How would you have played this - Texas Hold 'Em?

Like you stated you should have folded preflop. On the flop you have two pair, good but not great hand. What has you beat on the turn? AA, 44, 55, TT, AT, A5, & 23 with 5-6 players limping in they could have any of those even the AA because there are players out there that don't raise with them. I know you said this was only the second hand, but have you played with this person before? Does he bluff a lot, is he will to push his stack on the second hand of a tournament with an Ax or even a bluff? What were the starting stacks? What were the blinds? These are a few things to take into consideration besides just what your cards are.

With the information you gave I would fold here. Since it was the beginning of the tournament I'd guess the blinds were somewhere around 25/50 or lower. So you have 5-6 players calling a 50 bet and then someone makes a raise on the flop. Then on the turn everyone puts out another 50 bet and then the same player that raised on the flop is now raising big again on the turn. I'd probably think about it for a split second, but easily fold my two pair. At this point if the blinds were 25/50 you've only lost a little bit of money, so you still have plenty of chips and plenty of time to play.

Also, all you were doing was calling. You never put in a raise to see where you were at in the hand, checker and caller don't win tournaments, bettors and raisers do.

Hope this was helpful and Good Luck at the Tables,

thisguy

Sometimes, no matter what you do, the circumstances of the cards will make you lose money, but you shouldn't have lost all your chips in that hand.

This is how you should have played it: Since you had the button and 5 callers in front of you, you should have made a raise about 3 times the big blind. This would have knocked out a few players before the flop and put you in position after the flop to make a continuation bet if you so choose. Chances are, since you were the raiser, everyone would have checked to you, including the set of 4's (who would probably slow play). I would have than made a big bet, hoping to take the pot right there. The set of 4's would either smooth call you or reraise you, either way I assume at that point that he has me beat (think about it, if he called you all the way, either he has A-10 or a set). I would have checked it down or called him if he made a bet but definitely not raised him. Yes, you would have dropped a lot of chips, but at least you wouldn't have lost everything.

trips are horrible because they're difficult to spot. The only thing I would have done differently is perhaps raised on the button as you were probably the only one holding an ace or there might have neen a raise before you. But it would take a significant raise for a pocket pair to fold and many players will pay to see a flop. Instead of calling the bet after the flop I may have reraised to see where I was and to save chips in the long run but when someone has hit trips and you have 2 pair its just unlucky and you're going to suffer nomatter what you do. I'd say it wasn't a bad beat just unlucky and unfortunate timing. Good luck :)

now that is bad luck.......

there wasn't much you could do to get out of that one......

only thing would have been to raise pre flop. but hard to do when 5 people already have called the blind someone could of Been waiting for a raise.....

but still it would of have to been a big raise cause if it wasn't the pocket 4s would of still called.

and stilled hit...

the other thing is seems you didn't care what else was on the board cause you like the look of your 2 pair to much.......... A 4 10 5

6 people in the hand all just called the blind pre flop. and only second hand easily could be a 2-3 there

second thing is he bets 750 half his stack........ id be thinking then...... cause you don't know yet how he plays bluffer or ..tight

well we all learn from are mistakes cant win them all..

It's the second hand of the tourney, I don't know if you know this guy at all, but there are a lot of people in the hand, someone made a small bet, you've got callers, and he makes a huge raise.

What do you think he has?

This is based on the player, but do you think he makes a huge raise there with A-K? (without raising preflop?). Do you think he'd make such a huge bluff on the 2nd hand of the tourney? If he bets half his stack, you know he's calling your raise.

Without knowing something about the player, I assume my A-4 is beat there.

It's really a trip, don't worry **** happens. Your pretty unlucky with the hand, I will also go all-in if I have the same hand as yours because having a top pair in a 2-pair hand is not that bad.

I think things would be different if you did a pre-flop raise. having bottom pocket pair will not go suicidal in a high stakes pre-flop betting.

first thing you need to remember in poker is, It happens.

I myself am not a fan of playing ace, garbage. most of the time you will win small or lose big.

that early in the game I would not have played the hand, and would never have called the $750

but everyone is different, thats what makes the game what it is.

Most times if the other player is betting out a lot and is trying to scare you then it is more likely that he is bluffing you. I get scared when they make value bets all the way down or they check raise you, Because they want you to pay them off or they are trapping you. I love it when i know they are on a flush draw and they have missed it, so on the river they put out a huge bet to try and push you out, i love calling players like that down. But nothing scares me at a poker table, if your scared of putting your money in the middle then you need to be playing something else.

when you have that many call chances are at least one will have a pocket pair ..i would of folded

early on.. but thats me ..

once he bet that amount.. 750 should of told you something he wanted to push you of your hand in case you had pocket rockets or pocket 10's it would of told me he had trips

you are pretty close to the worst player ....his small bet was a slow play to build the pot....you fell in love with your hand....could have gone over the top of the small raise and taken control...he put you on an ace and big kicker...