question to david, ray and mason

In SCSFAP you argue that if you bet with a split pair and are raised by somebody holding a high pair in the hole (low upcard) you should normally call, because on 4-6st he cant make two pair without you knowing it.


Recently I have faced that situation a couple of times, but in a 3-way pot. I find it quite diffucult to choose between calling and folding in this situation (although reraising might be worth a consideration to through the third player of, if it is then rereraised by the high pair - but I think the investment will be to high for that).


Lets say,


I bet after the bring in with split nines (low kicker). A 5 raises, and then a medicore player with a 7 calls (both pair cards and his suit are live). Everybody else folds. What should be my move.


If calling is the right decision, should I play it aggressively on 4-5st if nothing scary falls in order to get it heads up?


JN

Obviously this is a tough situation for many players due to the recent posts.


IN a three way pot there are other considerations, such as whether it can be made heads up, the possibility of being threebet etc, but generally in an ante game you should either reraise or fold, you should rarely call. But the hand you describe with split nines is not one of these situation since you do not have an overcard kicker. You probably should fold in a threeway pot unless a raise will get him to fold on third street.


Pat

...the hardest hands for me are the low to medium pairs and how to play them. Reading your post, my initial thought was to fold - but I agree with you that if you can get heads-up with a reraise do it.


In the case of the 3-handed situation where 1 player is strong and 1 player isn't, the potential problem I see with the raise is that it probably won't get the weak player out. Then, if it doesn't get the strong player out, you look to be a big underdog with the low kicker and now have put more money into the pot against a good opponent with a very strong hand.

Well, you ask a tough question. I think the way to answer this is to ask, "Does the additional player help or hurt me?" That is, even though the pot is now bigger, are my chances of winning the pot going down faster than the pot has gotten bigger? I think in most cases the answer to this question is that the additional player has made it worse for you. Thus it is probably right to now fold since the call in the heads up spot while correct is not correct by a lot.

"but I agree with you that if you can get heads-up with a reraise do it"


Given the fact that the third player has just called two bets cold, he'll most likely do it again.