I still hate pocket pairs...

[DrunkHamster]

Alright, this may be standard for all you guys but marginal situations like this are a big leak for me. I had just played an orbit, no one in the hand had gotten particularly out of line. The flop bettor was pretty taggish, about 25/9 stats and had played the one hand I saw aggressively with no showdown. Apart from this hand, there was about 4 to an average flop.

Party Poker 0.50/1 Hold'em (9 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with 7/images/graemlins/club.gif, 7/images/graemlins/diamond.gif.
Hero calls, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, MP1 calls, <font color="#666666">5 folds</font>, BB checks.

Flop: (3.50 SB) 6/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, 6/images/graemlins/spade.gif, 9/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="#0000FF">(3 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">BB bets</font>, Hero...

The question is, do we feel strong enough here to raise?

Reraise. Call a 3bet, re-evaluate on turn.

In a pot that small... fold. You're only getting 4:1 if you're behind and you have NO IDEA what the BB has since he got a free play.

That or you could re-raise on the flop, call if 3-bet and then decide on the turn. If you miss your backdoor draws and your seven, and it's bet into you again, then dump your hand.

I'd still prefer folding in this small a pot. Come on... 3 bets? You can practically make that up just by stealing the blinds once.

[POKhER]

Raise or fold situation, I go with fold.

4:1 and SO MANY cards that can cause problems.

Next /images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[Redd]

I'd fold. This isn't a flush draw often enough to justify fighting for the 2BB IMO.

[jrz1972]

Pretty routine fold. Small pot, you're way behind everything villain is representing, etc.

Change the flop to 996 and I raise.

[2+2 Junkie]

I'd raise, you might get rid of MP1, and unless he 3-bets, you'll get the free card to the river if you want. However, I might put a turn bet in and the check UI on river.

[waynethetrain]

If it wasn't the BB that bet the flop, I would re-raise. Given that the BB could have just about anything (making a 6 or 9 just as likely as paint), I'd fold.

[eviljeff]

this is a slightly ahead/way behind case.

we ain't folding a 6, probably not a 9. too many overs can come and kill our hand. fold it.

[eviljeff]

[ QUOTE ]
Reraise. Call a 3bet, re-evaluate on turn.

[/ QUOTE ]

uhh, I'm instamucking to a 3bet. what are we ahead of? ok, a flush draw yes. but their fd could easily have a card higher than a 7, which gives them more outs against us. the pot is just too small

[Amerretto]

[ QUOTE ]
Change the flop to 996 and I raise.

[/ QUOTE ]

Noob question but, why does the change make any difference. I take it, you are then counterfeiting the 6's and it's less likely he has a 9 for trips.

Would you still raise, say if it was 6TT, or 6JJ and above or would you give him credit for having at least one high card?

[Jaran]

Hmmmmmm...tough without a read. Well, there's no way I'm calling here. Raise or fold, and without a read I prolly fold, but a raise isn't bad.

-Jaran

[jrz1972]

When villain bets, he is saying he has some piece of the board. If the flop is 966, I cannot beat anything villain could have. I am ahead only of a smaller pocket pair, a draw, or a pure bluff.

When the flop is 996, I am now beating any 6, which is frequently what villain will be betting. So now that I'm beating a broader range of hands, I want to play, and if I'm going to play, I might as well raise.

Basically, if you hold a pocket pair and face a paired flop, you should be much more inclined to get involved if your pocket pair outranks the unpaired card on board.

[aces_dad]

And, many villians will not lead out, when flopping top trips into a smallish (3 people) field. So I do agree that the 966 flop bet represents two hands you can't beat much more often than 996 does.

[Disconnected]

I will mix this play up. Folding is probably the best play, but I don't think it's the best by a lot, and reads on the BB will help. Folding is good because the pot is small, and if you're ahead now, there are a lot of ways to be behind. Plus, you don't know what MP1 will do.

Calling is bad. But sometimes I'll raise here. If I do have the best hand, I want MP1 out. If BB is aggressive, he might be taking a shot on a scary board to pick up the pot. Again, usually I'll let him, but he could like to bet draws (either for value or as a semi-bluff). If he's betting a flush draw, if you do get a miracle 7, it won't put 3 to a flush on the board (if the 2-suit on the board isn't the same as one of my pair, I'd probably fold). If BB does like to take shots, I don't mind letting him know not to do it automatically against me.

So, while a fold is probably the prudent thing to do in this hand, I think there are some reasons to raise that make it not a terrible play against a relatively unknown bettor. Once you have established a decent read on BB, the fold/raise decision gets a little easier.

[Henke]

hadn't really thought about the situation that way...