Playing the 2/4 Bad beat jackpot tables on Party last night. Both tables I'm on are wild, like these tables tend to be, with most players playing any suited and connected cards, cold calling two or three bets and chasing, always chasing. Generally, at least 5 or 6 people are seeing the flop, raises mean very little in the way of hand value.

Hand one : I'm 3 off the button with . Three limpers to me and I raise. The button calls as does the BB. The first two limpers call and the last one three bets me. I cap and they all call. My thoughts : I usually wouldn't cap here, but I think I'm confident I have the best hand, and I don't really want to play against 6 players. I figure if capping will knock out one or two of the limpers, it's a positive play for me. I have no iidea what he's three betting with, but I'm confident I'm ahead here. Problems?

Flop is . Checks to me, player on my right bets, I raise, the button cold calls, folds back to the bettor who calls. My thoughts : I hate this flop, not as much as one containing an ace, but I still hate it. I don't think I can flat call, nor do I think I can fold, though I doubt I'm ahead right now.

Turn is . Check to me, I bet, the button calls and the player before me folds. My thoughts : Good and bad. I can't believe the pre flop raiser would give up for one bet into this huge pot, but I don't have to worry about him. As for the button, he's horrible. he's already ran me down twice. He could have almost anything.

River is . I check. He bets, I call. I lose when he shows for a flopped open ended straight flush draw and a rivered straight. My night got worse. My thoughts : Obviously that river card means he missed his flush draw. I figured he wouldn't call with a busted flush draw and all the aggression I've showed. If I was up against a big hand though, I didn't want to bet and have to call a raise. Also, I figured checking would give him the chance to bluff if he were up for it. It also let him bet his straight. Doh! So, I probably overplayed my hand, but where else did I go wrong?

Hand 2 : On the button with , 5 limpers to me, I call, SB completes and the BB raises. We all call. Flop is . SB checks, BB bets, two calls, I raise, SB folds, BB calls as do the two previous callers. My thoughts : I'm not huge on K10s, but in position with a lot of limpers, I'll put in a bet looking for a favorable flop. Favorable not being a pair, but rather a straight or flush draw. The call of the raise pre flop is automatic right? The bet from the BB could be a wide range of hands, almost all of which I've got beaten. Kings and tens are the only hands I'm really worried about from him, though both seem less likely, due to my holding. I'm more worried about the callers who surely have some straight draw waiting to get me. At this point, I'm confident the BB has Aces.

Turn is . Checks to me, I bet, BB raises, folding off the limpers. I three bet and he caps, I call. My thoughts : Uh oh! This can't be good. That's a good card for me, giving me flush outs too, but he clearly has a big hand. Kings now worries me, though he could be trying to get cute with aces now too. Either way, I'm calling one more bet and showing this down unless my flush card hits.

River is . He bets, I call. He wins another good pot when he shows the two remaining kings for a full house. I was drawing very thin the whole way. My thoughts : What bad luck! Kidding, actually this is the kind of situation you get yourself in when you play these kinds of trouble hands. Still, I think my pre flop play was right and on the flop it is what it is. When the board pairs on the river, I hate my hand. Assuming he raised from the BB with a big hand, I can only beat AK and queens, as aces now has me beat. Still, with the pot as large as it was, I felt I still had to call on the off chance it was one of those hands. I was clearly mistaken. So, where did I go wrong?

I honestly like your play on both of those hands. I think you played them well and I would like to think that I'd have played them almost exactly the same way.

The QQ hand is tough because you just don't know if you are betting into someone with a weak K who will just call you down to the river. What you're really looking for is someone to raise you so you know you're beat.

The KTs is a good call in LP with a lot of limpers in front of you. Once you are in the hand, you definitely will call a single raise pre-flop. The flop is great for your hand. You're hoping to catch someone with AK or AA.

My opinion is that these were just two unlucky situations that couldn't be avoided. I wouldn't worry about the results since your play seems solid to me.

Ben

Hofstra,

You are absolutely right about calling for the pot odds. Maybe this is a leak in my game?

My thinking is that even if I hit a Q on the turn, there are about 20 outs that beat me on the river. And at the limits that I play, any K, flush draw, or str8 draw is going to the river.
Even so, that still makes it a +ev call doesn't it? (thinking out loud here)
I just dont like playing into a family pot when I am pretty sure I am behind.
But dag gone it! Now you have me thinking.

I just can't find anything wrong with your thinking.
Ok, I think you have me convinced. Thanks, Hofstra

I honestly don't like the way you played the flop or turn on the first hand. QQ with this many limpers should be an easy fold when a king/flush draw hits the board. Raising the flop for information was okay, but really not great. The turn should've been an easy check/fold to a bet. This rate you at least get to see a free river card and decide where you want to go from there.

#2: As everyone else said, there's really nothing you could've done differently with this hand. Bad beat and not your fault