200 NL. QQ on a monotone board

[JasonP530]

Literally the first hand, so not even the stats have appeared. I post behind the button with QQ. 2 limpers and I make it 12. The early one folds and the late calls.

The flop is J93 and 3 hearts and I have no heart. I found this to be a very sticky spot and had a few questions about how to approach it.


1. Sometimes I check it in this spot, looking to get a blank turn, so the pot doesnt inflate. Good or bad?

2. In this case, I elected to go with a full pot bet($25)(because of the board), instead of my usual 3/4 or so.

3. The villian now min checkraises to $50. Absolutely lost here.

4a)Assume I call and the turn is a low blank and he bets $50-$100(which to me seems like a value bet). Then what? It seems like a fold, but then why did I call the flop? In the hope that he checks it down?

4b) If the turn is a heart(not the Q), then any bet by me has to be a bluff? I would think it is better to bet the river and not the turn for two reasons. First, most players wouldnt check the ace or king twice, so if they fire the river, I think I can usually fold. Second, if he has a set, hes going to call the turn, and I wont know where I am anyways.

I'd love to hear some other thoughts on the hand.

Thanks as always,
Jason

[xorbie]

If you get checkraised, I would fold with no reads. He either has you beat or has a pair and /images/graemlins/heart.gif. I also do occasionally check this flop, but with no Q/images/graemlins/heart.gif I would prefer to bet/fold.

hmm miniraise is sticky situation

tag so i can see responses

[Moozh]

You have to make a choice on the flop.

1) You assume you're beat (doesn't have to be by the flush), and fold.

2) You think he might be semi-bluffing with a pair+flush draw (or just a flush draw). Here, you should call and push a safe turn.

While you're actually satistically behind a paired flush draw, you're getting good odds because of the min-raise. Thus, you don't have to win a majority of the time to make a call correct here.

I don't know the play at 200nl so I wouldn't know which decision to make. I do think those are your two best options though.

[el_grande]

I don't see how checking could be right since you are very likely to have the best hand right now and a 2/3 to pot bet will fold out almost every lone heart.

You make your stand here and with no reads you fold to a C/R.

You will win this pot so often with a sizeable flop bet that it is worth doing every time.