3 bets with 4-4?

Live 10-20. Early position player posts 10 and raises UTG + 1, one player calls, next one re-raises, guy on my right calls 3 cold, I am staring at 44. I do not know much about the player except that BB has played every hand in the last hour. I am almost positive he will call. I call. BB calls. What do you think?

Flop Qd-4d-2c. Everyone checks to the guy on my right who bets, I raise. I figured pot is big enough and I want to protect. Thoughts? Two players call and raiser calls. The pre-flop 3 bettor folds.

Turn pairs the Q. I bet, call, call.

River Kd, completes the flush, I bet no callers.


Thanks for your input.

I honestly don't know how you could call 44 in middle position after it was 3 bet prior to the flop.

You cold called 3 bets pre-flop for at best 5 way action? What???

I don't see any way that your cold-call of three bets can be right.With all the action that

went down, even though you got a flop which was favourable to you, you may very well be facing top set, unless you're facing maniacs, and even

they wake up with playable hands now and again.


Of course, it's less likely you're staring down the barrel at top set when the turn pairs the board; then, I like the idea of sometimes betting out, others playing for the check-raise.


I'm not sure what I think of your bet on the end- someone could be hanging about with K-Q, figuring that on the flop, they have two pair with a decent kicker, and that they're getting pot odds to chase.


perfidious

So you're getting 4-1 on your money to flop a set, which is going to be the only hand that you actually CAN play after the flop, given 5 way action. 44 is in the muck unless I have been looking at 72o constantly for the past 3 hours or so.


I strongly dislike the pre-flop call.


After that I think you played it right - or at least as I would have.


~D

Okay, like the others have said here, you should not be calling 3-cold with 44 here. Normally, if 3 people limp to me, I'll call with 44, where I'm getting 4:1 on my money. So what's the difference?


When it's threebet to you, your pot odds are the same, but your implied odds are shot...You know that you need to make [(8) / (% of time you win when you flop a set)] x (the amount of money you put in preflop) in order to make the call profitable. You now need to be SURE that you can win 6 big bets after the flop, AND that your set is good.


You can't be sure of this 99% of the time. Moreover, it could be capped behind you.


It's a fairly honest mistake to make, but one that will be costly in the long run.


Sklansky wrote quite a while ago, which would you prefer:


in a 10-20 game with 5 and 10 blinds, would you rather have a small pocket pair in the SB with one limper (thus getting 5:1 on your preflop call), or a small pocket pair in the BB, an UTG raiser, and only the SB calling (still getting 5:1).


Even though you are in better position with the BB hand, you have half the implied odds, thus it's a worse position to be in.


The more money in before the flop, the worse the implied odds, the worse the call.


Josh