Was this a good laydown?

[JeffO]

Party Poker 3/6 8 players. I'm BB and dealt Q [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 9 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].

UTG calls, Button calls and I check, 3 see the flop.

Flop 4 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] Q [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] T [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

I bet, UTG raises, button calls and I fold.

Turn was my 9, UTG bet and the button folded so I never did see what UTG had but I just wanted to get some opinions on how I played my top pair week kicker with action behind my bet. Would a check raise have been a better play than betting out on the flop? Was this a good laydown or should I have paid one more SB to see the turn?

[MaxPower]

I think it is a good fold. You are in a 3-handed pot so betting out on the flop is a good play.

[hockey1]

This has to be player dependent. There are a lot of hands UTG could have here, including draws. If he's a reasonable player, then, since he's UTG, I'd normally give him credit for at least a Q with a better kicker and consider folding. But you certainly can't make a habit of folding top pair everytime you get raised.

[lil']

This action reminds of Bob T.'s hand. Bet top pair, raise, fold.

I don't lay this down here. I at least see the turn getting 8:1.

It would help if you had some read on UTG.

[BigEndian]

I call this raise and bet the turn (even without the turned two-pair). There's a flush and a straight draw on the board. Even second pair big kicker should raise this flop imo so UTG could really have a world of hands, including jacking up a huge draw (K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] J[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]).

If I'm raised on the turn unimproved, then I would consider folding - but not always.

- Groove

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

Yet another reference to Clarkmeister's "5 things LL players need to unlearn" post.

[JeffO]

Thanks for all the replies. For what its worth I just looked up what Lee Jones had to say about it in his book. The example he gives when flopping top pair with medium/bad kicker is Ax from the BB. He says that if your in early position with such a hand you may simply have to check and fold if there is significant action behind you. This example was with multiple players behind you. In my hand I had just two players behind me so I felt it best to bet it out on the flop and then fold when I was raised and called two bets cold.

[lil']

There's just so many hands he could raise with here that you are ahead of. You seem to have no read on this guy, so I don't think you can go in the tank so quickly.

[Mike Gallo]

Was this a good laydown or should I have paid one more SB to see the turn?

If your opponent would raise to get the free card, you made a bad laydown.

Did you consider check raising the hand?

I think UTG could have had a lot of hands. You gave up too early. Do not let this become your default play, or players will notice and run all over you.

[Louie Landale]

With the two big cards out there UTG is likely to either have MADE something real good (KQ), pretty good (AT), or a draw (AJ). He's likely to bet. You have a disguised fair hand. Good time to check the flop and see how things develop.

Betting out makes sense if you can confidently fold to a flop raise. Which, it appears, you did.

If you Q9 IS beat you cannot call the raise since you have probably only 3 outs and that may not be enough to win. So the fact that a 9 came on the turn is irrelevant. If it paired Ts would you say to yourself "good fold, no need to post this one"?

- Louie