Home game. 1-2 no limit. 5 handed.

Button (15 in stack) min raises to $4. This guy is a decent player, but doesn't know how to bet generally. In this case he really could have just about anything except complete garbage. Maybe a small pair or two face cards.
Small Blind ($200 in stack) re-raises to $14 to go. Solid player. Probably could have a monster, but could possibly be trying to isolate initial raiser with a semi-strong hand.
I am in the Big Blind with $60. I call with 78s, thinking that the initial raiser is sure to call (or push his remaining $1 obviously). I know this play is somewhat suspect, but I wanted to see how I could play it in a big pot vs. the Re-raiser (he is a good friend who I play quite often and we discuss hands afterwards). Maybe if the flop was in my ballpark I could draw out on his big hand.

The flop comes K44 with two spades. He checks to me. This is where I made the mistake of pushing all-in. What was I thinking? Not quite sure. Would he fear the K if he had QQ or JJ? Yes, but he may call anyway there.

What range of hands should I be putting him on? AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AK, AQ, AJ, possibly a middle range pair 1010 to 77. I think now that too many of those possible hands he would be calling me.

Anyways, I pushed $45 and he said "bad timing" and turned over KK for nuts. Even my flush draw was dead.

How bad did I play it (after the flop, I know the preflop call was not optimal, I was just trying to "play the player" on that hand)

Preflop is bad.

Flop play is horrible. The only hands we're a favorite in villain's range, that we are a favorite over are AQo, and AJo (no spades), and we aren't getting called with those hands.

Most of the other hands have us beat pretty badly. We're 31% against Jh, Jc.

The button folded right? Either way, I fold preflop there, especially with the chance of being caught in the middle. There is absolutely no reason to shove the flop. If it were something like 644 with 2 spades, it might make more sense but what exactly are you trying to accomplish here? The primary goal of suited connectors is to hit a flop nicely and take a big pot because you need to make up for all of the times they miss.

"especially with the chance of being caught in the middle."

No chance of getting caught in the middle if the shortstack pushes, since his $1 raise is not at least half of the original bet, it does not re-open the betting. Calling the $14 is the same as if you were last to act.

But other than that I almost always check behind with a flush draw. He's letting you see a free one, so let it roll off. A flush draw is not even that great on this board since it's paired and you have no high cards to back it up.

Also when you push $45 into a $32 dollar pot on an uncoordinated board, it screams bluff. Remember your bluffs have to make sense. DN wrote an article on it somewhere on this site. Your betting patterns have to tell a believable story.

None of this matters anyways though since he flopped quads.

Oh well, get 'em next time.

If you had $200 behind, then calling with suited connectors is alright. You can't put in 1/4 of your stack with an 8 high drawing hand, hoping to hit a flop. So, preflop is absolutely terrible.

Once you see the flop, this is an easy push. You made a bad enough play to call with the 78 suited, but you did hit a favorable flop. It doesn't matter if you're a favorite over their holding or not, as someone mentioned with AQ. You're not hoping to get called. You're hoping they'll fold or that you can draw out.

Bad luck running into KK, but you should have never been in the pot in the first place.

You weren't drawing dead by the way.

Turn & River:

5 6

your stack isn't big enough to give you the ammo you need to pull this off. You give him 2-1 to call on the flop knowing that's the max he can lose. He's probably calling you with anything TT or better, mabye even a worse hand than that.

If you both had 200 or so, you have a much greater chance of pulling this off.

Unless villain has KK. But who's results-oriented anyway?

Bad play. Anything he will fold can be beaten by a flush, which you will need to beat the all-in player anyway.

Suppose he folds... You will just lose the pot to the other guy if you miss your flush. Pushing your friend out of the pot was pointless. If there was a main pot of $45 and a side pot of $100, then your play would *maybe* make sense.

Poorly played on all streets --- no offense. Stacks are too shallow to try this.

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Actually, the ONLY correct thing he did in the pot was push on the flop. If he could manage to get heads up with the all-in player, he increases his chances of winning. If the all-in player has AQ or a hand like 66, he just bought himself 4 more outs to win the pot. THere is also the chance that a player would fold a hand like 99 or TT to his push on the flop, figuring he had a K.

Pushing the flop was correct. Paying to see the flop was not.

Um, he flopped a full house. RIF.

Nope, 4 4. Now that would be awesome.

Good call.

There was a WPT hand like that, where one guy had slowplayed KK preflop and was against Ax. The flop came down like J77 or something like that. Turn 7. River 7.

Are you serious? He has $15 invested. Betting $45 at a $45 pot to *maybe* pick up 4 outs in this spot is awful. His friend would have to have almost exactly AQ. AJ is unlikely, and any pair lower than 77 is unlikely. The OP even said his friend would likely call with a pair lower than the King.

So basically, the $45 bet says "I hope my friend doesn't have a king or a pair that he will call me with. I also hope that the all-in guy doesn't have a pair higher than sevens or a higher flush draw." I don't like pushing $45 that he will lose at LEAST 70% of the time his friend calls for what he can only hope is at best 15% more chance at winning a pot he could draw at for free. If he's winning this pot, MOST of the time it's going to be with a flush.

I see your point --- that if he can get his friend to fold 99 or something, then he can hope that the all-in guy doesnt have a pair and can gain some outs. But this just isn't likely enough a scenario for me to want to bet $45 at a pot where he can draw free. Bad investment. I check and play the turn.

Thanks for the replies and the debate.

I don't feel offended by the comments. I did mention that I played this badly. I just wanted to hear opinions on how bad.