[Nick C]

I like your flop raise, which has a decent chance of protecting your hand on this scary board.

On the river, I might check behind like you did, but I'm not sure that's best. If Villain just flopped top pair, there's a good chance you're still best. And he might pay off. There is some chance, too, that he'll fold a hand like 9 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 9 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].

I know hoping for calls from worse hands and folds from better hands seems contradictory, but it isn't really. Villain is unknown, so we can't rule out either possibility. (And even if he weren't unknown, we shouldn't expect Villain to play completely consistently or predictably.) I do think a call from a worse hand is considerably more likely than a fold from a better one, though. (Edit: And I also think Villain will fold, say, his 8 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 7 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] or even A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 7 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] sometimes, so it's not like you're automatically getting paid off when you are best.)