[davidross]

A couple of points.

1) On this flop if the game is passive tight I would bet this flop and hope to win it right there. You have a very strong draw, as many as 14 outs, but it is still a draw and if I can win it right away that's great. Plus if you get called and make your straight on the turn, you are better disguised.

2) If the flop had been checked to the last player to act I might try the check-raise as a semi-bluff to make it heads up, then lead the turn.

3) Once two people are in on the flop your raise needs to be for value. Given the current situation (14 possible outs) a raise with 2 callers has a positive expectation, but you are out of position and need to be prepared to lead on the turn or reveal the nature of your hand.

I don't think there is anything wrong with any of these three aproaches. You need to choose the one that best fits your style and the opponents you are playing.

The fold on the turn is a very close call. Here is a trick I was taught for quickly determining if you have pot odds for a call in this situation. Multiply the BB's you expect to earn by the number of outs you have. If that number is higher than the number of unknown cards, then you have correct odds to call. In your case if you think you need to hit your straight to win then you don't have the odds. You have 8 outs and only 5 BB's in th epot. That gives you 40 which is less than the 46 unseen cards. But if you think either the BB will also call, or that you can get another bet on the river from the other guy then you do have odds. Or if you think you might have more outs then you do have odds as well.

Not as bad a fold as you might think, but I sure wouldn't have criticised a call here.