Last night I played in my very first WSOP Circuit event down at the Grand Casino in Tunica. I was in the $200+$25 Super Satellite and it was very early in the tourney. We were only on the second level when I was faced with this situation. While I feel that I played this correctly, I would like to know if you guys feel that it was just a little to "fish-y"

I'm in the SB with Jd7h. 2nd position and 5th position at an 8 player table call the blinds with no raises, so I complete the SB, leaving 4 players. (Early on in the tourney, I know J/7 sucks, and was the real mistake here, but bear with me for a minute.) The flop comes out Jh 3c 7d, so I feel that I'm sitting fairly well with my top 2 pair. I bet $30 (3 x minimum) which folded out the BB & 2nd position players. The 5th position player raises me another $30 and I call, putting him on an over-pair or possibly the inside straight draw since there was no flush draw on the board. When the turn comes 5h, I'm feeling confident that my hand is still the top hand, but after checking to the raiser, he comes all-in. At this point, I know that he has either QQ, KK or AA, since I just can't imagine that he would have called, then raised with a 4/6 post-flop.

Well, I probably don't need to tell you that I called, and sure enough, my read was right, he had the Aces, which I figured were the dogs to my 2 pair (at least it seemed to be in my estimation) and leaving him with basically 8 outs to beat me (the other 2 aces, the 3 remaining 5's and the 3 remaining 3's). Of course, the river comes out and it's the 3d giving him the higher 2 pair and ending my night.

So......ignoring the obvious here (J/7 os), what do you think? Was this bad play on my part? or just a lucky break on his?

Thanks for your comments,


Jester.....

This could go in the bad beat section.

Limp was fine as the blinds are low - great flop and you had an excellent read on your opponent. Good call and he just sucked out on the river.

Yes, you made a call with a read on your opponent
and yes, you were ahead at the time and got sucked
out on, I will give you that......however.......

At this point, with a min raise on the flop, and then
the all in push on the turn, this early in the tourney
you should have been looking for reasons to fold this
hand I think. You could have been behind to a few hands
at this point (trips on the flop was what I was thinking), and
you've only got $70 invested in the pot. Depending on what
the starting stacks were, etc. I'd have been looking for a better
spot than this to get all my money in.

Is there a reason you put him on an overpair and not a set of 3's or 7's. Its seems much more likely given the betting.

Actually, yes....he'd had trips 3 times already (guy was on a serious rush) and bet his pair pre-flop, bet hard on the flop with the trips and then bet hard on the turn/river. (then he made it a point to show us.)

And yeah, I have to thank bdc30 for giving the one piece of advice that I should have known........look for reasons to fold that J/7.

Don't let results influence your decision making - it sounds like you made a very good read and that based on his previous betting patterns, a set was not a likely hand. You made the right play.

You were a 80% plus favorite after the turn with your top two pair. Especially with an uncoordinated board, I like your call more and more.