[PygmyHero]

If you wish, there's a summary at the bottom, starting from the bold heading, "Summary."

[ QUOTE ]
Why are you waiting for the turn to raise? I'd check behind the river as well.

[/ QUOTE ]
I did consider raising the flop, but I thought it better to wait and raise a safe turn card. There are many cards which really hurt my hand on the turn, and I felt this was a case of foregoing an equity edge (on the flop) to push a significantly larger one if I get a safe turn.

First of all, let’s note that protecting my hand is irrelevant on both streets. If I raise the flop, the BB has 12:1 on a call (with UTG still to act), and if I wait to raise the turn he has 9.5:1 (again, with UTG still to act). The only hands that ‘should’ fold in that spot are unimproved undercards. So if I’m going to put more money in the pot, I think I need to be doing it for value.

I ran some numbers through twodimes, making what I felt where reasonable assumptions about my opponents hands. To err on the conservative side, I tried to create situations as collectively favorable to ‘the field’ as possible. Specifically, I did not reverse dominate either or them, and they did not duplicate each others outs. For simplicity, and to compensate, I am going to disallow backdoor draws.

BB: he has UI overs or a pocket pair. For now I will assume the BB has UI overs, addressing the pocket pair possibility later. Specifically, I will give him AK, though AQ would not really alter these numbers.

UTG: he has a straight and/or flush draw.

I have formatted these numbers to read as the hand, followed by the percentage of times that hand will win.

Interestingly, my equity is mostly dependent on the quality of UTG’s draw.

Scenario 1. UTG has only a gut shot (best case scenario):
As Kc 22.37
6s Td 23.81
Jd 9d 53.82

Scenario 2. UTG has an OESD or a flush draw. Note that my equity is virtually unaltered regardless of which draw it is; it mostly affects the BB’s equity:
As Kc 20.38
8s Td 34.77
Jd 9d 44.85

As Kc 14.06
Qh 5h 43.19
Jd 9d 42.75

Scenario 3. UTG has a flush draw and a gut shot:
As Kc 12.74
Th 6h 49.28
Jd 9d 37.98

Scenario 4. UTG has a straight flush draw (worst case scenario):
As Kc 11.85
Th 8h 55.48
Jd 9d 32.67

So my average equity is 42.42% if all hands are equally likely. But of course there are many hands UTG can have that fall under scenario two, a few hands for scenarios one and three, but only one hand for scenario four (OTOH he is more likely to have Th8h than Th6h, etc.). Let’s estimate my pot equity at 45%.

But now look what happens when I run the same hands but include the turn blank:

Scenario 1.
As Kc 14.29
6s Td 16.67
Jd 9d 69.05

Scenario 2.
As Kc 14.29
8s Td 23.81
Jd 9d 61.90

As Kc 9.52
Qh 5h 28.57
Jd 9d 61.90

Scenario 3.
As Kc 9.52
Th 6h 35.71
Jd 9d 54.76

Scenario 4.
As Kc 9.52
Th 8h 40.48
Jd 9d 50.00

Again, the average equity here is 59.52% if all hands are equally likely. Let’s say that it’s 60% (because that will be sufficient to support my conclusion), but it is probably higher.

45% equity on the flop, 60% on the turn…

THAT’S A 33% RISE IN EQUITY!

I am now pushing a much larger edge with my turn raise. So my chances of winning have increased dramatically, and I am getting bigger bets in the pot (than if I had raised the flop).

Okay, now what if the BB has a big pocket pair? Well, I don’t think he can 3 bet the turn – the paired board should slow him down. He’s thinking, ‘of course a 7 would wait to raise the turn.’ If he does have a big pocket, I clearly lose, and if the BB called the turn raise with AK, he will certainly call a river bet when he pairs.

The K clearly doesn’t complete any draws, so I can’t imagine getting a call if UTG now has a busted draw.

To me, these factors make the river a check through.

Summary:

I wait to raise the turn because
1. I have a much better chance of winning the pot,
2. The bets I’m getting in are twice as big, and
3. Something I didn’t mention yet is that I think I’ve made UTG’s hand easier to read.

As the hand played out, when it’s my action on the turn, I don’t really fear that UTG is slowplaying a 7 (that is, my read of UTG having a draw and not a 7 gets stronger).

If I just call the flop:
Because the flop is just called, BB is encouraged to bet his hand again on the turn. Most people UTG with a 7 would raise the turn, instead of going for the overcall. So if UTG raises, I can probably bail. If not, I can be pretty confident he doesn’t have a 7.

If I raise the flop:
I probably get checked to on the turn. I bet and everyone just calls because it’s a huge pot. However, if UTG has a 7, my flop raise gives him a great opportunity to check raise the whole field (i.e. all two of us) on the turn.

To me the turn raise is a case of risking one extra big bet to win a monster pot.

I admit that I may be completely misapplying some SSH concepts here, and if so, I would appreciate any edification.