Who's afraid of the big bad flush?

[Siegmund]

Loose table, >50% taking flop. I am new to the table, haven't seen any of the involved players do anything really stupid so far. BB is the big stack at the table (did he buy in for 100 instead of 50, or is he winning?), CO is short.

Action Poker $1/2, 8-handed.

Hero is UTG+1 with [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]Q.

Preflop: call, call, call, call, call, call, call, check.

This is not normal but not rare either. Typical is 5 people seeing the flop, half of pots raised preflop.

(8 SB) Flop: [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]Q[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]8[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]7

SB checks, BB bets, UTG calls, Hero raises, UTG+2 calls, 1 fold, CO calls, Button calls, SB folds, BB calls, UTG calls.

(9 BB) Turn: [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]K

How scared should I be of this card?

BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets, UTG+2 calls, CO calls all-in for $1.50, Button folds, BB calls, UTG calls.

Hhhhhmmmm, is everyone and his dog on a draw? Or slowplaying? Or being an idiot and calling one more with crap?

Secondary question: a raise followed by calling 2 cold I will fold to. Do I fold to just a raise or not on this turn?

(14 BB) River: [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]A

BB checks, UTG hecks, Hero.....

Compared to a nine, ten, jack, or heart, that's a fairly safe-looking river card. Only people passing me are JT, A7, and A8 (assuming AK/AQ would have raised preflop.)

Bet-fold and check-call both have the same price tag. Check-fold seems timid. Care to place the villains on some hands?

River and results in white:
<font color="white">
Hero checks, UTG+2 bets, BB calls, UTG folds, Hero calls.
UTG+2 shows HA,H2, flush ace high
BB mucks H6, H5, small flush having missed his SF
Hero mucks and wonders "should I have seen this coming?" ... I really don't feel bad about how I played it. But it was expensive.
</font>

[J.DP]

[ QUOTE ]
How scared should I be of this card?

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't be scared until your opponents give you a reason to be. You cannot play strong aggressive poker if you always fear the worst.

Flop and turn bet are both good and you certainly aren't folding to a raise on the turn. If one of your opponents raises the turn then there is a chance he has a flush but the pot is too big to fold. Even after a turn raise you are winning this pot fairly often and you have 4 extra outs to a boat.

Bet the river, no one has given you any reason to believe they have a flush and you have a very strong holding. Pay off a check/raise or a raise from UTG+2, folding here would be bad also.

Raise KQ preflop.

Edit: You'll get better responses if you do not include the results. They may bias the answers you get.

[KaiShin]

I would raise this PF.

I like the bet on the turn simply because CO went all-in on it. If it was raised behind you I wouldn't fold. You still have 4 outs on the river and will be getting at least 14:1. In fact, I wouldn't fold even if it was 2 BB to call, although that's getting close to marginal, but with implied odds its OK.

I'd bet/call this river.