Lost some money today. A couple really bad beats, but what started it was an idiotic play I made almost as soon as I sat down(a recurring theme for me, mind you).

Villain in this hand had about 400bb, was a really douchey guy. I instantly had a read on what kind of 'player' he was. He is a lagtard who had obviously had a run of cards/hits. I witnessed him bet almost twice the pot previous hand with middle pair.

What I made the mistake on was his hand.

• I am on the button with 98
• Villain is UTG, he has limped
• Folds to me(1 limp + blinds) and I raise to 15.
• Blinds fold, villain flats
• Q9Q
• I bet 20, villain calls
• Turn is a blank, I bet 25, villain raises to 85

I think we know how this ends(not well), but what do you guys think? I thought(and was proven correct later on) that this guy is an idiot who tries to make plays left and right. I thought that he might have sensed weakness with my turn bet and was trying to move me off. I am decent reader and do call some big bluffs, I guess I just got bit and/or need to move off of calling big raises/bets in general?

I'm not a terrific player, but do make money at low stakes. Just starting to get into reading strategy etc and not just sticking to ABC, poker for idiots play. BLAH. Just frustrated really stupid mistakes cost me hours of work.

I guess I'll analyze chronologically.

1. Suited connectors - overlimp. You want people in the pot. You either are hitting a big hand a minority of the time or you are getting crap most of the time. By iso-raising, you are putting yourself in a position where you are going to have to play strongly even though a majority of the time you won't have anything.

2. Flop suits are important. Blind sizes are important. What are they?

3. If you want to show strength by two barrelling, then show strength. Betting weak and less than half on the turn is just asking for trouble.

4. Fold turn. While he could have air, fact is you represented strength (though the turn bet sucked) and he's still charging in strong. Unless he has air, your 9pair crap kicker is toast.

Nothing wrong with PF raise and c-bet.

As for the turn check-raise, it does seem somewhat unlikely that he is completely out of line here. If he wanted to make a play, why wouldn't he check-raise flop or lead turn? You could easily check the turn behind and then he only has one bet on the river to make you lay it down.

But you do see it from time to time. You had a read that he was on one of these bluffs, but you were wrong. Maybe you'll catch him next time. Not sure if anyone on the internet will really have much else of substance to say.

$25? OTT? show some guts man I have the same problem its hard to put chips in with marginal hands.

As played id give up tbh and fold

You don't state your stack size, but I'm fine with raising preflop in order to get it HU in position.

I'm also cool with the flop bet.

Against an aggressive guy who likes to make moves, my standard play would be to check back the turn in order to bluffcatch the river. This prevents pot from getting too big with a marginal hand plus prevents ugly spots like this one (where we are now probably playing for stacks or possibly considering folding what might be the best hand).

GcluelessNLnoobG

thanks all

If it ends in a fold it ends well