Top pair good kicker with a draw heavy (?) flop

[AlphaMeridian]

A friend of mine sent me this hand, and I was somewhat confused as what to recommend as the flop action. My initial reaction was that betting out was correct, but the more I thought about it, the check raise seems more correct. The flop is 2 toned, with a decent straight possibility. He had Top Pair, Good Kicker, but if he bets, is he really affecting the odds to those on the draw (Solitary T, 4 flush) to fold? If he checks, and its checked through, is that devistating or can that be handled?

Party Poker 0.5/1 Hold'em (8 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

Preflop: Hero is SB with J/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, Q/images/graemlins/club.gif.
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls, MP1 folds, MP2 calls, CO folds, Button calls, Hero completes, BB checks.

Flop: (5 SB) 9/images/graemlins/heart.gif, 8/images/graemlins/spade.gif, J/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="#0000FF">(5 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">Hero ?</font>

-Alpha

[craig r]

I would go for the check-raise. Somebody will bet the flop. The problem with the check-raise is if the person on your immediate right or immediate right +2 bets, raising will not protect your hand if people in between call. If this happens I would probably wait for the turn and then bet out instead of raising the flop.

I am always in this situation and would be very interested in what others have to say.

craig

[jinyk]

I would check-raise to try to get out over-cards then dump it if I get raised then or the turn. There nothing you can do about someone with a T or two spades generally.
Optimistically, if everyone checks to the button and the button bets the flop and you CR and make it 2SB to the three in between. One by one (if each folds) they will get 4 to 1 for their money. That's slightly less than the odds that straights (by .9) and flushes (by .2) get to draw, so likely they will in a .5/1 game. Come on, we've all seen them draw on less. If someone has the Axs draw, forget about it. Even if CRed they will and should call. On top of which with a straight on board any high spade might just hang around hoping to flush a straight. I would play it strong and charge draws full price (and hope for the best).

Then again, with such a tenuous holding as JQ it might be better to just bet-out and fold to raise? You've probably have no outs if you're behind in conjunction with a draw. Someone smarter than me give us an answer.

I personally would have opted for a different flop. Maybe QJJ or QQJ. Yeah, that's best.

[AlphaMeridian]

Any other opinions? Anyone like betting out here?

-Alpha

[wabe]

The problem with checking, in my opinion, is that you don't gain any information on the hand, and give people on a flush/straight draw a free card.

I think I bet out in this case to see what people have.

[jaybee_70]

I don't think you can be sure that someone will bet. A bet is not going to protect your hand, but it has great value. You have top pair and a gutshot draw, bet this and let your opponents do what they want to do. . .CALL.

Joe