Was I right to make this call? Was I lucky?

[SirJobsalot]

This was in a $3+R 25k GTD on Stars. I'd rebought once and added on once at the first break. I'd been playing for five and a half hours straight and it was nearing 6am my time. I finished in the money as well (35th out of 1500 or so).

Yet, on this one table I was on for about an hour and a half I had someone going on about how "lucky" I was.

Is it even possible to be that lucky for that long and to have been tournament chip lead several times, just through luck?

After I made this call, some other guy (kingofchips) said I was a "terrible player" for making the call.

This was what the stacks at the table were like:

Seat 1: BLKJCK73 (27146 in chips)
Seat 2: LMRACER4 (31023 in chips)
Seat 3: Grin77 (42182 in chips)
Seat 4: kingofchips (111415 in chips)
Seat 5: ESPNUT (147290 in chips)
Seat 6: A MAY (60146 in chips)
Seat 7: timski22x (91590 in chips)
Seat 8: Ultra Donk (141095 in chips)
Seat 9: SirJobsalot (145602 in chips)

Here is how it went:

BLKJCK73: posts the ante 200
LMRACER4: posts the ante 200
Grin77: posts the ante 200
kingofchips: posts the ante 200
ESPNUT: posts the ante 200
A MAY: posts the ante 200
timski22x: posts the ante 200
Ultra Donk: posts the ante 200
SirJobsalot: posts the ante 200
LMRACER4: posts small blind 2000
Grin77: posts big blind 4000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SirJobsalot [7h 7s]
kingofchips: folds
ESPNUT: folds
A MAY: folds
timski22x: folds
Ultra Donk: raises 7111 to 11111
SirJobsalot: calls 11111
BLKJCK73: folds
LMRACER4 is connected
LMRACER4: folds
LMRACER4 is sitting out
LMRACER4 has returned
Grin77: folds
*** FLOP *** [4d Jh Td]
Ultra Donk: checks
SirJobsalot: checks
*** TURN *** [4d Jh Td] [Ts]
Ultra Donk: bets 22222
SirJobsalot: calls 22222
*** RIVER *** [4d Jh Td Ts] [Js]
Ultra Donk: bets 22222
SirJobsalot: calls 22222
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Ultra Donk: shows [5s 5h] (two pair, Jacks and Tens)
SirJobsalot: shows [7h 7s] (two pair, Jacks and Tens - Seven kicker)
SirJobsalot collected 118910 from pot

Thoughts?

[HPG ADMIN]

Getting lucky for hours isn't really that big of a deal. A few hours is a short amount of time in the long run. And it is definitely possible to be the chip leader throughout because of luck - if any tourney winner looks at key hansd he'll see that if those hands didn't go his way (because of luck or skill) then his outcome would have been way different.

That was a weird hand. At the end you only had th 2 pair on the board with a 7 kicker. A bad hand. But you obviously had some type of read on him if you call at the end so based on the read it was a good call. His check on the flop was a sign of weakness and his bet on the turn was a show of fake strength (since you checked the flop he figured he could bluff now). I think the mistake was not betting the flop after he checked.

When he raised pre-flop I would put him on a medium pair or a strong Ace (A-K,A-Q,A-J). Since the flop didn't have an Ace, King, or Queen I would assume he missed the flop if he had A-K or A-Q or if he had a medium pair then you could scare him out of the hand with a bet since there are 2 overcards.

[brofriend]

there were so few hands you could beat he must have had an even lower pair

[stzj1]

Admin is being too nice to you. That was a bad call and a mistake. You would have to have been some kind of a god to get that kind of a read to think you had the best had. Simply, the only hands you can beat are hands were your both your oppontents cards are less than 7. Realistcially with him raising pre-flop the only hands you could have beaten were 66 and 55. He could have even been bluffing with something that beat you!!!!

Another thing to keep in mind is the low buy-in. Many times it is the case where people will raise with just about and Ace or any two face cards(or some players with that buy-in won't raise vitually at all, either, but that is besides the point).

I think a bet would have been a prudent play on the flop, to either take it down there or get more info on his hand. A Check-raise would indicate a slow-play and a check-call by him may indicate a flush draw.

[HPG ADMIN]

I agree that i was probably being too nice. It was definitely a case of getting in over your head but the only thing I don't like about folding the river there is about table image. Folding there makes you look like a chaser as well as being a folder. Sometimes you want to let people know you will call them down if they try to make a move on you. Plus the fact that he misplayed the flop means he was in a hand he shouldn't have been in on the river. Concentrating on analyzing the call on the river takes he focus away from the flop mistake. The river cost him a 22k mistake when the pot was about 96k. The flop mistake costs him an eventual 44k with the pot only 28k on the flop.

LOL - well imho you did everything wrong.

I wouldn't of even entered the hand.

To call the original bet you need a decent hand - and 7-7 isn't good - your just asking for trouble with these types of holdings - most of the time the flop will come with an over card or two - and you just won't know what to do with your holding.

Having said that when the flop comes you need to bet on the first round to see where you are - i'd thought my opponent having raised the flop probably wouldn't have a j or 10 - although he could well have a holding of two over cards - in which case he probably won't get scared out too easily with a gutshot straight and two overcards - his AK maybe better than your AQ for example.

I would of probably bet just over half the pot to see where i was standing - but i wouldn't of had the problem in the first place.

Judging by this play i would say you were a novice player but lucky!