[Dave G.]

Betting A9o UI into 3 other players, especially on a flop like this, is throwing money away, particularly when you know they are predisposed to calling a lot. Check behind and hope for an A or 3.

Your turn raise is terrible. UTG just used you to checkraise the whole field on the flop. He is not trying to protect his hand; he is building a monster pot. If someone checkraises the whole field, they have either a big hand or a big draw (or are a complete donk).

You have neither: you have a very poor hand with a weak one card draw to the idiot end of a straight with a two flush on the board. It is highly unlikely that A high is best against 3 other players. Your A outs are probably worth at most 0.5 outs, since the A [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] could complete a flush and an A isn't guaranteed to give you the best hand. Even your 3 outs are worth only about 2 outs, again since the 3 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] could make a flush and a 3 may not give you the winning hand. There are also some reverse implied odds to consider when the 3 makes you a second best hand. Overall your hand is worth no more than 2 outs. Against 3 other players, your turn bluffraise will not give you enough folding equity to cover your significant pot equity deficit.

If you make this kind of play regularly, you are going to lose a lot of money. Save your semibluff raises for HU situations where you suspect your opponent has a weak hand and your folding equity may be significant; it's not here.