Requisite flop bet after PF raise?

Guy F · #1 12-18-2004, 06:38 PM

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Make other people react, not act. Normal aggressive philosophy, yes? Well, the sort of situation illustrated by the hand below comes up fairly often. So often that it's taking bites out of my stacks here and there in almost every SnG I'm in ($5 - $20), and it's starting to annoy me. Either too many people have figured out that I'll take a stab at any pot I opened for a raise and will just play back at me (seems unlikely given the sheer number of opponents), or I'm just getting unlucky more often lately, or maybe - just maybe [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] - I'm putting myself in tricky situations too often and should back off a bit. Which, of course, is why I'm looking for opinions here.

So the question is: If you opened for a standard raise at an average table with no rocks, maniacs, or other extreme types, should you always take a shot at the pot if the flop isn't obviously scary?

This hand isn't a perfect illustration because a) I didn't open, and b) I'm not last to act. I've felt that any sign of weakness after a preflop raise is an open invitation to take the pot away, though. But is that necessarily true? Finding the line between appropriately aggressive and just being foolhardy is tricky. Even when I'm last to act and it's checked to me, I'll bet with nothing but high cards and often get called by someone with middle or bottom pair and have to throw in the towel unless I improve on the turn. A bite out of my stack here, another bite there, and unless I can make a real hand soon I'm starting to get weak, chip-wise.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t100 (6 handed) converter

CO (t2755)
Button (t1985)
SB (t2190)
BB (t1455)
UTG (t1385)
Hero (t3390)

Preflop: Hero is MP with K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], Q[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
UTG calls t100, Hero raises to t300, 1 fold, Button calls t300, 2 folds, UTG calls t200.

Flop: (t1050) 3[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (3 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets t200, Button raises to t600, UTG folds, Hero folds.

Final Pot: t1850