raising with a high three flush

I was recently thinking about this play, which essentially is raising to get it heads up with an A high threeflush so that if you pair up you have a better chance of winning.


As I moved up in stakes I found that this play was much riskier. While it is easier to get it heads up, frequently you are heads up against a player with a good hand which either improves or is just better than yours. For example, I recently played such a hand where my heas up opponent called with buried 9's and ended up beating my pair of A's with two pair. I find that this happens more frequently.


At lower limits the raise was good not because it would be heads up but because it would build a bigger pot. This is not the case at higher limits.


Has anyone else had a similar experience with these hands, and if so what adjustments should be made? Or is this just a high deviance hand that will win in the long run but will often lose in teh short run, perhaps a majority of the time it is played.


All comments are welcome.


Pat

I'd tend to raise here primarily as a variance play against strong/tighter players, wouldn't do it every time and would be sure my ace was totally live, maybe when one/two of my flush cards were out. I'd also be ready to get off pretty quick if I catch bad and am bet into on 4th street, depending on how many players, what they catch and how aggressive. If I bet on 4th and a tight player raises I'm considering folding. If I don't catch good on 5th and he does, I'm checking and folding.

I play more holdem than stud, but don't you think most of the value here is in the "high" and rather little in the flush part??

Yes, most of the value is in the high and you're really semi-bluffing, with the flush as an out. If you get two or three callers to your raise on 3rd, you're in trouble if you don't catch an ace or a fourth flush card on 4th street. You really want to steal the antes or get head up where you can win by making aces, by making your flush and possibly by making a pair on board if your ace is showing (they may think you've made aces up). To me, this is really a classic semi-bluff of the type described by Sklansky.