88 UTG, flop a set. Then: the meandering...

[bisonbison]

What with the converter taking up my free time, I'd taken a bit of a needed break from the tables. Losing 100BB sucked. Tonight, I felt good, I sat down and played for a couple hours and logged a real nice 45 BB win in 450 hands.

I had unclicked the post blind button, and was UTG at my last table of the night.

Party Poker 0.50/1 Hold 'Em (9 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is UTG with 8[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
Hero calls, UTG+1 calls, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, MP3 folds, CO calls, Button folds, SB completes, BB raises, Hero calls, UTG+1 calls, CO calls, SB calls.

Flop: (10 SB) J[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(5 players)</font>
SB checks, BB bets, Hero calls, UTG+1 calls, CO calls, SB calls.

Turn: (7.5 BB) 2[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(5 players)</font>
SB checks, BB bets, Hero raises, UTG+1 folds, CO calls, SB folds, BB calls.

River: (13.5 BB) 4[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(3 players)</font>
BB bets, Hero raises, CO calls, BB folds.

Final Pot: 18.5 BB

Normal?

[MasterShakes]

I could easily be over-aggressive, but I might have raised the flop. I know the possible straight is there, and you might have been gathering info by just calling to see if there was a raise ahead of you, but I think these players re-raise 90% of the time if they have the straight after you raise the flop. Then you can call down, hoping to pair the board. I doubt this made a significant difference in this hand.

[SpaceAce]

[ QUOTE ]
I could easily be over-aggressive, but I might have raised the flop. I know the possible straight is there, and you might have been gathering info by just calling to see if there was a raise ahead of you, but I think these players re-raise 90% of the time if they have the straight after you raise the flop. Then you can call down, hoping to pair the board. I doubt this made a significant difference in this hand.

[/ QUOTE ]

That flop isn't too scary. I think waiting for the turn to raise this set is OK because he's probably going to get some extra bets from the tagalongs who would have folded to a raise on the flop.

SpaceAce

[Brain]

I like it. I usually wait until the turn to raise a set too (re: SpaceAce). Nice to see the BB betting for you so you could raise.

[Trix]

I would have raised the flop, reprecenting a Jack, that might give me some action when an overcard comes later and also might make gutshots fold.

[skunkworks]

I would raise the flop to get anyone holding T or 9 out. The board is coordinated and the pot is big, so increase your chances of winning the pot by folding out others. If the game is playing very loose (if there are people willing to call 2 bets cold on the flop regularly), then I would consider waiting until the turn to raise.

[GuyOnTilt]

The only reason for not raising the flop here is if all the players behind you are so loose that they'd cold-call with any gutshot anyways. Then you could smooth-call here and raise the turn to drive out the straight-draws. But the majority of the time, you should be raising the flop here to limit the field on this very coordinated board. Your main focus on the flop/turn should be finding ways to limit the field.

GoT

[GuyOnTilt]

That flop isn't too scary. I think waiting for the turn to raise this set is OK because he's probably going to get some extra bets from the tagalongs who would have folded to a raise on the flop.

That flop should be very scary. Not in the sense that you may be behind right now, but in the sense that there are a lot of ways for your opponents to catch up. Waiting for the turn to raise here is NOT okay, because you really want to see people folding on your left. The more folds the merrier on this board. Just calling the flop may be alright, and perhaps even correct, but not for the reasons you mention.

GoT

[Emmitt]

I agree with those who would raise the flop. Calling here would be a form of slow play, and with the possibility of a straight lurking you don't have sufficient strength to allow others to catch up a bit.

[Brain]

I really shouldn't think about poker before work at 6:45am. I didn't even notice the nasty board. Definitely raise the flop to try and get the straight draws out. I need to stop waking up early on Monday mornings. [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]