$2/$4 NL 6 max

I raise to $12 in the SB with QQ. BB calls. He has about $340

Pot $24. Flop J97. I bet $20 and he raises to $52. Whats the plan?

Push sounds good.

Why do you raise so small preflop? I would make it 16-20 to compensate for a bad position.

I would call flop and lead turn if he raises again I would fold. (stop and go on turn)

$12 is a pot sized raise in this spot.

honestly dude, and with all due respect, Im not sure why you post hands, every time someone disagrees with your play, you tell then why their wrong, even if you lost the hand. weird.

Who am I disagreeing with? He said "why do you raise so small preflop?"

I believe I answered his question by saying that $12 is a pot sized raise. I didnt say he was wrong to make it higher.

Im sure I do do that at times when the advice Im being given is either wrong or debateable. In this case the advice of a bigger preflop raise isnt wrong. But a $12 raise isnt wrong either. Its fairly standard

Also, I did say something a while back about the fact that most of the $1/$2 hands I post were hands that might be useful to others and not necessarily for myself because I am better than most $1/$2 players and usually dont get in spots where I dont know what to do.

Now, when I play higher stakes, its a different story. $2/$4 isnt that much higher than $1/$2, but there is a big difference in skill level in my opinion. Its much tougher to stack people for a full stack at $2/$4 than it is at $1/$2. At $5/$10, there are plenty of players as good and / or better than me so I do get outplayed more than i would like. Usually its because they are much more unpredicatable and call raises with wierd hands so its tough to know when youre ahead or not when you get raised during the hand.

Anyway, Im running very bad lately and have been breaking even for like 9 weeks now and its hard to tell if its just bad luck, or if Im playing bad.

For instance, in this hand Xaston says to push. Maybe that works for him, but lately, every time I get raised, Im beaten. Of course when i fold, I dont know what they had but just about every time i continue with the hand after getting raised, Im toast. I didnt push this hand, but I did check raise the turn all in and he had 97. You would think an overpair in a blind battle would be a good spot to take a stand with an overpair.

So am I playing bad or getting unlucky that I keep getting outflopped in spots like this? Who knows, but I know it just keeps happening over and over again and its getting annoying.

I agree that I dont like the size of the raise preflop, sure it is a pot sized bet but does that really make a difference? I think the amount of BB's you raise preflop is much more important is most cases than the size of the pot, preflop you are almost always worried about implied odds more than pot odds and the size of your raise limits the range of hands he should be calling you with? As the hand is played out, I am going to reraise, you guys are deep enough that you can make the 3rd raise somewhere in the $125- $150 range and fold to an all in. If you get called, I probably check fold the turn unless it brings you some kind of help. This is all based off of not having a read on villian.

If 12 is the table standard then 12 is the table standard. i suspect some of this (saying he has to raise more pre) is results oriented thinking. It is a mistake imo to suggest there is one correct way to play that hand preflop. If bb was agressive and ice just completed hoping to be raised so he could reraise...and the bb just checked and flopped 2 pair with a garbage hand does that automatically make the play wrong? Of course he could raise to 20 and 'kill bb's odds' and just pick up the bb too, is that the correct play?

And in a blind vs. blind hand with absolutely no read (like you just sat down) he could have anything from an underpair to a pair/draw combo or overs and a gutshot, 2pr, set, or made straight. It is quite possible he wants to see a free river with a draw or suspects a steal and is restealing. I do not think this hand can be judged in a vacuum.