Derek in NYC
11-22-2004, 09:35 PM
Suppose you flop middle pair on a smallish pot. How do you play it? For example: You hold A /images/graemlins/spade.gif9/images/graemlins/spade.gif from the BB. Folded to CO who calls, button calls, SB calls, you check. (4 SBs)
Flop comes K/images/graemlins/heart.gif9 /images/graemlins/heart.gif3 /images/graemlins/spade.gif, thus giving you middle pair, an overcard, and a backdoor flush draw. The board is somewhat coordinated ( /images/graemlins/heart.gifs).
In counting outs, you give yourself about 6 outs (2 clean aces, .5 for the A /images/graemlins/heart.gif, 2 clean 9s, and 1.5 for the backdoor flush).
This is a very marginal situation, with 4 bets in the pot on a 6 outer. I find myself in this situation pretty often, and I can't decide which of the following is better.
(An alternative hypo might be where you have a small connector in the big blind, and 2 other players see the pot, putting a total of 3 SBs in the pot. The flop is uncoordinated, but gives you an open end draw, thus 8 outs, but a very small pot.)
On one hand, part of me wants to bet it and try to win the pot right there. But with the K on the board, and the semi-connected suits, somebody often will like the hand enough to have connected.
Alternatively, I sometimes want to check it through, with the intention of folding to 2 bets, but hoping that it is either checked though, or that there are enough single-bet callers after me to make it clearly worth paying to see the turn. (For example, where the CO bets, the button calls, the SB calls, and now I can get 7:1 odds to call.)
And then sometimes I check it through, with the same intention same as above, except that if it is the button who bets first in, I will raise to make it two cold to all other callers. I do this only if I have put the button raiser as a LAG who will bet position, and who is capable of folding.
So how do you guys play it? What's the best thinking here?
Flop comes K/images/graemlins/heart.gif9 /images/graemlins/heart.gif3 /images/graemlins/spade.gif, thus giving you middle pair, an overcard, and a backdoor flush draw. The board is somewhat coordinated ( /images/graemlins/heart.gifs).
In counting outs, you give yourself about 6 outs (2 clean aces, .5 for the A /images/graemlins/heart.gif, 2 clean 9s, and 1.5 for the backdoor flush).
This is a very marginal situation, with 4 bets in the pot on a 6 outer. I find myself in this situation pretty often, and I can't decide which of the following is better.
(An alternative hypo might be where you have a small connector in the big blind, and 2 other players see the pot, putting a total of 3 SBs in the pot. The flop is uncoordinated, but gives you an open end draw, thus 8 outs, but a very small pot.)
On one hand, part of me wants to bet it and try to win the pot right there. But with the K on the board, and the semi-connected suits, somebody often will like the hand enough to have connected.
Alternatively, I sometimes want to check it through, with the intention of folding to 2 bets, but hoping that it is either checked though, or that there are enough single-bet callers after me to make it clearly worth paying to see the turn. (For example, where the CO bets, the button calls, the SB calls, and now I can get 7:1 odds to call.)
And then sometimes I check it through, with the same intention same as above, except that if it is the button who bets first in, I will raise to make it two cold to all other callers. I do this only if I have put the button raiser as a LAG who will bet position, and who is capable of folding.
So how do you guys play it? What's the best thinking here?