Flopping quads at NL

[Scott_Baio]

playing 9 handed nl, on the button with [5,5] we all have each other just about covered. 2 limpers to me, I limp, sb completes and bb checks

Flop comes [5, 5, 10] with 2 hearts

checked to me, what do you do? I check.

turn is 6 not heart [5, 5, 10, (6)]

Checked to me, what do you do? I bet min. 1 caller

river is 8 of hearts, flush got there [5, 5, 10, 6, (8)]

Checked to me. I bet min again, hoping to get raised, caller just calls down.

I don't think I maximized vaule there, would anyone play anything differently? Would you bet a lot, and hope someone else picked up a hand?

[DrPublo]

Flopping quads is almost always not as profitable as you want it to be because you have the deck entirely crippled. The only cards that are going to play with you are perhaps the other card on board (a 10, in this case) or a huge overpair. Flushes are possible too, but most players aren't going to pay a lot to draw to a flush on a paired board.

In sum, you have to get lucky with quads (well, you have to be lucky to GET quads to begin with) to make any money. I've flopped quads with position in a multiway pot and its gotten checked down to the river, where not even one person would call my pot-sized bet.

But, in the quads spirit, I will tell a quads story where I made some money, from last night.

.25/.50 NL home game, 7 handed or so. Most stacks are in the $50 range, although I doubled up $100 on a straight flush about 20 mins earlier so my stack was enormous for the table.

I pick up [5,5] in MP and limp, one limper behind me and the button raises to $2.50 (meaningless raise from this player...could be as bad as Kxs). SB folds, BB calls, I call and and the limper behind me calls. Pot: $10-ish.

Flop: 3 5 5

Woohoo! Great flop, but I really would have rather caught only one 5 so I could get paid off. I anticipate it getting checked around to the button, who would open raise for some amount and we could go from there, but to my surprise BB leads out for $10. Never played with him before but he seems pretty weak-tight, so I don't want to scare him away. I do a lot of posturing and thinking (for effect) and call, hoping at least one person behind me will call. They both fold.

Turn is a total blank, an 8 I think. I expect him to check, but he pushes the rest of his stack, maybe $20. I insta-call, and turn over quads. He had bullets.

Not a very interesting hand in terms of the play, but it's a story of getting paid off with quads. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

The bottom line: You're lucky to flop quads, but even luckier to get paid off with them.

DrPublo

[Richie Rich]

Not really much you can do. Whether you check or min-bet on the flop is really up in the air. By checking, you show no strength and are giving the flush draw a free card to potentially pay you off down the road. But by not min-betting, you're not increasing the pot at all or gauging who might have a drawing hand (or A high card).

In this instance, I think you played it fine. Unfortunately, no one was holding the pocket 8s or an overcard flush draw (like you would've hoped for), so you weren't able to reel in a huge profit. But, hey, at least you didn't have to worry about losing that hand... /images/graemlins/cool.gif

[SpaceAce]

I think checking is the right move. Your only hope is that someone flopped a full house in which case you're going to get plenty of action whether or not you check. Go ahead and let everyone see the turn for free and hope your opponents catch something. If there are not many people in the pot with me or I think a bet will spook them, I check the turn, too.

SpaceAce

[The Dude]

There is an important factor to consider here, especially since this is a home game (presumably the game is consistently the same core of players). You need to play this hand in the same way you would if you were bluffing.

If you never play strong into this board when you have the 5, then it will be EXTREMELY easy for someone to tell when you are bluffing - especially if you are playing with the same players frequently. There is one such player in the game I play, where if he flops trips (on a paired board), he ALWAYS slow-plays it. Therefore when he bets into the field on a board of 77J, I know the BEST he could have is a J (or over-pair). In this case, I will come over the top (either on the flop or turn), and he will always fold.

It is less important to do this, say, at a Casino where you are constantly playing against different players. And, of course, you want to occaisionally check this through so that your opponent is never sure what you have.

Hope this helps...

[Eric P]

betting the minimum sucks. checking is maybe o.k. When i'm playing limit and i flop quads as long as there is some sort of draw or a high card i like to bet, especially cause i bet a lot of flops as it is. T55 if you bet like 5 or 10 or something high cards still might chase depending on how bad the game is / your image. For quads i think doyle's advice is good, you might have to check it, but the only way you get action on a big hand is if someone has a big hand with you. So if you check the f lop betting the minimum sucks bad, bet somewhere near the pot like you were bluffing or had a semi-good hand. Just hope you get action, cause it's better to bet 10 and get called by AT than bet 2 and get called by A2

[Gronk]

When you're on the button, a scary board flops and it's checked to you and you check it looks suspicious. This is a perfect board to bluff on if you didn't have a 5 so if you were to bet and I had a 10 with a good kicker I would probably play back at you. I think your best bet in this situation is to bet a good amount....say about pot. If you get called, check behind on the turn and then your opponent will probably think you were weak and try to buy the pot.

In my opinion, that's the best way to get paid when they don't have a good hand. When they do have a good hand it's easy to get paid.

[bunky9590]

As aggressive as I am in NL, I bet the flop and bet it pot sized. I wouldn't need the 5 to do that anyway.

The only way you are going to make money is if someone else has a hand or make s a big raise to try to steal it from you.