The Double Min Raise

[Howard Treesong]

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Flop: 8, 10, Q rainbow ($130 in the middle)

SB checks, I bet $125, SB min raises to $250.

Never having played the guy before, the preflop min raise followed by the flop check/min raise confuses me. I decide his most likely holding is AK or AJ but I don't have alot of conviction in that.

Is pushing here with bottom set the optimal play given how the action went down?

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If you believe he has AK or AJ, then I don't believe a push is in order. You have him on a four-outer, and most of the other possibilities are as bad or worse (AQ needs runner-runner and KK needs a two-outer). Why set a price that encourages him to muck easily? If I really thought he had AK or AJ, I'd raise $300 back to encourage a bad call. Then, I'd push to a blank on the turn.

If a K or J comes and he bets, I'm calling -- the ten-out redraw comes close to giving you sufficient odds to see the river; if it's a mistake at all, it isn't a huge one. If he checks a K or a J, I need a read to make a good decision, but the default is to bet.