Small Blind - No Raise is too big for me to Play

Sometimes crazy things happen at the poker table.  For instance you raise 5x the big blind in early position with AKs and some crazy cat calls you with J5 off in the small blind.  Not only did he just put in the extra dough, but he also has to act first.  Now that is someone who is just aching to get punished.  I mean, lets just say he hits his Jack, the flop comes A,J,5 with two clubs.  He raises since he hit his Jack, now you re-raise him big.  What is he to do?  You could have anything.  You could have J,10 of clubs, AK or even AJs.  He has no idea.  So now he is the one faced with the tough decision.  He has to decide if you are making a move or if you have a hand.  Not only that he has to think if he hit's his 5 it may not be good.  For example if the 5 of clubs comes out can he bluff at the pot, will you fold?
     Please, if you are in the small blind and are facing a big raise remember that you are going to have some tough decisions ahead of you.  Even if you hit your best card, you might have kicker trouble.  This can all be summarized by not calling in the small blind with weak hands when facing a big raise.  You are just going to get yourself into trouble.

Trip Trips

Today I decided to play a few hands at a .01/.02 table on Full-Tilt, to warm up.  I sat down with a whopping 80 cents and decided to wait for the big blind to come around before I played.  I had my .02 blind in and was dealt pocket 3's.  There were three callers and no raisers.  The callers were first position, the cutoff and the small blind.  No raises, so I decided to check.  My hand is very vulnerable at this point, I am just hoping to hit trips.  The Flop came out 7,2,3 rainbow (meaning no two suits were the same).  Now this is a very safe pot for me to bet at.  I have trip threes, there are no possible flush draws, someone might have a straight draw, but they would have to get very lucky to hit.  The small blind checked, so I bet the pot.  Everyone folded, except the cutoff.  Instead he re-raised.  I had to put him on a hand that he could not raise pre-flop, but could now bet the flop.  So I figured he must either be on A,7 off or 4,5 suited or her could be bluffing at the pot.  I decided his raise was strong enough that he would call a re-raise.  Since I figured to be the favorite against all those hands I re-raised him all-in, after all I have trips.  He insta called which is rarely a good sign.  Can you believe this guy was playing pocket 7's!  He had trips too!  Of course I didn't hit and was left with 4 cents on this table.  I decided that I had enough of that table and went to the .02/.05 table where I started with $2.00 and ended with $10.41.  You see I had to put that hand behind me, otherwise I could have easily gone on tilt and lost a lot of money.  Instead I was able to make a profit on the day just by realizing that every once in a while that you'll hit trips and someone else will hit bigger.