Comments / criticism please

Hello all,

I've just started playing ring games after concentrating on STTs and MTTs and am looking for some comments and criticism of the following hand from last night. I'm not that concerned with the actual outcome of the hand but am looking for any advice on the way I thought about it and the way I played it.

For info, I had been playing relatively tight since joining the table and had shown some strength while building my stack. I had just decided to try mixing it up and loosening up a bit to see how I got on... listi however had only just joined the table so had no reads on me and me none on him / her.


Hold'em NL (£0.15/£0.25)
Table "Charley" Seat 10 is the button.

Seat 1: Foxinb007 (£15.35 in chips)
Seat 2: Pete09054 (£30.70 in chips)
Seat 3: MlNSK (£34.45 in chips)
Seat 4: MattS2K (£54.31 in chips)
Seat 5: Svan3n (£9 in chips)
Seat 6: listi (£24.60 in chips)
Seat 7: Nirvash (£26.25 in chips)
Seat 8: Jonny2out (£18.05 in chips)
Seat 9: Honeyman6 (£16.75 in chips)
Foxinb007: posts small blind £0.15
Pete09054: posts big blind £0.25

----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to MattS2K [Js Qs]
MlNSK: folds
MattS2K: raises to £0.75
Svan3n: folds
listi: raises to £2.50
Nirvash: folds
Jonny2out: folds
Honeyman6: folds
Foxinb007: folds
Pete09054: folds
MattS2K: calls £1.75

----- FLOP ----- [4s Qh 7s]
MattS2K: bets £5.25
listi: raises to £22.10 and is all-in

at this point I top pair and a flush draw. I had no reads on listi but thought the all-in a bit ott and maybe he wanted me out. I thought I might be behind, but had plenty of outs to improve if so, so

MattS2K: calls £16.85

----- TURN ----- [4s Qh 7s][9d]
----- RIVER ----- [4s Qh 7s 9d][Ac]

----- SHOW DOWN -----
listi: shows [Kc Ks] (A Pair of Kings, Ace high)
MattS2K: shows [Js Qs] (A Pair of Queens, Ace high)
listi collects £47.15 from Main pot
****HAND ENDS****


A couple of points:

was my attempt at being more aggressive too tame? In this case it probably wouldn't have made any difference to the outcome, but in general would I have been better to have raised more?

was my final decision to call the all-in correct? I think it was as my odds of winning were better than the pot odds I was getting, but I would be grateful if someone could confirm this or explain if I'm not before I blow all my spare cash making calls like this!

Cheers,

Matt.

If you put villain on AA/KK which this looks like given the preflop raise and flop re-raise AI, a spade, Q or J should all be good here giving you 14 outs on the turn and river assuming the board doesn't pair. You are getting 2:1 on the AI call so I think you are good to call here. The preflop call of the re-raise with QJs into a heads up board with an unknown is the more questionable call. This is not a great hand to play heads up with a show of strength by op preflop. I think you can lay this down and wait for a better spot without a read.

Looks like you were getting 2-1 on your money. And 13 outs with turn/river to come (1.08-1 to hit). Call looks good to me.

EDIT: Like the others are saying, I'd fold pre-flop as well.

I fold to the preflop threebet.

I fold pre-flop without betting, then I don't even need to worry about the 3-bet, but you said you were loosening up. You weren't just lossening up, but you were loosening up out of position. When I loosen up, I still try to maintain position.

Your exact chance to win here is 44.2%. (would have been 49.8% if your opponent didn't have a spade in his hand) You have to call for 35.7%. So you have odds to call if you put your opp on an overpair, with or without a spade. Just know that you're getting into a cointoss here.