3-3-3 on the Flop.....You gotta read this....

[ANJBerg 0]

I have been playing poker now for about 6 months, and do pretty well in the home games I play. To this point I have never ventured to a Casino or large scale (over 20) people tournament, but plan to do so very soon.I want to find out if I played the following hand properly, or if I should have done anything different.We were down to the final two players, with blinds at 300-600. I was on the button with A-5 offsuite and raised my opponent to 1200. My opponent called and the flop came down 3-3-3. My opponent bet out the minimum and I called. The turn brought a 5 making my full boat. My opponent again bet the minimum and I moved all-in (we were about equal chip stacks, but he had me covered). He had been playing fairly tight the whole night, so when he quickly called my all-in I knew he had that fourth 3. Could I have played this hand differently? I just chalked it up to a good poker lesson, but to this day (now 3 days later) I can't get this hand out of my mind. Any thoughts???

[tekn0wledg 0]

Well, down to the final two players people tend to play any cards. Given that information I would think the chance that someone might have a 3 on any given hand could be plausible. In this instance speaking strictly from a statistical standpoint it would be highly unlikely that he has the case 3.However, I would have proceeded with extreme caution here.The bet on the flop by your opponent did seem suspicious since you would think they would slow play quads [i had the same flop yesterday and slow played it until the river at which point I unleashed my raises and won a huge pot]. However you have to mix your play up and not be predictable so I like your opponents move here since he got some more money in the pot. But I would still have check the flop if I were him.I think you overplayed the hand to be honest, but don't take that negatively. I would have proceeded more cautiously. If you wanted to raise with the full house on the turn I would have raised the minimum amount here to see what your opponent would do. You might have been able to pick something up such as a delay in calling or the exact opposite, a quick call etc. So from that information, you now have a better idea of whether or not they have the case 3. In the worst case he does, in the best case he has a pair or just an Ace with a big kicker.Unless you think that you can bluff your opponent off his hand here, the all-in move is not advisable from my perspective. It's very likely based on the large bet on the flop and the call of the raise pre-flop that your opponent has a hand of some sort. Whether or not youc an beat that is debatable and I wouldn't have risked the chips particularly in tournament play where your ultimate goal is to win the tournament.

[the_stein 0]

6 months isn't much, keep playing and instincts will grow, you would have sensed something weird and still woulda lost money on the hand, but probably not all your stack, trust me on that

[Metaphysician 0]

Yeah... More caution. Even if he called you with pocket sixes you were completely destroyed there.

[RaiNz 0]

I think it was a bad idea to move all in here. The only hands that you can beat are a pair of 2's, 4's, a smaller 5, or a pure bluff. Your hand kinda reminded me of the last hand at the 2004 WSOP. If William's would have thought a little more he would have realized the only thing he could beat was a pair of 3's, a flopped straight, or a pure bluff by Raymer. I think you could have found a better spot to get all your money into the pot. His two minimum bets should have sett off some kind of warning signal. Why is he only betting such a small amount? Is it a trap or is it a weak attempt to move you off the pot. You didn't list the size of your stacks, but if anything a medium sized raise should have been enough to figure out where you were at.

[Kendren 1]

Same sorta thing happened to me 2 nights ago online... had about 2,850 in chips, 4 left at a SNG, I'm the short stack, blinds 150/300. Pick up KQo on the button. Just limp, BB makes minimum raise, he'd been doing that alot, as he was the chip leader, really didn't think much of it at the time. Call, flop comes AsAcAh. He makes minimum bet, I call thinking I'm still pretty good as long as he doesn't have the case A. Turn comes Qx. Again minimum bet, I raise the minimum to 1,200, he reraises me all-in. That shoulda clued me right there, but with my remaining 750, I already had 2100 in it, felt I had to. I had everything but KK or the last A beat anyways. He then flips AdKd. Haven't played since :evil:

[JFarrell20 1]

we might want to know how many chips you had left. And how much did he come out betting? you didn't tell us any of that. All of that matters.Heads up, you probably should have just called his bets. if he came out firing after 5th street, you should sense he has a high pocket pair or another 3. He didn't re-raise you pre-flop so he could have easily had a 3.In the future please say how many chips you have LEFT. If you don't have to chase a hand down, don't do it. especially since you said you started that hand about even in chips. If you were short-stacked, I'd say move all in ON the flop, cuz you've made 333 with Ace high. Chances are you've got him beat and you need to double up.

[88Fingers 0]

With trips on the board in that case, I would have just checked/called. See what the other player does and then think about each move. As posted above, with more experience you will get to see 'reads' on players and will even play the same players you've played before. That'll help you. From your post, this was a home game. You stated he played pretty tight through the tourney. His actions so the river prove it. Given the info in the post, my thought is he would have bet all in at the river... at that point I would have folded giving him credit for the quads. This is again assuming that I did not have any other info. about the player.I think you played the hand well until the all in. But that itself is up to each persons opinion.I personally use my note option in the online software I am using to extremes. It helped me tremendously with understanding other peoples play. You may want to start remembering peoples names and faces and jot down notes afterwards about each persons style and memorable hands.Keep playing and posting!

[jayistheman 0]

i woulda folded to his minimum bet.... inexperienced players always like to bet the minimum after a sick flop. im sure you will sniff it out next time.

[Rmoneymaker8 0]

If he was playing tight you should have tested him. Maybe reraise his small bet. Tha if he reraised you u no something was up. You might have considered he had a pocket pair? maybe he floped the full house. but thats all you can do really

[Mills 0]

well like jay said betting the minimum is usually a red flag for trouble, especially from a relatively new player. so with that, i feel u have to see where u are at, make a raise, and see where it leaves you, if he raises you know youre beat, if he calls and bets out again it was likely a trap. if he smooth calls and checks(my favorite option when facing a raise in this spot) check behind him and see what he does on the river, im pretty confident he bets more on the river then the minimum. at which case u fold. but like i said the first thing u should be suspicious of with big flops is small bets, especially from new players.a raise is good here on a couple of levels, a. it lets you see where ure atb. it will almost always force hands like 6s,7s 8s..... to drop there hands, if ure uncertain about the hand, a raise is what works best.