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.

[chief444]

Hand 1: I don't like calling the flop and folding the turn. I may play this more aggressively on the flop to see what happens. But if you thought you were behind then you didn't have the odds to even see the turn. If you felt there was a reasonable chance you were ahead then call down, especially once it is heads-up. I think you should have shown this one down.

Hand 2: I suppose the flop raise is ok but with 5 opponents, one overcard, two hearts and the board paired on the flop I think I just let this one go. Once you put in the raise I suppose you can call the 3-bet given your odds. Once again though I don't understand why you are calling the turn and folding the river. I guess if you put SB on a flush you actually would have 4 outs (two 9's and two 4's) but any Q would still beat you and SB could very well have a 4 in the hole. Make sure you understand your odds a little better. Sometimes on hands like these the combination of the possibility of having the best hand and having a smaller than appears necessary chance to improve makes calling down correct. But that doesn't apply if you fold on later streets anyway. If you plan to fold unimproved, then take a better look at the odds you are getting so you can make the right decision.

[Joe Tall]

Hand#1:

Why would you fold the turn if you called the flop?

Do you think he has 22? [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

I'd likely check-raise this flop.

Hand#2

Raising is ok, but I perfer limping after multiple limpers w/med to small pocket pairs. TT, I raise.

Once you miss you set you can fold on the flop.

Peace,
Joe Tall

[toddw8]

Thanks for the responses, everyone. Here are the results:

Hand 1: Button showed A [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] K [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] so I was making a huge mistake by not pushing it on the flop and turn.

Hand 2: SB showed 4 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 2 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] for the turned boat and MP1 showed A [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] Q [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]