I was in a pot limit hold’em game at the Commerce, 10 – 10 blinds. There were four very solid players, two decent players, two weak players, and myself somewhere between decent and solid. I was 2 positions to the right of the button. There were two callers before me, (one solid, one weak player) so I decided to limp in for $10 with J,9 of spades. The button who is decent raised to 50. The blinds folded everyone else called, as did I. The flop came Jh-4s-9d. It was checked to me and I bet $50, with out much hesitation, the button bumped it to $300. 2 other people before me folded. Then I had some issues on what to do next but I decided I would bet big hoping to take the pot down right there so I called his $300, and raised him $800. (trying to represent a set of Jacks) The button asked me how much more I had, I told him a little more than $600, he thought about it for a while and he called! The turn card came a 10c. This is where my question comes in. “To bet or not to bet,” I decided I would check and risk the free card. Here is why. When he called my $800 raise, I had to put him on a set of 9’s which he would already have me, or an over pair. So any K or Q would give him a straight, or a set. Which I would then check and release my hand if he bet and save $600. Any A and I would have to check and call making sure he wasn’t trying to steal the pot. The same thing goes for a 8. The way I figured with the turn being a 10 there was just way too many ways that I could lose the hand. The river came with a 2h I bet $600, he took about a minute and folded his cards.


I am kind of new to the pot limit game, and one would figure he would have folded when I came over the top of him, but he didn’t. Should I have put my self all-in on the turn? Should I have played the hand differently from start to finish?