200 NL hand

[odogg]

I have been avoiding NL since dropping 2 buy ins when being all in on the turn or flop and getting rivered. It really grates at me just how fast things can happen. This hand is going to put me on the NL shelf for a while.

QJ off in the BB. UTG+1 who has been playing like a moron catching this and that has me covered. He open raises to 5. 1 caller back to me and I put 3 more in.

FLOP: K93

I have a gutter and will be willing to let the hand go. I check and he checks behind me as does the late position player.

TURN: T

I now have the nut straight and fire a pot sized bet. Original raises doubles my bet. What am I going to do? I don't mess around and go all in. He instantly calls with KK. Set of K's slow played me into the nut straight.

RIVER: T

I lose. That is just how fast 200 bucks can go away. Well I will go back to limit and drop my limit on NL I know I didn't do anything wrong in this hand or in the 2 previous to this. Just depressing. NL can be brutal when the cards do not fall your way.

[kennyg]

Not sure what to tell you buddy. That def. is a brutal beat.

I guess moving down is the correct thing to do, if you don't feel comfortable with those kind of losses. Maybe win some more and get your bankroll bigger...then try again..? It sounds like you're playing fine but just hit a bad streak.

If it makes you feel any better, I've lost 5 buyins in four hours on Gaming Club earlier this month.. On Party, lol..well...we won't go into that. There are certain reasons I left that place, varience sucks!!!

Good luck!

[iceman5]

I dump QJ for even a small raise like a hot potato. Especially out of position.

[Suhleafs]

Well put ice
I was about to say the same thing

[odogg]

Suppose the raise did not occur and you turn the nuts and then lose on the river. Not sure what the point of saying you would dump QJ for 3 more dollars means. The blinds are 1-2 and he esentially doubled the blinds which is about as weak as it gets.

I commend your patience if you dump QJ in the BB when it is raised 3 dollars.

[Suhleafs]

Hey, wasn't trying to put you down, so from my comment don't feel offended if you were.
to have that happen of course it sucks and I'd be pissed off too,
but for me I try not to let that happen by not playing QJ as much as I can.

[iceman5]

Obviously once you had the nuts you played perfectly, but the point is to evaluate all of your play.

If the board hadnt paired at the river you wouldve won a big pot which would make you think you played the hand perfectly and you would play it that way again. Now maybe you'll play it the same way again anyway, but calling a raise with QJ out of position is -EV.

I would much rather call that small raise with a suited connector. QJ is a junk hand that will cost you alot of money.

Surely you dont limp UTG with QJ do you? You have better postion there than you do in the BB.

[wsaul]

odogg,

One of the keys to being successful in NL cash games is understanding your wins and your losses. What I mean by this is what kind of favorite/underdog I was when the money went into the middle. In this situation you were approximately a 3:1 favorite. A great situation to say the least, but one that leaves you a loser 25% of the time. Most players think they "deserve" the pot when the money goes in as a favorite; when in actuallity the percentages are much closer than they perceive.

In order to be successful in NL you have to take your losses in stride and continue to get your money in as a favorite. A mistake many players make in NL is playing games too large for their bankroll. You simply can't put a large portion of your bankroll in jeopardy in one session due to situations like the one you described.

That being said, I don't mind you calling the EP raise with a hand like QJ if the stacks are deep and you are good enough to not lose your stack with top pair. In order to play this hand you have to know what you are looking to hit with it.

wsaul

[odogg]

200 dollars is not a hit to my bankroll. Just venting more than anything.

Thanks for the feedback.