QJs > Nuts > Action

[Ghazban]

The way you played the hand is not bad, I was just giving my side and what I would have done. In games I play, I make money off of hands like 98 and T8 by calling the turn and betting the river. They almost have to check/call the river to snap off a bluff from a busted draw. If I raise the turn, I lose those hands from all but the worst opponents because of the massive strength I've shown raising both the flop and turn.

What it boils down to for me is that villain clearly has a made hand and I clearly have a better made hand. If I raise both the flop and turn, I lose hands that are drawing almost dead to me (T9, T8, 98 for example) and only keep in the sets that have a decent chance to fill and the made straights. Those hands usually will put in a good amount of money on the river anyway so I don't need to put it in on the turn.

Just to make up an example to illustrate this precisely, lets say villain has 98. If I raise flop and turn, he probably folds to the turn raise. If I call the turn and the river is scary, he check/folds (no difference between raising the turn and calling in this case). If the river is a brick, he check/calls in case I'm bluffing a missed draw (which my hand now looks a lot like). If he chooses to put out a blocking bet and fold to a raise on a brick, I still get more money than if I'd raised the turn (the size of his blocking bet).