Two poorly played 99 hands, please help me out

[jrobb83]

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note that his opponent 3-betted preflop. Against many opponents, such preflop aggression is limited to QQ,KK, AA and AK.

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I've noticed a wider range of hands being 3-bet pre flop by average opponents. But the play on the flop is most certaintly dependent upon your read of the player.

Against a tight raisor, I'd bet out. He isn't liable to raise you with overcards, so betting out nets you just as much information as check raising but for a smaller price as you noted.

I've found, however (at least on party), that a wider range of hands are likely to 3-bet here, and that many will bet or raise a bet on the flop if they raised before. Against this type of player I think check-raising is the better play, as they will often raise a single bet with just overcards, but will not 3-bet without a made hand. The reason I'm willing to pay up to 3 sb's on the flop here is to gain information in order to save double-sized bets on later rounds. If I bet out and he raised, I could either call the raise and 2 bb's on the turn and river, or 3-bet the flop and risk being 4-bet. So against the aggressive opponent I prefer to check-raise the flop.

But the correct play really depends on if the opponent is aggressive or passive.