"To bet or not to bet"

I was in a pot limit hold’em game at the Commerce, 10 – 10 blinds. There were four very solid players, two decent players, two weak players, and myself somewhere between decent and solid. I was 2 positions to the right of the button. There were two callers before me, (one solid, one weak player) so I decided to limp in for $10 with J,9 of spades. The button who is decent raised to 50. The blinds folded everyone else called, as did I. The flop came Jh-4s-9d. It was checked to me and I bet $50, with out much hesitation, the button bumped it to $300. 2 other people before me folded. Then I had some issues on what to do next but I decided I would bet big hoping to take the pot down right there so I called his $300, and raised him $800. (trying to represent a set of Jacks) The button asked me how much more I had, I told him a little more than $600, he thought about it for a while and he called! The turn card came a 10c. This is where my question comes in. “To bet or not to bet,” I decided I would check and risk the free card. Here is why. When he called my $800 raise, I had to put him on a set of 9’s which he would already have me, or an over pair. So any K or Q would give him a straight, or a set. Which I would then check and release my hand if he bet and save $600. Any A and I would have to check and call making sure he wasn’t trying to steal the pot. The same thing goes for a 8. The way I figured with the turn being a 10 there was just way too many ways that I could lose the hand. The river came with a 2h I bet $600, he took about a minute and folded his cards.


I am kind of new to the pot limit game, and one would figure he would have folded when I came over the top of him, but he didn’t. Should I have put my self all-in on the turn? Should I have played the hand differently from start to finish?

The ten didn't change anything. He didn't have TT, he didn't have KQ, 87, or Q8. So, either you were still in front, or sadly behind (a set of 9's, I guess). There's something like $2200-$2400 in the pot, and you've only got $600 left. Put it in now, stop worrying about it.


IMHO, this isn't even a close situation. There's no point in trying to guess on the river, and the turn card didn't change things. Get your money in right now.


Regards, Lee

i agree with lee's response....stick it in on 4th st.... he might call with QQ, KK or maybe AA


i wouldn t want a scare card to come and make me decide to dog it --guessing on the end... if you think you have the best hand...which you most likely do....bet it

1bgmxcn,


My guess is that the button had a pair of aces or kings. When you are holding Jack-Nine that reduces the combinations of someone having a set of jacks or nines. I would never worry about that. Would he raise with a pair of fours? That's a possibility, but I doubt it unless he is a very loose or tricky player. You need to go with what you think he had on the flop.


Furthermore, your $50 bet on the flop looked suspicious. That's why I put him on a big pair, and he finally pried himself away from it on the river.


Good Luck


Mark

I'm with Lee. Put your money in.


But a further point. When you bet on the flop you should have already known what you were going to do when you were raised, called, etc. Your $50 bet was asking to be raised by the preflop raiser so you were going to reraise. Why not bet $100-$150, now when you are raised to $400-$500 you've made a bet that gives you some information and if you choose to reraise you can reraise allin or close to it and force your opponent to do the thinking.