My Biggest Cash Game Hand So Far

[Chipless Wonder]

$.25/$.50 NLHE on Full Tilt, 9-handed, my opponent to my right and I are both sitting with ~ $175 each, while the average stack on the table is ~ $50.

Opponent limps, and I raise to $2.00 with 'The Nutini':



Opponent calls, everyone else folds and the flop comes:



There is $5.50 in the pot and my opponent leads out for $4.00. I raise to $12.00 and he calls. There is now $29.50 in the pot and the turn comes:



He checks and I check behind, hoping to induce a bluff on the river. The river comes:



He bets $25.00 and I raise to $75.00. He raises all-in and I call. I must be stuck in 'tournament mode', because it never never occurred to me that I might be behind, and to be completely honest, I went broke without even realizing there was a straight on the board.

I lost a $386 pot when he showed:



Obviously I played this terribly, and need lots of help. Guessing I should have bet the turn hard? Then just called his river bet?

[LAPPIN]

Ouch... While i would have just called because of both the ace and the 7 coming on turn and river (both scare cards) - i will say that in cash games, i don't think it's necessarily bad to make 'thin gangster raises' - what i would say though is that if you raise the river without the nuts and u get 3-betted, then you have to be super-disciplined and lay it down (even if the re-re-raise is offering you huge odds)

[ThePenguin22]

Ouch. To be honest I think it was a very bad play to only check the turn, you sometimes have to protect your hand in a cash game and he obviously has some kind of hand, you should have been making him pay to see that next card. The raise on the river was also very bad (sorry), by making that bet of $25 he was showing a lot of strength and was betting at you for as much value as he could. I would have only made your raise with AA hoping he had just made his set of 7s. To be honest if you hadnt shown me what he had I would have been gutted by that $25 bet, expecting him to hold 777. I still call though.

[Goldnutz69]

To me I don't think you played this that bad really. The only thing I would have done differently would be to bet a pot sized bet for value on the turn. I don't mind the re-raise on the river at all, but when someone shoves in this spot thats huge strength. And just like lappin said, you'll have to consider folding then. There are only 5 hands that beat you here so it's not exactly a terrible play by you.

[MJ21]

I understand the check on the turn. However, I too seem to always get burned by not raising to protect my hand. In cash games - most of time I usually try to get the pot as soon as I can.

[ThePenguin22]

I seem to be the minority in this post. Today I have had to lay down or have lost with a made set 3 times. I have also finished the day $120 up, this was mostly made with big pots where I held a set and my opponent wasnt good enough to lay there top pair or AA down. In a deep stack cash game in my opinion the sets are what you are looking to hit. In Scotts particular hand though his opponent and himself where playing SUPER deep stack poker. They both have $170 behind them and the blinds are .50. In my opinion Scotts opponent could hold ANYTHING. He had earnt the right to call Scotts pre flop raise with 56 or any 2 cards. The flop for him could simply not be better (I would argue that it was better than 555.) How much money is Scott going to lose with that flop? A set in a cash game is a VERY powerful hand, but I would only slowplay it to a certain extent. He called Scotts raise on the flop which in my opinion is showing too much strength to slowplay the turn. Dont get me wrong if I bet the turn hard and he calls Im losing a big pot. But with the 2 players involved holding 340 BBs each a set still has to be protected. At this stage in a game you are looking to STACK your opponent and with the raise on the river Scotts opponent must have thought Christmas had come early. I may be being very harsh as the people who have posted I almost always agree with but I feel strongly that this was a poorly played hand. (sorry again Scott).