Was I a chicken?

Trying not to focus on the result so much as the correctness of the decision.
I was playing a couple of SNGs this morning (Everest Poker 0.04+0.01) and things had gone quite smoothly here I'd got JJ and TT and taken down largish pots and suddenly we were down to four and the blinds were still tiny.

The speed and the fact that I was trying to concentrate on another table where I was getting short on chips meant that I had nothing on these guys at all.

I lead with my "standard" 12xbb as I had previously with JJ and TT, so my opening bet is consistent (note: anything less than 12 and everyone seems to come in at this level).

When it came down to it I got worried. Partly because of the confidence of the bets against the background of the flop, partly because I was on the bubble (I know, I know, shouldn't let it get to me).

Happy ending though as I won this table and then the one I was struggling on.

Hope the formatting works....


Hand History STT
4 players

Stack Sizes
Hero: 209,00
SB: 300,50
BB: 83,00
UTG: 407,50

Hero is BTN with: J J

Blinds
SB posts blind 1,00
BB posts blind 2,00
Pre-Flop
1 called, Hero raises 12.00, 1 folded, 2 called

FlopT 6 3
1 checked, UTG bets 37.00, 2 called

Turn 6
Turn
1 checked, UTG bets 148.00, Hero Folded, 1 called

River T
Results in White
BB shows Kh, Ks
BB is eliminated
UTG shows Ad, As
UTG wins 330,00

Converted with Anosmic's Hand Converter

First of all you raised to 12 with BB of 2, thats 6xBB raise, not 12xBB.

Nice fold, incredibly bad play by both of them.

However I think you misplayed it on the flop, calling makes little sense here, if you think you are ahead raise, if you think you are behind then fold

Originally Posted by TLR

First of all you raised to 12 with BB of 2, thats 6xBB raise, not 12xBB.

LOL. Nice catch.
The blinds had gone up, I didn't even notice (that's bad right).

Still 6xbb works here and then when the blinds go up again more "normal" raises start to work.

Nice fold, incredibly bad play by both of them.

I thought the pf play was bad with those hands. What else did they do wrong? What more can I learn from this?

However I think you misplayed it on the flop, calling makes little sense here, if you think you are ahead raise, if you think you are behind then fold

A major problem I have at the moment is calling too often.

When I saw the first bet I thought either something like AT (can imagine him calling pf with that), high pp or two high hearts.
My gut reaction was that he probably had the hearts and was making a semi-bluff.

My idea was to call and get out if he bet heavily if another heart came on the turn, raise him if he showed any hesitancy.
When the big bet came on the turn I had to re-evaluate. Big pocket pair or boat are about all that fit then.

Another reason I'm just calling most of the time is that early on I'm trying to limit the size of the pot unless I'm really sure I've got the best hand. (And this still felt early even if there were only 4 players left).

Too often I've lost 2 or 3 of the early hands where I've raised pf. This can put me down on around 40-60 chips and I can normally come back from there.
Mostly I'll do my best to make sure I can lose 2-3 of these pots before I'm in trouble because I know that I'll get paid off on more certain hands. This smells like a dangerous leak but I'm having trouble plugging it.

There are so many things the other guys did wrong you will need a separate forum for that.

For the moment I will assume there are no reads or table image because I dont have this info.

UTG has AA - he is the big stack, and he is pretty much expected to push people around. you dont want to take AA 3 way, which will happen if SB completes and BB check - so he had to raise it preflop.
On the Flop and turn he played it fine.

BB is shortstacked with KK, you got a limp and a raise ahead, you want to isolate to one opponent, he had to push preflop.

On the flop he has to assume is K's are good, he got a bet and a call, the raise was 1/2 his stack more or less, there are 2 callers, he has to push and pray for a fold of at least one of you, but calling makes no sense what soever, A and hearts are scare cards for him

Regarding your flop play - you put him on 2 hearts, AT or high PP - I would expect and higher PP (QQ-AA) to reraise you, so I would narrow it down to TT, AT and 2 hearts.
TT you are way behind
AT - you are way ahead but he has 5 outs
2 high hearts - lets say KQ he has 15 outs and you are ahead.

there is one player to act after you, if he has hearts you are giving him better odds to call by calling.
You are ahead of most hands, I think I push it

I dont think UTG played it too badly. The blinds are still pretty small, so as long as he can get away from it on a bad flop it might be a good way to maximise value rather than reraise to minimise risk.

I personally would have reraised but I dont think its a horrible play, as long as its not the normal way he plays AA.