When to fold, and getting lucky

Monday night (08/04). Having been beaten in tennis by a couple of blokes who did nothing but lob the ball back over the net for an entire match, I more than likely should have cooled down first before playing a tight cash game. On-line especially so.

Having said that, playing mostly loose in a tight game is one of the best way to make money. Just ask Doyle Brunson.

I sit down with 50 USD in a 0.25/0.50 NL Texas Hold'Em game. 3rd hand in I get KQ of diamonds in the big blind. UTG raises to 2$. Everyone folds, and I call. The flop comes 4D, KC, and 10D. I bet 4$. I get a flat call from UTG. The turn comes QH. I put in a 10$ bet. I get raised to 20$. I now have 33$ left. I have a couple of options. Lets be honest folding is not one of them.
If he holds 44 or 1010, I am only a 30% underdog. I also have 17 outs with 1 card to come I am getting even money for being a 3/1 underdog. I should fold here if I put him on 4/4 or 10/10. Even if he holds AJ, the odds are the same. But I would not have expected him to call on the flop with AJ, or indeed raise me on the turn. For some reason I put him on AK, and decided to push all my money in as I figured he was slowplaying the top pair. Ehm, no.

He of course had the 44 , the river does nothing for me and my money are gone. My opponent played it perfectly. He got the most out of me on that hand, because I could not work out his hand. I would say 90/100 I don't fold there anyway though. Top 2 pairs and a flush draw is very hard to lay down with no house on the board

So I re-grouped (basically took out some of my funds) and went to the 0.50/1.00 € game instead. 2nd hand in I get a pair of 4's in the small blind. UTG raises to 2€. Min raising can be dangerous. I call, and there is also the big blind for good measure.

Flop comes 4C, Qd, 8H. I read once that you should never check or check raise with sets in a raised pot. Gives the raiser the chance to get away from his hand. So I bet 8 Euro. Just above what's in the pot. Big blind folds, but the raiser gets over the top of me for 35 Euro. On that board there is no way he has a set. Especially with position on me. I can only put him on KK or AA. I shove all my money in, so there is now 195 Euro in the pot if he calls. No hesitation and he lost with an AQ. I would have laid down the AQ against my raise. Far too many hands that beat him. Q8,Q4,44,88,QQ, KK, AA. If you can think of 7 hands that could beat you. There is no way you should call for that much money if its 1/2 hands, its different.

Anyway, I still see myself as lucky there, because I went against someone who wanted to gamble his money away on 1 pair of queens....

Running total now 1,433.