Flopping a monster from the BB

My 5th ever 10-20 foray. I am in a fairly tight game at the Regent with 2 loose players at the table. I am up about $200 and have a solid table image.


Loose Tricky (LT) is 2 UTG. Will limp with any suited connector (beat me with a 34s from up front about 30 mins prior to this hand). He has some awareness, however and is not stupid. Has shown me some respect.


Loose Aggressive (LA) is 3 UTG. Raises any legit raising hand, as well as any suited connector and big unsuited connectors. Raises more from up front to narrow the field and improve his chances of winning if the flop misses anyone. Everyone at the table is aware of this, including LT. He will bet until someone plays at him, so it is often profitable to let him keep betting rather than raising him and scaring him out of the hand.


The hand:


PREFLOP:


LT limps, LA raises. All fold to me in the BB. I look down and see As5s. I would normally fold here, but against these 2 players, I call.


Question #1: Does anyone reraise here? Against these 2 players I think there is a good shot I have the best hand.


FLOP:


Js 7s 2s


I flop the nut flush on an unbelievably benign board. With my image, I think they will fold if I bet and I am certain LA will bet regardless of his holding, so I check. LT checks, LA bets, call call. We all see the turn.


Question #2: Anyone lead at the pot or checkraise? I think that either option wins me the pot right there, so I decide to give them some more rope to hang themselves with. Good plan?


TURN:


Js 7s 2s 5d


With me just calling the flop, I am again certain that LA will bet. He is eyeing me (not suprisingly most of my pots have been won against him). I check, LT checks, LA bets. I don't want to lose LT so I call again.


Here is where it gets interesting. LT most likely has the same read of LA as I do. He RAISES! LA suprisingly calls. I decide that with 2bb's already in front of each of them, it's time to decloak and reveal myself, so I raise to $60. LT and LA muck their cards in near unison.


Question #3: Did I maximize my POTENTIAL earn here? I don't want to be too results oriented here. I want to know if the 3-bet on the turn is the right move considering the players and the board.


I think I did, but I'm not sure. If I just call, they will both be suspicious. After I call the 2nd BB on the turn, I cannot count on LT to bet for me on the river, and LA is almost certainly done betting. That means that if I call the turn, I have to lead at the river and that is just as supsicious as a turn raise.


Therefore I raised figuring that 1. They might have a big spade and would take one off regardless. 2. They might have a set and would call. 3. They might already have a flush and will be forced to call me down. Two pair is almost impossible with that board so they would have to have a set to have outs vs an obvious flush. I figure I am much more likely to get them to call with one card to come than with no cards to come.


All thoughts appreciated. As I start to push into middle limits I am really trying to make sure my thought processes are correct.


Thanks,


Clark

Question #1: No. Even loose players get goods hands and you're out of position with borderline cheese.


Question #2: No. This is the ideal situation for a slow play. There is an argument to be made for never checking the nuts because you might get a great deal of action from the second nuts nad also that a check-call might be more suspicious than a bet, but I think the potential action you might get by slowplaying overrides these considerations here.


Question #3: I like your re-raise. You've got to figure one or both of them must have something to be betting and raising. Hell, maybe one of them has a smaller flush and will make it four bets.


You are going to beat the 10-20 game with regularity.

i think you played the hand perfect! you played the nuts in this particular situation perfect. you got the maximum out of your opponnets. in the long run you'll make more the way you played it on the turn, the times they have enough to call. they probably would have shut down on the river anyway. neither one had much of a hand, if you bet out on the flop the hand might have been over. nice hand!

I don't like playing A-5 here. If an ace flops you are in a very tight spot considering your view of your opponents. They could have something like A-8 and then you lose. Basically, you have to flop at least 2-pair to be comfortable. Otherwise, I think your play was perfect. I would never think they both fold here.


Your preflop call may be ok if you planned on bluffing hard if you didn't catch, given the other players' apparent respect for your bets. This is because in addition to the flops that give you a hand, there are lots of flops like Q x x rainbow that you can probably steal on.

Against most opponents, I muck preflop. Against these two, I intended to play as if I had the best hand, depending on the flop texture and their reactions of course. Like you say....this is an instance where a solid table image allowed me to take an aggressive approach, even if the flop hadn't been ideal.


Thanks for the feedback, it is much appreciated.