how would you play this

[littlebu]

This is from a Pacific(I know I've been building my stack here so I can take full advantages from other sites bonuses) MTT $4+.50 436 down to 107. Top 40 get paid

Just moved to the table first hand
Blinds are 75 and 150
Stacks
Sb-15xx
Bb-18xx
Hero- 23xx
UTG+1-450
MP1-54xx
MP2-15xx
CO-11xx
Button-16xx

Hero dealt 9d 9h

Hero raises to 475 UTG+1 calls all-in MP1 calls everyone else folds

Board comes Jc 9c 3c

How would you play preflop? Was the raise good or no? How would you play the flop?

[deacsoft]

I don't see anything worng with it. NH.

[littlebu]

What would you do after the flop?

[bholdr]

i would push after the flop- it's very unlikely that he has clubs, buit is's a fair bet that he has one. do not give him odds to draw. you played it well to this point, nh.

[littlebu]

[ QUOTE ]
i would push after the flop- it's very unlikely that he has clubs, buit is's a fair bet that he has one. do not give him odds to draw. you played it well to this point, nh.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks this is how I played it. Just wanted to make sure I played it correctly. I just want to make sure I'm making the correct decisions

[deacsoft]

Wow, I must have misread something somewhere. I thought MP1 was all-in with the preflop call...
Anyway, the push post-flop isn't bad either.

[AKQJ10]

[ QUOTE ]
i would push after the flop-

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm only beginning to learn NLHE, but my undestanding is that blowing people out of a pot is less desirable than inducing them to stay in a pot while getting improper odds. Therefore a 3/4 pot bet (give or take) would be preferable to blowing your opponent out of the pot by pushing all-in. 3/4 pot would be about T900-1100, which about half of Hero's remaining stack of 1900-some. Therefore I infer that the EV of trying to get a caller for 1000 or so in a pot of ~1425 is greater than the EV of blowing the opponent out of the pot and disputing it (save the T50 side pot) against the all in player -- who for all we know may have a club too anyway!

A secondary consideration is that even if opponent makes the one-card flush, she may not recognize it as the better hand or may not understand pot odds, and might give you proper odds to redraw at a full house.

However, as a counterpoint I think you'd have to bet your remaining stack on the turn even if a club fell because you're pot committed. So if fold equity the bigger consideration, you should probably just push on the flop. But I don't think fold equity is the bigger consideration, because it only buys you the T50 side pot outright and a better shot at the main pot. Eliminating one contender for the main pot is worth something, but not worth T1350. Taking much of the big stack is worth far more than T50 + 50% (?) * T1350.

Comments? I'm extremely eager to hear experienced and successful NLHE players critique my thought patterns.

(As an aside, the OP seems ashamed to play at Pacific. I'm proud to play there! It's the fishiest site on the 'Net, after all.)

[AKQJ10]

[ QUOTE ]
Wow, I must have misread something somewhere. I thought MP1 was all-in with the preflop call...
Anyway, the push post-flop isn't bad either.

[/ QUOTE ]

UTG+1 is all-in. MP1 is the largest stack at the table. This is a salient point, because pushing MP1 out of the pot isn't guaranteed to protect you from a fourth club, and the side pot is tiny compared to the main pot.

[bholdr]

Good points, AKQJT... in a ring game, it's far superior to induce your opponent to call with bad odds than it is to win the pot right away, but in a tournament situation like this, it's marginally better to just be happy with a medium size pot (due to metagame considerations and the long term advantage of having a large chip stack) it's better to push that flush draw out, imho.

[littlebu]

First thanks for all the replies. I did think of betting 1200 at it but figured if it was called and a scare card hit I would still be committed to the rest of my chips. I figured if I pushed I would have the chance of maybe getting a fold and hopefully beating the UTG +1 and if I didn't I would still have chips to work with if they infact ended up with clubs. As it went MP1 called with KsJs and hit KdKh. I can't do anything about that but I wanted to make sure my play was correct so when a play unfolds like this again I know I played correctly on the flop so in the long run I'll be successful Thanks again guys and keep the replies coming.