[ErrantNight]

of those hands of which you are ahead, you'll please note that all of them have outs against you.

there's no way you have 40% pot equity against three opponents here... there's virtually no way you can force anyone out on the flop no matter how you play the hand, and there's a BUNCH of scary cards that can fall on the turn. you can't protect your hand, you don't have enough equity to bet/raise, so you're waiting for the turn, and hoping to hit.

a donk bet (from you) on the turn when the safe card falls might have some merit. in such a scenario, you're preventing the button from getting a free look at the river with his AKs. you may not be folding anyone out, but at least here the bet is better.

if the button had bet the turn, and been called in two places, it becomes increasingly unlikely that even on the safe turn that your 99 will hold up, and i think a fold would be an option here.

as the hand actually played out, it was checked around. NOW it appears your hand is likely best. the river becomes complicated by UTG, who now bets. it's a large enough pot, and from the way the hand played out it seems relatively certain that your hand is better than the two preflop aggressors, so I'd call. but it's close.



further, at this point, the preflop capper is the opponent to be most afraid of. however, there's nothing you can do on the flop to protect your hand. lastly, if you're behind, you're drawing to two outs. for the handful of times you're ahead on this flop, you're dominated far more.