A common Scenario (Turn Play)?

You have an overpair on the flop however there are 2 suited cards. You bet and 2 people call. Now an overcard comes to your pair (an A or K) which may have given the callers the best hand however it is not the third of the suit.

What is your action? Assuming you are first to act do you bet or check to give a free card to any flush chasers?

This happens to me a lot and it would be good to know what to do and what would influence your decision.

Cheers
Liam

[Fantam]

Hi Liam,

You have left out a lot of factors in your scenario.

Its important to know how many players saw the flop. The more players that saw it, the more likely it is that someone may have had a possible flush draw.

Also was the pot raised preflop or was it unraised? A raised flop increases the likelihood that someone has an Ace or King.

Position also counts. Players limping in from early position are more likely to have high cards than players limping from late position.

Anyway given the limited information in your post, I would probably act as follows. Against 2 opponents on the turn, I would tend to bet my overpair from early position.

You cant afford to give a free card to a possible flush draw if you are ahead. If I was then raised, I would strongly consider folding with the A or K showing.

Bottom line is that an Ace overcard is a dangerous card to see on the turn, as a lot of weak players like to play any Ace hand.

By the way, welcome to the forums. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

I bet and reevaluate if I get raised. I find that when 2-3 people are calling along on a two-flush flop one often has a low pair, one has a flush draw, and one has either overs or complete crap. Bet out for value, people will often call with almost anything on the flop hoping to spike a pair on the turn.

Steve

[Blunderfull1]

My standard play is to bet out. You can usually fold to a raise, but you need to bet out.

I bet this almost everytime. If someone throws in an raise against me I must think it over. What kind of hands do he play? How many times do he see a flop? And from there I put him on certain hands and play thereby. Also, alot of players like to bet out when a scare card hits the board if they put you on something else than in this case, an A or K. Is villain capable of doing this? Alot of things leads to a decision so in the end, it all depends.

[nomadtla]

The usual consensus is to bet hands with few outs (because a raise tells you to throw them away), and check hands that have reasonable outs (because being raised puts you in a nasty spot).

That said all things being normal, against 2 players first to act with a pocket pair when an overcard falls on the turn I usually bet because unless the turn improved your outs you may only have 2 outs to a set.

Your opponents allways have something to do with it. Habitual bluffers may fire at this overcard and against certain ones it's better to check (esspescially if the turn is a K instead of an A since people are more likely to play any ace) and maybe induce a bluff.

Your position is also a factor, if it checks to me I almost allways bet cause a c/r is (generally) a sign of more strength and gives me more certainty to folding to that raise.

As I said though OOP, against 2 non-trickey or unknown opponents, when I have no more then my set outs, my standard line is bet/fold.

[ajm36]

With only one over card to my pair, I almost always bet (It is funny how many times everyone will fold to a bet on a turn Ace). If you are raised, you can fold comfortably in the knowledge that you are beat (this can be read dependent, though). The problem comes with the river. If you are first to act, you often don't want to bet into 2 people with an Ace on the board after no folds to a turn bet. However, betting a turn Ace (with, say, pocket 10's) when you are last to act, often gets you a free showdown. Oh, and don't be too scared when three to a suit hits, the guy with the flush will usually let you know--you can usually bet into these safely as well.