[joelmick]

When the flop is 3 suited cards and someone makes a pot-size (or close) bet, it is unusual to have more than 1 caller, because there are just not that many hands worth calling with (top or middle set, nut or 2nd nut flush, basically). So when I flat called the bet from the in front from the almost all-in player, I was not really expecting any caller, even though I was hoping for one. There was no real reason to raise, because an opponent with a set would not be getting pot odds to call me anyway, and the better could have a set in which case a pair on the turn would beat me anyway.

I was very surprised when I got raised from behind, but to me this made it 100% obvious that the raiser held 2nd nut flush. He could not hold nut flush, both because that is what I held, and also because if he held that he would have raised more so that I would not have pot odds to call his raise with a set. But he was afraid to raise more than he did, because he was afraid that someone behind him (or I) had nut flush. And if he had a set, he would just call rather than risk reopening the betting and getting reraised by nut flush.

Since he had 2nd nut flush, and by flat calling the first time I had played it like I held a set, I concluded that if I flat called the flop raise, he would put me on a set and bet again on the turn if the board did not pair, in order to protect his hand. And this is exactly what he did.

Anyway, there is often more than one reasonable way to play a hand, and reraising on the flop would certainly have been reasonable. But flat calling and then checking the turn was, for the above reason, clearly a much better play.

But as a previous poster said, unusual situations like that come up maybe a couple times per session, but there are many such situations and each one comes up very rarely. For example, I have played hi limit PLO for many years, and I never faced a situation like the one in this hand.

So perhaps the other bit of advice for players wanting to improve is not to play by rote. When you play a session, make it a goal to find at least one usual situation that you play differently than your "gut reaction." This will keep you alert to ways you can improve you game.