What size bet to make?

[TOmCowley]

Party NL 50, full ring.

2 limpers (UTG+1 and MP2), I complete with A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]T[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], and BB checks.

($4) Flop is A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]Q[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]3[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

I have $75ish in my stack, the next two have reasonable stacks (~50ish), so I bet pot ($4), which I assume is standard. The BB and the first limper fold, but the last limper calls.

The pot is now $12 and he has $20 left in his stack. The turn is a 5[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]. The guy is a bit fishy, especially with loose calls. I have to assume I'm good here, and at worst he's on a flush draw, at best a 3-outer. If he had a decent stack, I'd just bet pot again and evaluate based on what he did, or if he had $13ish, I'd just push him right there. With $20, I wasn't sure what to do. Betting 20 at him seems like an overbet that'll only be called by hands ahead of me. Underbetting by a lot ($5ish) seems wrong because I'm actually giving him odds to call on the flush draw (or very close) before we even consider implied odds. I went ahead and bet pot (after thinking for 15 seconds abotu how much to bet) and he read it for a bluff, reraised me all-in which I really couldn't fold (thought he might have hit A5 for 2-pair or something lame, but he wasn't close to tight enough for me to auto-believe him), so I called, the river was crap, and he flipped K[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]J[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (not that his hand mattered for my question here, but it did confirm my loose fish read). Is that the right line on the turn, or am I missing a principle I should know?

[amoeba]

you got him to commit when he had the worst of it, I see nothing wrong with turn.

[bholdr]

in that kind of situation, it should be apparrent to your opponent that if he calls a pot size bet he's going all in like it or not. my concern there would be scaring him off.

actually, a five dollar bet into a twelve dollar pot seems almost right to me. you are actually not giving him good odds: he would have to call 5$ to win 17$- 3.4 to 1 the odds against making a flush on the next card are about 4-1. he would be getting not-quite-good-enough odds to call, but being loose, probably would anyway. this is assuming you are willing to let it go if you think you're beat. I'd probably make it seven, just to be safe...

just some thoughts

[TOmCowley]

I wasn't going to give him credit for the flush draw (he was way too fishy to put on a hand that well). All I was sure about was that AK and AQ would have been raised preflop, and AJ probably would have too. So I've mentally committed $20 to the pot because his stack is small, I think my hand is good, and he sucks enough to still be playing a lot of stuff I beat. Obviously I can't do that against a better player/deeper stack, but that was my thought process here. So if he is on the draw, and I am going to pay it off no matter what hits, bet pot seems just over the cutoff point. OTOH, I'd rather not scare off the garbage that's drawing to 5 or fewer outs. 7-10 is probably better than 12, especially if he takes the underbet as weakness as he did. Giving the FD just enough in implied odds has to be made up for by milking the pure trash.