Top two pair on flop heads up - semi slow play?

[John J]

Party 1/2, no read on this player

On the button I'm dealt K [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] T [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. Everyone folds to me, I raise, SB folds and BB calls.

Flop comes 10 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] K [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 5 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. He checks, I bet, he check-raises.

Should I re-raise in this position, or call and let him lead out on the turn so I can raise when the bets are bigger?

[crockpot]

i prefer plan C: wait until the river to raise if the board comes down nicely for you.

why? he is almost certainly betting top pair or a draw. if he has a draw, he is going to bet it on every street, so wait until he misses to raise.

[ajizzle]

RAISE, no doubt. His raise could be because he has some sort of hand (probably much worse than yours, because he probably would not check/raise the flop with a monster, but instead bet out, or slowplay it), or because he's on a draw. This is classic "buying a free-card". If you only call the flop and check the raise, you are the puppet and he is the puppeteer. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT HE WANTS YOU TO DO. Reraise the flop and bet the turn. My guess is that he's on a diamond draw, or he has a 5 or T along with a backdoor flush draw and/or straight draw.

[GuyOnTilt]

Vary your play. There's no cut and dry best answer here. Reraise the flop, wait till the turn, wait till the river, whatever. Mix it up.

[ajizzle]

I disagree. In the given situation, not reraising the flop is essentially giving your opponent a free card. If you don't re-raise, you're not maximizing your winnings. You need to put in this extra bet to cancel out the money you lose when the diamond comes on the turn. If you simply call the flop, you don't win as much when your hand holds up, and you lose the same amount when your opponents draw out. For this reason, you need to put in this extra bet on the flop.

[crockpot]

if you were in first position i would agree with this analysis, because your opponent may take a free card if he is on a draw. when your opponent acts first, however, he will always bet the turn and you can reduce his effective odds by waiting until the turn to raise.

if you make it four bets on the flop he is not going to bet the turn with a draw.

[GuyOnTilt]

I don't think smooth-calling the flop planning to raise the turn is a bad play. You're automatically putting your opponent on a flush draw, which he may or may not have. If he's check-raising the flop, he will most likely bet out on the turn if you smooth-call. If I just called the flop, I'd be raising a turn bet regardless of the turn card. I don't see how you're making up the money lost when a diamond comes on the turn...Are you going to fold when it does or something?? Do you not expect your opponent to see the river with a flush draw if you DO 3-bet the flop? I just don't understand your logic behind that statement. Please explain.

[ajizzle]

My bad. Crocksucker hit is right on the head. I read misread the original post. For some reason, I just assumed that I was first to act, in which case, I feel it all too necissary to reraise the flop. With the situation at hand, I agree that raising on any of the streets would be just fine. If I were first to act however, not re-raising however lowers you EV however. Re-read slow-play section of HPFAP for reasoning.

[GuyOnTilt]

I agree that in EP you must reraise. Sounds like we're on the same page.