Following your instincts

[Checkways]

I had an interesting hand today that I lost a lot of money on. I knew I was beat and I still went all-in. Why is that? I guess I don't trust myself.

Can you lay this hand down? What do you do?

Seat 7 raises UTG 6xBB. I'm sure this guy has something.

Seat 7 does not make continuation bets unless he has the goods and when he does hit the flop he typically overbets the pot.

I figure heads up I can play this guy pretty easily. I have position and and so I call with my meager holding of ATs. I'm seriously thinking that he'll miss, I'll bet and win. If he bets - easy fold.

Flop is QTT. I flop a set.

Seat 7 shakes his head. He practically groans and then checks to me.

Damn. He has QQ. I know it. This is such an act, it's ridiculous. I'll bet a little and find out. So I bet $20.

He literally takes a full minute to call $20. I know that I'm going to check the turn no matter what. Hopefully he won't bet too much on the river and I won't lose a lot on this hand.

Turn comes rag and he bets $55. Um, what? What's he doing? What kind of silly trap is this? I really wanted to check the turn. He has $100 left. I have $250.

I said to him, "If you have pocket Queens you win" and then I went all-in. He freakin' took thirty seconds to call my all-in with pocket Queens. WTF?

Anyway, I pushed because the turn created a flush draw. Maybe he think I'm weak and is betting his flush draw with AKs. Also, I know he's pushing on the river no matter what and that I'll probably call. So no point in calling here. I should either fold or raise. And I raised despite the fact that I knew I was beat.

Stupid huh? Can you guys lay down big hands like these?

(Happy ending - Later that night I trapped him with KK and got all my money back plus some. It was the biggest HU pot I've ever won. About $400)

[Rondavu]

Well, what you did are two things. You put him on a monster when you held a very strong hand, and then you proceeeded to slow play your very strong hand. $20? That's not getting you information. Bet into him enough so that if he calls you can figure out he's acting weak intentionally.

It's a hard hand to get away from, but you have to ask yourself what betting $20 accomplishes besides tagging you as frightened.

[Checkways]

Well, what you did are two things. You put him on a monster when you held a very strong hand, and then you proceeeded to slow play your very strong hand. $20? That's not getting you information. Bet into him enough so that if he calls you can figure out he's acting weak intentionally.

It's a hard hand to get away from, but you have to ask yourself what betting $20 accomplishes besides tagging you as frightened.

Yeah, I do agree that a larger bet would have given me more information. In that sense, it's a much better play and probably what I should have done. My thinking at the time was that I thought I had already lost and was trying to get out of this hand by losing the least amount possible. I really thought I could check the turn and that he wouldn't overbet the pot on the river. If I bet big and he calls then the pot gets bigger and then I have to call a large bet on the river. I honestly wasn't slowplaying.

It was a weird hand.