Protecting Trash From the Blinds

[Chris Daddy Cool]

4/8 B&M game

I'm in the BB with 94o

UTG+1 calls. 3 other limpers. SB completes. I check.

FLOP: 9 5 2 r

SB checks. I bet. UTG+1 raises. Limpers and SB fold. Heads up now. What's your plan of action here?

Anyhow, this is what I did...

I got the gut feeling UTG+1 raised with overcards to isolate me, probably with something like KQ or AT. I 3bet him and he calls.

TURN: 3
I bet. He calls.

RIVER: A
I thought of checkraising here, but I was quite certain that he would raise a bet of mine if he did in fact have an A, so I could 3bet him and if he did have KQ he would probably check it behind, so I bet. He raises like I hoped, I 3bet. He calls.

I win the pot with the wheel, he shows AT for a pair of aces. What do you guys think of the hand, specifically the flop 3bet?

Chris

[Chris Daddy Cool]

[Clarkmeister]

You played it well. The flop 3-bet is excellent given your read. You will also be against something like 88 and 77 here a good % of the time also.

The meta-hand bonus is that many players will stop messing with you with overcards in this spot because they know they can't just take a free turn or free showdown. When they know they will pay full cab fare to get there, they start to play you much more predictably, and suddenly their raise of your flop bet means something completely different.