TimTimSalabim
03-04-2003, 06:49 PM
There's a situation that is coming up for me a lot now that I'm playing a lot of NL tourneys, and I'm not completely sure how to deal with it. The situation is you have a hand that you're 90% sure is the best, and thus your main concern is how to extract the maximum out of it. Here's an example that came up recently:
I had KK in a middle position, no one in yet (unfortunately I don't recall the stack sizes and blinds). I made my standard 4xBB raise, not wanting to limp and allow multi-way action, and also not wanting to raise too big and collect only the blinds. Only the BB called, so far, so good.
Now the flop came out: Q 8 3. BB made a small bet. And here's where my dilemma came. I was pretty sure BB had something like QJ, QA, QT, possibly a bluff or underpair. I'm discounting Q8 or Q3, thinking he's a decent player who wouldn't call preflop with that. And QQ or AA would have put me all-in preflop. There's the possibly he flopped a set, but it's remote and he'd probably check the flop in that case. So, I was pretty sure I had the best hand, and I raised him a substantial amount (I think it was 3 times what he bet), and he folded.
Immediately, I started kicking myself, thinking I should have just called the flop and waited to pounce on the turn. Or made a small raise that he could have called. On the other hand, there's the risk of allowing a Qx to hit his two pair on the turn, so maybe my play was not so bad. What do you NL players typically do in this situation?
I had KK in a middle position, no one in yet (unfortunately I don't recall the stack sizes and blinds). I made my standard 4xBB raise, not wanting to limp and allow multi-way action, and also not wanting to raise too big and collect only the blinds. Only the BB called, so far, so good.
Now the flop came out: Q 8 3. BB made a small bet. And here's where my dilemma came. I was pretty sure BB had something like QJ, QA, QT, possibly a bluff or underpair. I'm discounting Q8 or Q3, thinking he's a decent player who wouldn't call preflop with that. And QQ or AA would have put me all-in preflop. There's the possibly he flopped a set, but it's remote and he'd probably check the flop in that case. So, I was pretty sure I had the best hand, and I raised him a substantial amount (I think it was 3 times what he bet), and he folded.
Immediately, I started kicking myself, thinking I should have just called the flop and waited to pounce on the turn. Or made a small raise that he could have called. On the other hand, there's the risk of allowing a Qx to hit his two pair on the turn, so maybe my play was not so bad. What do you NL players typically do in this situation?