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20,000 starting chips.First hand and I'm small blind.100..5 position raises to 600.. Lady next to me calls and I raise to 4500.. First raiser folds lady next to me calls.Flop JJ4..I raise 6500 and she calls.I slow down for the turn and river check check..She has pocket 4s and takes the pot with a set.Did I lose minimum or should I have changed strategy?

Comments

  1. I would have sized a bit smaller pre-flop. 3000 would be about right... except you got someone to call with pocket 4’s. If that’s how your table plays then keep sizing up.

    Betting 2/3 on flop makes most worse hands fold. I’d expect you to get looked up with a pocket pair or a J.

    I’d expect all boats and J’s to bet on the river. You could bet small for value but don’t expect to called often by a worse hand. Check is more standard.

  2. @kevinroberts

  3. @Latenightpoker8 truthfully alot of the times I have AA,KK,QQ or big slick if I'll limp in then make a move post flop. It it only takes 2 pair to crack those aces so. I try to see a little something before going big. Unless I'm shot stacked of course

  4. I think I slow down as soon as JJ comes on the board. But reacting to that would have just been a lucky break. The real damage was done by the innocent-looking 4. It is really just irrelevant happenstance that she flopped a boat. In fact, the JJ on the board gave you extra outs to a better boat. You lost to somebody who got lucky overplaying a set-mining hand pre-flop. I think you want her calling that raise with that hand.

  5. Hey! I slow play AA, KK and QQ and even JJ early in a game because if I do a big raise (1/3 to 1/2 of my stack) all you’re going to get for risking all those chips is a very small amount early in a game. So for these hole cards I just treat them as any other pair and the rule ‘no set no bet’ applies for me. It was a challenge to resist calling a big bet, but if I’m after them I have learned to most of the time fold those Aces! I might call a reasonable bet post flop to see the turn, but I wouldn’t bet big without a set, maybe probe bet to see if anyone would raise. If a probe bet of 2X-5X BB brings out a big raise, then that usually makes it easier to fold. And if you do set your aces on the turn, your larger bet before the River and after the river doesn’t look so out of place!