Gutshot questions

1)You have QJ on the button, the small blind bets, and when it gets to you, you are getting 9-1, and nobody has raised


The board is A T 5, all different suits.


Call, raise, or fold? Does it depend? On what?


2)You have 98s, flop is Q J 2, with a two flush, none of your suit.


You are getting 10-1 when its your turn, and you have one player behind you to act.


Call, raise, or fold? Depends? On what?


3)You call in an early postion with JTs, the flop comes 3 7 8, all different suits.


Four players saw the flop, and its raised. So there are 8 small bets in the pot when the flop came.


The big blind bets, you have two remaining players behind you.


Call, raise or fold? Depends? On what?

1. Call. With implied odds you surely have the odds to call. It would depend a bit if you werent closing the betting, so there would be a chance to get raised.


2. Fold. It's possible the flush 10 isnt good, you dont have overcards, and you're not closing the betting so you might get raised.


3. You dont make clear where the preflop raiser is, but I would be tempted to raise here, to try to make my overcards good (and get out other overcards).

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1) I think it's close but a call should be better if you think you can get action on the turn or river. The nice thing here is your position and closure of the betting, I think this also swings the decision towards calling.


2) Fold, you have a player behind who might raise, and you might hit your hand and still lose to either a flush or a bigger staight. Easy fold.


3) Well you certainly don't want to fold, you have 2 overcards plus a gutdraw to the nuts. I would opt to raise and try to knock everybody out in order to improve your chances if you happen to hit a J or T.

In all three situations you can call, its true that you are not completely getting the correct odds of 11:1 for your gutshot straight, but as you mentioned there are 1) more players acting behind you and 2)If you do hit your hand on the turn you can raise gaining that extra bet or checkraising.


In the second case you could even raise since you only need odds of 4.88:1 to call a bet so by raising your not jeopardising your odds and your also applying pressure so you could steal the pot in the future betting rounds. So you are actually semi bluff raising. Either way i believe you could call in all situations.


Take Care

(1) Easy call. There's noone behind you who might raise and you are drawing to the clear nuts. If you hit you will be able to raise the entire field. Your immediate odds of hitting are only 11.5-1 here, but your implied odds make it worthwhile.


(2) Fold. You aren't drawing to the nuts by a long shot (AK and K9) and then there's the flush. It's not just that your ten of the flush suit may be dead, its that you can hit your draw on the turn and get beaten on the river.


(3) Call. This is a fine hand. If there was a bettor, a caller, and only one player left to act behind me, I might raise, seeking a free card on the turn. As it is you can't afford to knock out players behind you.


Chris

I think the first one is a fairly easy call with implied odds.


The second one is an easy fold.


The third is an almost certain raise, IMO. Folding is way bad.


Fourth, you guys aren't beginners, sheesh!


Regards.

(1) Call. You're getting close to correct odds and your call closes the action. If you catch on the turn you will get a couple of callers to pay you off, to make up for the odds being a little short on the flop. Also, your Q or J make give you some partial extra outs if nobody has an ace (unlikely, but stranger things have happened).


(2) Fold. There are too many negatives: (a) you could lose to a flush; (b) you'd be making the "dumb" end of the straight and could lose to AK, or to an A or K if the other card comes down; (c) there's the threat of a raise behind you; (d) you don't have the pot odds in any case because one of the tens could make a flush.


(3) Raise if the preflop raise was behind you. Give yourself a chance to knock out hands like AK, AQ, KQ, KJ etc. If you succeed, you could win if a J or T comes down, which gives you lots of extra outs.


However, if the BB was the preflop raiser, he or she probably has a big pair and raising will just risk getting you heads-up with a hand you have to outdraw. So either fold or call. I would usually fold.


TRLS