with weak hands.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
So not raising the turn was my mistake, I was thinking that. Am I wrong in assuming that he would call even a 30 or 40 cent raise? I mean he had nothing on the turn, and needed runner runner to beat me and any other hand that hit a piece of that flop, yet bet into me and still called my turn raise. So although I might have forced an incorrect call, isn’t his turn bet incorrect then? More than anything I am confused, because although I agree I should have raised big on the turn, I also feel like that would’ve just meant I lost more, so is it still a mistake?
January 28th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
the turn bet by villian is not incorrect since you merely called the flop bet. His mistake was not betting more. His turn bet was quite weak. It’s not a draw heavy board, so letting him bet your hand is not all bad. If you show too much strength, then he would just fold, or if you’re behind, then you could end up overcommitting while drawing dead. A classic WA/WB hand. nh.
January 28th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
I would raise preflop to like $.14. Guys at this limit like to limp and call raises. This way he is really paying through the nose to try and hit a good flop with bad cards. It’s an FU raise. He obviously hates to not see a flop, so say “FU…call this”. Just remember not to bet more than he will call preflop. It’s a waste of KK.
January 29th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Basically I need to be more aggressive, but not too aggressive that I don’t get anything for my KK. I thought by calling the flop bet I would get more value out of the hand, and that worked until he went runner runner. Oh well, live and learn, right.
I’m still surprised he called that preflop bet with 68 off suit, then evidently thought that was a good hand and would go for runner runner. I raised to $.10 earlier in the game with AA and everyone folder, go figure.