Yep!! I screwed this one up..........

I was playing in a .25-.25 blind NLHE home game over the weekend when this hand came up. Buy in is $5 min $20 max, I had around $7 and was covered by all but the 2nd blind. There hadn't been much preflop raising, so I decided to limp UTG with 88. Six players seen the flop which was 8h5c3c. Blinds checked and I checked hoping to move-in on someone. All players checked and the turn card was 2c. The blinds and I again checked, the player to my left bet .75 and everyone folded to me I called hoping to fill up. The river was a blank, I check-called a $2.00 bet and was shown A4o. I know I screwed up this hand in major way. My question is on the flop. Do I move in with a small stack with 3 players left to act, hoping they think I have the flush draw and call? What if the flop had been 8hAc3c? Would this have been the spot for a check-raise all-in? Any help on this would be appreciated as I'm a newbie to big-bet.

With 2 clubs on the flop I would bet $2 which leaves you $5 to bet on the turn.


Ken Poklitar

Bet the pot or maybe $2 on the flop. Don't slowplay with a two suited board and all low cards here. If your opponents are drawing or have no pair they might take a free card. Plus, too many scare cards can come on the turn and kill your initiative (as it happened you went from thinking you hit a good hand to thinking you needed to fill up). In No Limit it is very important to pull the trigger when it looks favorable so as to not talk yourself out of it later. Use the No Limit structure to make it more difficult for people to draw out on you as well. Your hand is quite good but vulnerable. Try to win the pot on the flop or at least make them put in a large bet to chase you.


KJS

With big-bet, even more than in other forms of poker, the answer is, "It depends."


That said, what you'd like to with a huge (but still vulnerable) hand, is to make it incorrect (but perhaps attractive) for your opponent to call. Note that this is true in cash games. In tournaments, survival may trump laying a bad (but attractive) price for somebody to call you. I don't know - I don't play many tournaments.


But in a cash game, pot odds still apply. So if you give your betting opponent clubs (that or 76 are about the same as far as you're concerned), he's got 9 outs against you on the turn. Let's assume for simplicity that he's got the nut-flush draw. If he gets there on the turn, he puts you all-in, and you're obliged to call.


So I think there's $1.00 in the pot on the flop. I know he bet $.75, but I'm going to call it $1.00 to make the math easier. He bets $1.00. You and he both have $7 (IIRC, $7 is the shorter of the two stacks). You have to make it incorrect for him to call with his flush draw. He's a 4:1 dog to turn his flush. You've got about $7 he can win. So the previously suggested $2 or $3 bet is about right. That's not offering *any* draw the right price to catch a card. If he calls fine. If the flush comes, and he moves all-in, you've probably got enough outs (as well as "you're in front" equity) that you have to call.


In the scenario described above, you're very fortunate you didn't get busted (he was as worried about the flush as you were). If he's got the flush, you get busted or close to it.


Regards, Lee