Newbie Hand - Newbie Mistake - Please help

I've been playing play money online at Stars off and on for about a year but recently have getting more and more interested in the art of poker (and made a small deposit at Stars in the attempt at getting some experience that wasn't diluted by "play" money). After reading much online and with my limited play money experience I have noticed that I have some significant leaks in my game and have decided to dedicate more time to learning the game starting again with the basics. This site has been GREAT!!, everyone has done a fantastic job and the sharing of knowledge is next to none and I'm very appreciative.

So on to my question. I know my first mistake was not even thinking trip nines was an option. I was so focused on what I had that I didn't even think about what he could have but knew that I had high pair (Q's) ace high and just got blinded by this fact. However, knowing that I played the hand wrong in that way, I would like to know the other mistakes I made during the hand. Thanks in advance for your advice and help.

tt

PokerStars Game #1072650634: Hold'em No Limit ($0.05/$0.10) - 2005/01/13 - 07:13:23 (ET)
Table 'Oongaq' Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: Traveller03 ($1.80 in chips)
Seat 2: grouchyolde ($1.80 in chips)
Seat 3: acesrolledup ($7 in chips)
Seat 5: TickBoy ($3.70 in chips)
Seat 6: denvic1 ($5.10 in chips)
Seat 7: Slipweenie ($4.60 in chips)
Seat 8: Smokylake ($9.80 in chips)
acesrolledup: posts small blind $0.05
TickBoy: posts big blind $0.10
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to TickBoy [Qs Ad]
denvic1: folds
rwhjr_2000 leaves the table
Slipweenie: calls $0.10
Smokylake: calls $0.10
Traveller03: calls $0.10
grouchyolde: folds
acesrolledup: calls $0.05
TickBoy: raises $0.10 to $0.20
Slipweenie said, "idiota here today"
Slipweenie: calls $0.10
Smokylake: calls $0.10
Traveller03: calls $0.10
acesrolledup: calls $0.10
*** FLOP *** [7d 9c Qc]
Slipweenie said, "idiots"
acesrolledup: checks
TickBoy: bets $0.30
Slipweenie: folds
Smokylake: calls $0.30
Traveller03: folds
acesrolledup: folds
*** TURN *** [7d 9c Qc] [3h]
TickBoy: bets $0.30
Smokylake: raises $0.60 to $0.90
TickBoy: calls $0.60
*** RIVER *** [7d 9c Qc 3h] [4s]
TickBoy: checks
Faith2003 joins the table at seat #4
Smokylake: bets $2.30
TickBoy: calls $2.30 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Smokylake: shows [9d 9h] (three of a kind, Nines)
TickBoy: mucks hand
Smokylake collected $7.65 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $8 | Rake $0.35
Board [7d 9c Qc 3h 4s]
Seat 1: Traveller03 folded on the Flop
Seat 2: grouchyolde (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: acesrolledup (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 5: TickBoy (big blind) mucked [Qs Ad]
Seat 6: denvic1 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Slipweenie folded on the Flop
Seat 8: Smokylake showed [9d 9h] and won ($7.65) with three of a kind, Nines

It's a hard call. When he just calls your flop, you can't really put him on a set, and with no PFR, I don't think you can have him on a higher pair. When he reraises me on the turn, I think warning bells are going off here that he's caught at least two pair.

There's the possibility of the bluff here with an unimproved pair. Sometimes if my pair doesn't improve, I'll checkraise theturn to put fear in my opponent's head. I'd say 70 percent of the time, they'll lay down their hand. but at the ten cent level, not many players are capable of making this move. Unless I had a read on him, I probably lay it down here to a 26x BB reraise. Smells like a bluff, but probably isn't at this point.

A bigger PFR would have been appropriate but not helped much.

A biggerflop bet would have been appropriate but not helped much.

However, if you had offered up two big bets and opp flat called both then you could fold TPTK when checkraised on the turn.

Likely would have lost about the same amount (your whole stack). But sets are damn near impossible to read and what can you do but make sure you drag a nice pot when you get one?

I think you played it pretty well overall. I think Tickboy played his trips really well, letting you do the betting. Yep, it's very hard to avoid this type of a situation.
When he leads out on the turn and then smooth calls your 2x raise, that's got to trigger some warning signals, but since he only calls on the flop makes it really hard to read. I probably would have done the same thing you did at the micro NL tables I play at. Tons of players at this level are calling stations, and typically at showdown, your opponent will have QJ or KQ.

At this level its pretty easy to figure out who's tight and who are the loose calling stations. If the player was a calling station, I wouldn't be as worried. But a smooth call on the flop followed by a raise on the blank turn is scary if you've pegged the guy as tight. Pay attention to how you think the guy plays. A set is really hard to sniff out but I would probably lay down TPTK or reraise on the turn (if he's aggressive) vs a decent opponent in that situation.

- sed

Not horribly played. Raise more preflop to weed out some of those limpers.

With more experience you will learn to pick up on betting patterns that smell of a strong hand such as 2 pair or a concealed set ie. smooth call, smooth call and huge AI river bet. The only $ you would have saved was to fold to his river bet. Few opponents have the guts to put you AI on the river with just top pair. On the other hand, there are some really loose idiots where you will go to the river everytime with TPTK because ther is a high liklihood that they are overplaying TPcrapK.

I have lots of experience and have run into a horrible streak where I am getting my sets busted by flushes and str8. It is a combination of bad reads and bad suckouts. I make big bets when there are obvious raggy str8 draws or flush draws and fail to make the tough laydown because of the remote possibility that they have the nuts on such a raggy board.

Thanks everyone for their advice and expertise. I'll let everyone know how I progress. Thanks again for your help.

tt

Okay here's my beef...I would have folded on the turn. you were sitting TPTK and had no reasonable improvement and got raised on the turn. This screams SET! I play the same tables and those $hit bags slow play till the sun dont shine. If u get re-raised LAY IT DOWN, unless this guy is a stupid idiot. At which point I would need a read, If you have any please give notes

Unfortunately I don't have any notes on the guy. Thanks again for all the advice everyone. I'm learning a ton!!!

Here's my rule online...No Notes!!! No Go

Basically don't try to kill him till u know what he's gonna do.
Almost all PS players slow play sets...Kill 'em all (they keep kicking my ass) J/K...actually from what i've found try a smallish bet on the turn (1/2 to 2/3 depending on board) usually they will re-raise here if they are playing a set. If you dont have a hand ur willing to die for (to each his own) LAY IT DOWN!

Never forget this: Don't get married to TPTK in an unraised pot, I wouldn't fear a set so much as two pair with that many limpers.