[Werny]

1/2 NLHE Buy-in Min. $40 - Max $200 at local Indian casino.
10 players.
I buy in for $200.

Play an hour or so, down to $150

First Key Hand.
I am SB w/ 7-7, couple limpers, to me I raise $10, BB calls, all others fold.

SB vs. BB

Flop comes J-7-2 (two spades), I feel good against a BB call, I bet out $20, BB raises to $50, I figure he hit his J with good kicker or two pair or flush draw, roughly $90 in pot, i have trip 7's (second nuts), I re-raise all-in another $120, he calls flips over JJ.
Turn and river no 7.

Rebuy for another $200.

Play for another hour up to $225.

Final Key Hand.
I am SB looking down at pocket KK both black (second nuts), UTG bets out $10, three callers ($40 pot) , I re-raise to $80, BB folds, UTG Goes All-in, everyone fold to me, I call, UTG flips over QQ both red, flop come red,red,red, turn = red, river = red heart he wins Q high flush.

I stand up and say goodnight.

Tell me I played them alright, tell me I am not the Donkey I might be.

Werny

[whataboutj]

IMO (not an expert by any means) I think you played the first hand inncorrectly and the second correctly.

In the first hand after the flop when your $20 bet got raised to $50 you should have put on the brakes. What you didn't discuss was your read on the other player which would definitely come into play with that type of raise. Assuming there was no read to dictate otherwise I think you "Fell in love" with the trip 7's and convinced yourself that the other player couldn't have had pocket J's. I have done this many times myself so I recognize the thought/pattern

For the second hand you raised big to try and isolate against 1 player, which you did. After the AI push you had the best hand when the money went in - you got unlucky on the board. Short of somehow trying to control the pot pre-flop I'm not sure what else you could have done differently

I am curious to hear what some of the other - more experienced - hand analysers have to say about this

J

[ipgyst]

Originally Posted by Werny

I am SB w/ 7-7...Flop comes J-7-2 (two spades)...I re-raise all-in another $120...he calls flips over JJ...Turn and river no 7

This will happen. Another night, you will have 7-7, the other guy will have 2-2, and you'll win. My worst beat like this was I had K-K, other guy had 4-4, flop comes K-4-4, I'm all in with a one-outer. Yay. At least you had two outs If the only time you move in is with the nuts, you'll never win much unless you are playing fish.

Originally Posted by Werny

I am SB looking down at pocket KK both black...UTG Goes All-in...I call...UTG flips over QQ both red, flop come red,red,red, turn = red, river = red heart he wins Q high flush.

You were all in here with the best hand and had the other guy crushed. Don't worry about this one either.

[whataboutj]

By the way - I had posted a question about playing small pocket pairs (which 7-7 is considered). The answer I got was to get in cheap to hope to flop a set (which you did). The part that gets sketchy is what to do when an overcard hits the board. Here's the link if you want to read through it for fun

small pocket pairs


And for the record I could see myself playing the 7-7 the same way and getting stuck too (and I have)

[xtwalker]

Originally Posted by whataboutj

By the way - I had posted a question about playing small pocket pairs (which 7-7 is considered). The answer I got was to get in cheap to hope to flop a set (which you did). The part that gets sketchy is what to do when an overcard hits the board.

This is exactly what I thought about when I read through that thread when everyone was discussing the math and the +/-EV from each possible move. No-one seemed to consider the over set.

----

Back on topic, there was nothing you could do in this hand. At least nothing I could do if I were in this hand. Unless the man tells me he has JJ, then shows me his JJ, I have all my money in that pot every time, and I'm pushing my chips out before he finishes saying "all-in"

You played the KK correctly too. Just remember that your job is to get your money in with the best of it. The rest is up to the cards.

Was this one of your first trips to a casino to play NL?

[dad604]

I would have been stacked with both those hands too. Those things happen in poker.

[mattjrocks]

Happens to me all the time. You got your money in when you thought you had the best of it and lost. You just gotta try and shrug it off and fight through it and hope the cards fall in your favor next time.

[w-thompson]

I was involved in 2 set over set hands in a tourny last weekend, the first I had AA in late position, UTG raises I reraise, he calls. Flop is 9A7, he goes all in, I beat him in the pot and he gets no help and goes home because I covered him by 25. The second one in BB w 88, button min-raises SB calls, I call hoping to hit a set. flop is 89x with 2 hearts, SB bets ~half the pot, I push all in and the button can't call fast enough and he rolls over 99. I get no help and am down to 1 BB and go home the next hand. Set over set is so tough to see, and while it may be a leak in my game I rarely worry about it unless I am against a player I know very well and/or have a rock solid read, even then unless its a tournament situation I will probably make the call and end up saying "Nice hand, sir." while I buy more chips.

-Wayne

[Big Mike]

I both hands were fine, except I wouldn't have raised the 7's preflop with limpers ahead. Once you hit that set, you should be getting busted, I think. In a live 1/2 game, folding second set on a board like that probably isn't a good idea ever, IMO.

[jmc]

I think you played both hands fine. Raising with the 77 isn't as bad as everyone thinks it is -- it allows you to sweeten the pot and get the money in on the flop a lot easier when you do flop a set.

I'd think that if the game is fairly tight post-flop the raise is good, however, if players aren't very good and will stack off with AJ/KJ/QJ in an unraised pot, then raising doesn't buy you very much.