AQo

[Piper Tim]

Is betting out on the flop the right move here?

I represented a strong hand by my preflop raise and checking would have indicated weakness. There is a straight possibility, as A2 could certainly have been played. If raised, should I have folded?

Party Poker (10 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">2 call, SB raises, BB calls, 2 others call</font>.

Flop: 5[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 4[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 3[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(4 players)</font>
SB bets, BB folds, call, call.

Turn: A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(3 players)</font>
SB bets, MP3 folds, Button folds.

Final Pot:6BB

[nyc999]

I think you played it fine. Are you talking about being raised on the flop or turn?

Anyway, I don't fold to either. On the flop, you may be getting raised for a free card or to thin the field. On the turn, while a straight is possible, a weaker ace may raise because you represented an overpair on the flop.

[Fantam]

You shouldnt automatically follow up all your preflop raises with a bet on the flop.

Instead you should consider the texture of the board in relation to your hand, the tendencies of your opponents and the likely hands that they may have if they bet or call with that particular flop.

In your hand example, I think that you were correct to bet the flop because you had a gut-shot draw in addition to your 2 overcards.

Against that you needed to balance the fact that you could pair one of your overcards, but still lose to someone with a flush or straight draw.

You had 10 outs to improve your hand, (if your A high wasnt already the best hand), but realistically you should reduce your outs to about say 6 (3 for the overcards and 3 the gut-shot) to take into account the flush and straight draws.

The pot was offering you 8:1 on the flop, so your flop bet (with say 6 outs) was justified in this hand.

If you were raised on the flop you also should not automatically assume the worse and fold. You could be being raised by someone with a drawing hand just as easily as by someone with a stronger made hand on the flop.

So because you have sufficient outs to continue, you should call the flop raise and see what the turn brings. Then you can re-evaluate your hand and whether to bet or check.

[CanadianAmy]

On the flop, I would count your outs as 7, then I would discount this a bit for the flush draw on the board and the straight draw, so I go forward as though it was 5 or 5.5 outs. You have 8 small bets in the pot, and you are the first to act.

Neither of your opponents showed much stength preflop, so you can not be sure that if you check, with the intention of check raising, someone is going to raise.

The pot is not really small or large at this point.

I would prefer to knock people out, so I would bet. Which you did and you got one.

The turn card is a pretty easy bet in my opinion. If however it is raised back to you, I think I call and then check/call the river.

Amy

[Duerig]

I play it the same.

[AmarilloJim1]

IMO, you played this particular hand fine.

[Malcom Reynolds]

With the gutshot and overcard outs, you would probably call a bet here. So it's better to bet this hand on the flop unless it's an aggressive game where you expect someone to raise you on a draw/free card play.

Being raised on the turn, I would tend to fold, especially from passive opponents. You may have zero or three outs.