Short stacked thought process with top pair

[soxfan70]

$50 multi last night at UB, I get hurt for about half omy stack early when I have to lay down Aces up when the turn brings the third diamond, and I get stuck in between two raisers. So now I'm down to about $450 in the BB with K 10. UTg calls, MP1 calls, everyone folds back to me and I check. Flop is K 4 Q rainbow. Now, my question here is what is your thought process? Do you want to try to milk this pot for as much as you can get to get back to a decent stack size? By doing this, I think the risk of going broke rises, but is that OK in this spot? I came out betting $100 (blinds were 15/30)UTG called, MP folded. Turn was a 2, no flush possibilities, Fire anothe $100, hoping for a call. River is a 7, I push, again hoping for a call. Unfortunately I got what I wanted, and UTG shows Q7. Would you have played it differently to protect your top pair, or played it the way I did, and just shrug when you let the other guy outdraw you?

[MAxx]

I thought about your question and at first I thought I probably would have done the same thing and just shrug. Then I thought about your situation a little harder, and I realized that I think that you have 2 better options... I would have either tried to keep the pot smaller (b/c with this hand yours is probably best on the flop... but it isnt that strong) or pushin on the flop. If you cannot get away from your hand on the flop and you know you are going to sink or swim with this hand... should get your chips in the middle when you have the best of it on the flop.

The other alternative would have been to make smaller bets and be prepared to fold to a reraise. You are shortstacked, but you still have some time left in you.

I think that you just cannot afford the imbetween mode where you are betting around a 1/4 of your stack on each street. Not in the right position to "milk the pot" at all.

[fnurt]

I think your flop play was fine but I would have pushed on the turn. Trying to milk 3 value bets out of top pair is a limit play and there's not the same need for it at no limit, where you can bet as much as you like on the turn.

If you flop a monster, you can milk it as much as you like, but I see way too many bad players make a play like minimum bet on the flop, minimum bet on the turn, MASSIVE ALL-IN PUSH ON THE RIVER.

When I flop top pair this short-stacked, I definitely plan to get all my chips in and take it all the way. The purpose of a small bet on the flop, at least in my view, is not so you can fold to a raise, it's to increase the chance of getting a double-up.

[soxfan70]

thanks for the replies guys. fnurt, with your thinking on the turn push, are you wanting a call, or looking to take the pot down there, and give yourself at least a couple more hands to look for a better double up possibility?

[fnurt]

There's about T300 in the pot, so you're basically just betting the pot when you push. Of course I'd love to get called by an inferior hand and double, but the pot is now big enough where I'd be happy to just take it down and move on. Even though you haven't doubled up, it's not like you've gained nothing.

While T100 on the flop was a normal, pot-sized bet with one pair, the same amount on the turn is now a big underbet. While it may suck your opponent in and allow you to make more money, if you think about it what you're actually doing is slowplaying one pair, which is needlessly risky.

[deacsoft]

I don't care to mess around with hands like K-T. I push in on the flop or turn for sure.