Advice Please!

Hi there, I've been playing holdem' on the net for a few weeks now and am learning all the time.
I was playing a game of no limit last night and lost a big hand where I really should have won it and was just wondering where I went wrong.
Could somebody please give me advice?

The turn came over and I had a flush on clubs. There was no pair on the table so I thought I was pretty safe. I raised, a couple folded and 1 player called me to the river. The river came up as a 7. There was already a 7 on the flop. I went all in, he called and had 4 of a kind on 7.
He was a bit lucky to catch the 4 of a kind on the river but should I have gone all in on the turn when I had the flush which could have forced him into folding?

Thanks in advance.

How big did you raise the turn? Did you bet pre-flop or bet the flop at all? What limit were you playing at? Sounds like you may have played it fine (he probably wasn't going to fold his set anyway) you just got hit with a bad beat. If you were only calling until the turn flush hit and then you bet big, he should put you on a flush and figure he's beat, but people are just stubborn and wont let go of a good hand.

Originally Posted by storm75m

How big did you raise the turn? Did you bet pre-flop or bet the flop at all? What limit were you playing at? Sounds like you may have played it fine (he probably wasn't going to fold his set anyway) you just got hit with a bad beat. If you were only calling until the turn flush hit and then you bet big, he should put you on a flush and figure he's beat, but people are just stubborn and wont let go of a good hand.

It was a no-limit single tourny 30/60 game at the time. I think i just called all the way until the turn, then raised to 120. The other guy probably thought it was worth the risk for 120 chips so maybe going all in would have scared him off?

that bet isn't scaring anyone anywhere. how big were your stacks.

Yup. For just the reason you found out (remember, HE is a SEVEN card game ) you need to hit that flush HARD on the turn (or flop if you flop one). So your stack size, compared to your opponent's is a consideration.

One more question. Was your flush hidden (2 clubs in your hand) or open (only one club in your hand)?

First, losing to 4 of a kind is very rare. Don't let it affect your play.

Second, a decent analysis of this hand requires ALOT more information. Was it raised preflop, how many people saw the flop, what was the pot preflop, what was the action after that, was it bet and raised, who bet when, what position, what was their table history, how many hands had he played postflop in the last hour (in an SnG early you don't know this), what was your table image, where you pushing the betting or limp calling, what was the pot after the flop betting, turn betting, etc, what % of the pot was bet or raised.... there could be twice this many questions easily. NL poker is very simple and very complicated based on the situation. First hand of an SnG, AA all-in preflop called with KK - very simple. Your hand falls into the more complicated arena.

Oh, and what were your cards?

Based on the information you gave I'll make a couple of observations.
1. Trips are good even with 3 of a suit on the board alot of the time, unless you "declare" that you have the flush with a really large bet, then he's not folding.
2. He could have had a larger flush, I don't know what your cards were. (I know he Didn't have the flush, but that's another reason he would stay in the pot and possibly beat you.)
3. If he thought you had the flush he still had a number of outs on the river, if the board pairs + his trips = full house.

With that said, again refer to all the different factors in the first run-on sentence. They all matter.

Everything someone does at the table gives information about their hand: what they've done in the past counts, position counts, betting amounts count, etc. It's not only information you can collect, but there's also information that you GIVE. If you were playing it slow to win more chips and got beat on the river, then oh well. If you wanted him to fold the hand before that, then you should have made it incredibly expensive for him to catch that last 7.