Hello everyone, I am new to 2+2. I have been on the site several times as I just started to get serious about NLHE a couple of months ago (keeping logs, bankroll, reading books, etc), but just created an account today. This is clearly the premium site for poker and am very excited to be apart of the community.

Stakes: 1/2 NL

($105 stack) Villain 1 MP1: 40 year old male, dressed conservatively, played with him at a table four times now, generally a tight player, but a risk taker at times

($225 stack) Villain 2 CO: 65 year old male, play with him almost every day, generally a loose aggressive player, but a good one and usually knows where he is in a hand, but sometimes makes some serious bonehead mistakes

Hero ($330 stack) is in the hijack.

BTN straddles $5. Villain 1 and MP2 call. Hero wakes up to Q Q in the hijack and raises it to $15. Villain 2 and BTN call.

Flop comes A 9 3. Villain 1 open jams $90. MP2 folds, hero folds with almost no hesitation, villain 2 calls and BTN folds.

Turn is 2 and river is 2.

Villain 1 shows down Q 9 and villain 2 shows down J 9 and villain 1 takes down the pot.

I could not believe what I saw at showdown and was angered that the ace on the board got me off my hand, even though I feel like I made the right fold. Do you think I played this hand incorrectly? Thank you in advance for your responses.

Welcome to the forum my friend,

Well, about your QQ vs. an Ace high flop where villain jams all his chips in. Obviously you have to take his jam seriously and fold. You need to have very strong suspicions and I would even say proof that he's bluffing before you touch that hero call against such a player. I mean,.. seriously, he's not a player but a donkey. That's not how the game is properly played. And it's not even a bluff. Just a stupid nonsense that will be called by ant Ace.

Don't worry about and don't be upset because you're dealing with derange players. There's not gonna be anybody that will tell you otherwise because there's nothing to it. If villain jams 90 into 5 other opponents and an Ace high flop, you got to suspect at least one of them has an Ace.

See what I mean? ... wtf?
Who's the idiot to even call a preflop raise with Q 9 or J 9
and go all-in on an Ace flop and be called by worse garbage?
When you cannot beat the board and are faced with a jam made into a field of 3-4 players you got to assume you are beat. So, you make the correct play. Fold.

Preflop raise should have been bigger. With the straddle to $5 and calls I would start at $20 and go up from there. The flop fold is right with possible action behind you. The risk that somebody behind you shows up with AK is pretty high in this situation.

You can ponder this situation if you where last and nobody else was in because the open shove on such a dry board is silly. It's rarely worth picking them off though unless you know villain is prone to spazz shoves. This is a spazz bluff situation you will see from time to time. V1 is either gambling that nobody has an ace or he figures his second pair is too good to fold so he should get as much FE as he can.

V2 was smart enough to read the bluff but his hand wasn't good enough to be calling. V1 will often turn up with JJ/TT in this situation. Worse, some will turn up with AK/AQ trying to look bluffy.

Thank you for the welcome and advice, Outdonked. I was really surprised/disappointed when I saw the news at showdown, but I am glad to see that you agree I made the correct move. It is just so unforunate because villain 1 tends to be a tight player - not really sure what got into him on this hand. He was playing with fire, but got paid off.

Appreciate it, QuadJ. Yes, I definitely would have actually put some thought into it if I were last to act, but I feel like I still would have laid it down. I agree in hindsight that the $15 pre flop raise was pretty weak, especially from my position. This does beg the question though if I made it $20-$30 pre flop and the same flop shows up, I am still doomed if met with the same aggression on the flop from an out of position opponent.

Standard

Yes if it plays out the same way you are right the result is the same. But remember we are not just results oriented. We need to make sure we are playing optimal poker. Optimal would have been a bigger raise. On my 1/2 tables I would have raised this to at least $30 pre with 2 limpers already. You are more likely to fold out J9 off or even Q9 suited with a bigger raise. Now if only 1 caller comes along you are in much better shape. As played you did nothing wrong.