Request for comments on a family pot.

[Gronk]

This hand was described to me through a friend who was watching his friend play on a 2/4 table at the taj this past weekend. (no suits matter for this hand).

His friend is dealt AK UTG. He open raises and EVERYONE calls. 10 to the flop for 20 small bets. The flop is A J 9. No possible straights or flushes.

My friend is confused as to how many callers there were to our hero's bet, but he knows it wasn't raised and he knows that 6 people showed down. So at the end there was a minium of 25 big bets in there. The turn was a 3 and the river was a 5. Pocket 3s in late position took it down with their turned set.

Here's where the debate has been going back and forth. Did the 3s misplay their hand? I think that the 3s had the odds to call to the river to make their set and assuming they made it, it would be good often enough for them to turn a profit with such a large pot not to mention the implied odds that they can get a few extra big bets by raising from LP if they do catch.

What under the gun raising hands could your set beat in this situation? I would think more than they couldn't beat. Anything other than AA or JJ. I wouldn't expect to see a raise with 9s utg. I think the 3s played correctly but I want to hear what others think.

All comments are greatly appreciated.

[Homer]

It depends on what position 33 was in. If he was in EP or EMP there is no way he should have coldcalled because he doesn't know if it will be reraised behind him or if there will be enough additional callers to justify calling two cold going for a set. After a few coldcallers, though, it is okay for him to coldcall from LMP or LP (or from the blinds). On the flop, especially one that is rainbow, he has odds to take one more off, as he is 22.5:1 against making his set on the turn and is getting about that in pot odds (not to mention implied odds).

So, I guess what I'm saying is that I need to know what position he was in and how many coldcallers there were before him.

-- Homer

[Nottom]

The 3's called from LP ... its in there somewhere because it was the first thing I looked for.

The call on the flop was a fine play for the pocket 3 player with the pot giving him something like 25-1 odds. If the 3 had come on the river, then it may have been a mistake depending on what the pot looked like at that point.

[Joe Tall]

The poster did say the 3s took it down in late position., which, I would cold call, also with 5+ cold callers in front of me for 2 bets with any pair. I'd even raise with 77s or better in the same situation. /forums/images/icons/wink.gif

[Louie Landale]

The 33 seemed to get 23bb:1sb or 46:1 for the flop call. That's twice what he needs. Even taking into account the chances of snagging a 3 and still losing (which, BTW, is pretty high with a raised AJ9 family pot), I'd say that was still a good call.

One important note is that snagging a 3 does NOT help any other hands.

- Louie