Top pair, medium kicker hand

[Chaos_ult]

I'm in the BB with J /images/graemlins/club.gif 8 /images/graemlins/heart.gif

UTG calls, MP2 calls, button calls, sb folds, I check.

Flop: J /images/graemlins/diamond.gif 5 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif 7 /images/graemlins/club.gif

I check, UTG checks, MP3 checks, Button bets and I raise.

Folded back to the button who calls.
Turn: 9/images/graemlins/club.gif

I bet, he calls

River: 3 /images/graemlins/heart.gif

I bet, he thinks for awhile and calls

What do you think of this play? Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Happy holidays,

Matt

[Ajax410]

I play this the same way.

Alex

[Brash620]

I really like the check-raise.

[Fat Nicky]

Looks standard to me.

[chson]

What would you do if he 3-bet you on the flop?

Or if he called your flop raise and raised on the turn?

[ QUOTE ]
I'm in the BB with J /images/graemlins/club.gif 8 /images/graemlins/heart.gif

UTG calls, MP2 calls, button calls, sb folds, I check.

Flop: J /images/graemlins/diamond.gif 5 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif 7 /images/graemlins/club.gif

I check, UTG checks, MP3 checks, Button bets and I raise.

Folded back to the button who calls.
Turn: 9/images/graemlins/club.gif

I bet, he calls

River: 3 /images/graemlins/heart.gif

I bet, he thinks for awhile and calls

What do you think of this play? Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Happy holidays,

Matt

[/ QUOTE ]

[DeeJ]

I play it the same. Doesn't stop you losing to JT/JQ/JK/JA or make them throw it away. People will often play flush draws or pocket pairs this way at you however.

If you lost in this case, and are looking to lose less in future, you might want to check-call the river because if he's passive (not re-raising flop or turn) then you might get the river checked through even 20% of the time. But many players will see your check on the river as a sign of weakness and bet anyway.

[Redd]

One question for everyone about the check-raise: with 3 people on a pretty ragged flop like this one (and a hand that Hero really wants to protect), why are you confident that it's not going to whiff, giving the draws a free card?

Redd

[Alexthegreat]

I would play this the same, but check-call the river.....the players who had draws have a chance to bluff, and the players with better hands have a chance to save you a bet.....I think many people probably underestimate the amount of bets you make/save by doing this.....

[Chaos_ult]

This particular player was aggressive enough, where I was confident that he would not check a better hand on the river (JQ, JK, etc). So checking here, i felt, really wouldn't accomplish much, or at least wouldn't be much different from betting. I think in the long run, there is no difference, or an insignificant difference. The actual outcome of the hand really didn't suprize me much. He showed J8, and we split the pot.