Playing a marginal hand for big value

[Nate tha' Great]

Le gusta?

Party 15/30. I have A /images/graemlins/spade.gif 9 /images/graemlins/club.gif in the SB. UTG open-limps and the next four limp behind him. CO and Button fold and I complete. BB checks. No important player reads.

Flop 8 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif 2 /images/graemlins/spade.gif 9 /images/graemlins/heart.gif. I check, UTG bets and two of the limpers call. I call. BB folds.

Turn 4 /images/graemlins/spade.gif. UTG bets, one limper calls, I raise.

[mmcd]

Looks good to me.

Its pretty clear from the action that you have the best hand.

Assuming they both call and paint or a T falls on the river whats your plan? Check-call, bet and fold to a raise, or bet and call a raise?

BTW wheres that Hand Reader/Arbitrager post?

[Nate tha' Great]

[ QUOTE ]
Assuming they both call and paint or a T falls on the river whats your plan? Check-call, bet and fold to a raise, or bet and call a raise?

[/ QUOTE ]

Probably bet and call if it's one more back to me. Maybe that's silly; I'm representing a lot of strength here and I don't know that a bluff is all that likely. But that's probably what I would have done.

p.s. Will try and get the reader/arbitrager post out in the next week or so.

[lil']

I sometimes find myself in spots where I'm sure my hand is best, but it is also extremely vulnerable, yet there really is no good way to protect it.

I like what you did here. You can't drive anyone out, so just charge them the maximum when you have the best of it and let the river bring what it brings.

Edit - Sometimes I bet the turn here if I'm concerned about a check through.

[Knockwurst]

Your play is preety cool, but how about betting out on the flop and letting UTG raise the other two players out. And if that doesn't do it, reraise after their call, let the UTG cap it, and assuming you can get the other two players to fold, bet out on the turn (but I'm not sure if you should check if a K or Q comes -- What the hell, bet) Then if he raises, well a good player probably lays it down, but at this point in time in my poker development I call him down. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

Now if the other two are coming for the ride, I probably go into check call mode if an overcard comes on the turn and fold the river to another bet unless I'm the last to act against the original raiser.

[steveyz]

The problem is that Nate has no idea who will bet this flop. If you had a specific read that UTG would raise, then a bet is best. But more often, this will be checked to an LP player, who will bet, and you can check raise to protect your hand. I really like this line. I try to take this line a lot with my good but very vulnerable holdings. Unfortunately, a nasty turn card falls on me quite often, making turn play difficult.

[hockey1]

Good job

[TwoNiner]

I really like the checkraise if you don't think it is likely to be checked through. With this board and you raising out of the blind, I can even see one or two players dropping out for one more bet if they are hanging on to overcards, which of course is great for you. No way the flop raise would accomplish this. And waiting till the turn also lets you see the turn card and the action before building a big pot with a vulnerable pair.

[JimmyV]

Me gusta! River tricky but do try not to fold.

[sthief09]

Interesting. If you were on the button, rather than first to act, this would be standard. But the fact that it's not makes this play pretty creative. I think the most interesting part is that by doing this, you're misrepresenting your hand as a monster rather than a marginal hand. This might cause some hands that are getting odds to call, like bottom pair or KQ. My only question is what do you do if you get 3-bet. Do you assume that he has to have a big hand to 3-bet a seemlingly slowplayed monster and fold, or do you call down?

I've recently posted a bunch of hands in SS where I have a weak TPTK in a large field on the flop, and I didn't know how to handle it. I think this is a great approach to the situation.

[Nate tha' Great]

[ QUOTE ]
Interesting. If you were on the button, rather than first to act, this would be standard. But the fact that it's not makes this play pretty creative. I think the most interesting part is that by doing this, you're misrepresenting your hand as a monster rather than a marginal hand. This might cause some hands that are getting odds to call, like bottom pair or KQ. My only question is what do you do if you get 3-bet. Do you assume that he has to have a big hand to 3-bet a seemlingly slowplayed monster and fold, or do you call down?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think I'd need to call down if 3-bet. You make a good point about my representing a very strong hand, but this is the Party 15/30, and the pot is pretty large once I check-raise ... if he puts me on some sort of semi-bluff then he could 3-bet with weaker one-pair hands, possibly with the intention of taking a free showdown.

[Lawrence Ng]

Pretty standard play imo.

The question would be more like if you had something like 96 suited and an airball came on the river - would you still bet?