Blind Defense 10/1

[TWINUNO]

Whats the line that you usually take here? I hate getting involved with hands like this but it is a shame to throw it away. No reads
***** Hand History for Game 2742339757 *****
NL Texas Hold'em $10 Buy-in + $1 Entry Fee Trny:15896371 Level:2 Blinds(15/30) - Monday, September 19, 23:57:45 EDT 2005
Table Table 11653 (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 8
Seat 9: willdestroyu ( $547 )
Seat 10: tyler715 ( $1675 )
Seat 7: snapdotz ( $740 )
Seat 6: Samurai_04 ( $1605 )
Seat 8: hokage918 ( $45 )
Seat 2: malholm ( $1223 )
Seat 3: Luuucas ( $1530 )
Seat 4: votewalken08 ( $635 )
Trny:15896371 Level:2
Blinds(15/30)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to snapdotz [ 5c Jh ]
hokage918 folds.
willdestroyu folds.
tyler715 folds.
malholm folds.
Luuucas folds.
votewalken08 folds.
Samurai_04 calls [15].
snapdotz checks.
** Dealing Flop ** [ Th, 4s, Js ]
Samurai_04 bets [55].
snapdotz raises [?].

[kyro]

I'd raise and fold to a reraise. On the turn, it all depends on the card and SB's action, really.

[pergesu]

Hands like this I almost always call, bet/raise the turn, and check behind on the river if we even get that far.

[tshort]

I would fold to his bet on the flop.

[kyro]

[ QUOTE ]
Hands like this I almost always call, bet/raise the turn, and check behind on the river if we even get that far.

[/ QUOTE ]

Normally, I'd agree with you, and I should have mentioned this in my post. Here, though, we have JTx with two of a suit. There are plenty of turn cards that will make us queasy. I realize it's HU, and therefore these draws don't show up as often, but I still say you need to raise to freeze any that are out there.

[TWINUNO]

I think its stupid to fold the to flop bet with top pair, i know we have insufficient amount of chips to get fancy but when your throwing away the best hand your losing chips. In this case i raised out to 125 and he folded. I rasied on the flop to maybe make him pay for a flush draw.

[pergesu]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Hands like this I almost always call, bet/raise the turn, and check behind on the river if we even get that far.

[/ QUOTE ]

Normally, I'd agree with you, and I should have mentioned this in my post. Here, though, we have JTx with two of a suit. There are plenty of turn cards that will make us queasy. I realize it's HU, and therefore these draws don't show up as often, but I still say you need to raise to freeze any that are out there.

[/ QUOTE ]
I think raising the flop gets called a lot, it looks like you're just trying to not let him take your blind.

But there's also merit to it because if he'd fold to a raise on the turn, he'll probably check-fold the turn if he calls a flop raise. This gives you a chance to win the pot right on the flop as well, and charge him to draw for a flush, straight, overcards whatever.

The only thing I don't like about that is that it'll tend to make the pot bigger, because now you have to lead out/raise bigger on the turn than you would if you simply called. I like to keep the pot small in this kind of situation.

[kyro]

Raising the turn makes the pot bigger too you know.

[pergesu]

Oh absolutely, but if we raise the flop to 175 and he calls, now the pot is 360. If he checks the turn, we bet 200 or so? That's 375 invested.

But if you just call, he may check the turn in which case you can bet 80, or he'll lead 80 and you can pop it to 200, for an investment of either 130 or 255.

edit: Notice that if you just call on the flop, the maximum amount of chips you'll put in is only 80 more than the minimum you'd put in by raising the flop.

[tshort]

Raising to 125 gives him 3.5 to 1 odds, which are good enough odds for him to call with a flush draw or straight draw.

I think your play depends very much on your read of the player. I don't really disagree with your play, but I don't like battling in small pots early in a 10+1 vs LAG opponents. If you believe you will pick up this pot more than 55% of the time then it is worth risking the 125 chips. To eliminate implied odds for a draw you need to raise to 150-175.