This hand occurred over a week ago, but has been bothering me and I wanted to get other's opinions about the hand.

I was playing at a nine-handed $3/5 NLHE game that played a little bigger than a typical $2/5 game due to a $3 button post and limpers come in for $10. I had about $620 to start the hand, and all cover.

I was in the BB with JTo. EP player (tight, aggressive, but made a couple of moves that worked out) opened for $30. MP player (little loose pre-flop, aggressive post-flop; shoved flush draw when short-stacked, shoved flopped str8 when medium-stacked) called, and button (uber-aggressive significant other of EP player; she loved to raise pre-flop and after the flop and was not shy about firing multiple barrels) called. Pot was about $120.

The flop came J72 rainbow. I thought there was a good chance my hand was best, but checked to see what action developed. EP continuation bet $80, MP calls, button thinks for a bit, then mucks. I like the fact that MP called, for a couple of reasons. First, I think it decreases the likelihood of EP having a bigger J than me. Second, it appears that MP is not that strong, so I should be able to push him off a mediocre hand. Third, it will be tough for EP to call a raise knowing that MP has to act behind him. So I raise it up to $300. It looks like I am pot-committing myself with this raise, as I have a little less than $300 left.

EP folds after thinking just briefly, then MP shoves all-in after asking how much I had behind. I can't see any draws he could have here that he would shove in this spot. If he had a gutterball, I doubt he would shove when I am almost certain to call here. I don't think he is shoving with a hand worse than me. I know the pot is laying me some very good odds, but my thinking was that I only beat a random bluff here. I think it's very likely that he has a set here, deuces or 7s. Two pair probably raises the flop, and an overpair likely reraises preflop. If I'm up against a higher J, I'm drawing to just three outs.

I lay the hand down pretty quickly, but then MP is like, "tens good?" If he made a reraise here with tens, I think that's pretty spewy. I'm not buying that he had tens (especially since I had a ten in my hand).

Would you have folded to the shove after putting half your stack in on the flop? Never mind the bet-sizing I chose for the reraise for the moment. The pot at that point was 120 + 80 + 80 + 300 + 590 = 1,170, with me needing to call just 290. Would you have folded getting 4:1 here?

You put yourself in a really ****ty spot by not thinking ahead.

The decision on the end is basically meaningless. No matter what you do you probably won't make a big mistake (Edit: because your big mistake was getting to that point).

I think I like a solid lead out here for $110 or so. If you get raised I think you can safely fold. If EP has nothing he'll probably fold. If somebody calls you its villain dependent how you play the turn but I'd lean towards checking and keeping the pot small.

Fold preflop.

Don't raise over half your stack with top pair and then fold. I could easily see A7 or 99 pushing here in a loose live game.

Maybe that's because you are, in fact, pot committing yourself.

What was your intention with the check-raise? To win the hand right there?

I think you are putting MP on a hand you want him to have....as opposed to recognizing how wide his range is. He could have you crushed with a set or simply in bad shape with Q/J+.

To me the check raise just didn't make sense. If you weren't sure J/10 was good, or in other words, if you weren't willing to commit your whole stack to it why raise? Why not hope to cruise cheaply to a showdown or fold?

You are going about this hand the wrong way. Just because a question can be asked, does not make it so that there should be an answer. In this case you should not find yourself in this spot, therefore breaking down whether or not you are pot committed is both counter intuitive and productive.

I think you need to develop an understanding of some key concepts and fundamentals if your questions continue to lie where they do.

You can accomplish the same thing with your c/r by making it smaller. $240 is the same as $300 here but you save $60. That is very spewy in the long run.

Your stack size is just all wrong for this line. I highly recommend listening to the Samoleus interview on cash plays, he talks about situations like these and how when you make a bet you should always have a plan for what to do if you get raised.

As played, I am leaning towards a fold and I think the MP is FOS with this 10s crap. You should have asked what suit they were.

To answer your question, I fold - no way that guy had TT unless he's a psycho fish. So you can sleep easier.

But as others have mentioned, I'm not crazy about how you played the hand. This game plays more like a $10 BB game, and you only have $620, so you don't have a full stack. I like folding preflop. On the flop, it's 4 handed and EP bets into two unknowns, and gets a call. You have close to the worst kicker possible with a J. I probably just fold unless I had a read. I don't mind the raise if you felt REALLY strong about your read. But your stack size makes this play very awkward. You found out what you needed to - if someone is going to reraise you all in when you look pot committed, you found out what you needed to know.

Yes, my hope was to win the hand here. I felt any hand that could call my raise was way ahead of me.

I felt that my check raise here looked pretty strong, given my stack size. I didn't think MP could call here with anything short of a set (two pair didn't really fit the flop texture). I don't think calling here out of position is a profitable proposition (you could say, as others have said, that calling preflop with my hand is a losing proposition....).

I agree I could have made my raise a bit smaller, perhaps to $280. Not sure if I agree that $240 accomplishes the same thing. If MP has to call just $160 more and has position on me, he may be willing to take a card off.

I did have a plan, which was to fold to a reraise. I didn't take much time to muck my hand after the reraise. It's just that thinking about this hand afterward, I wondered if my plan was dumb. [/QUOTE]

I guess I understand, but you just weren't deeply stacked enough to make this play solely for information.

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