what would you have done?

[Vensula 0]

it's a three handed game... the 2 other people in the game are abour equal (probally a bit better) then me. i am the large blind (so 1 off the button) i pick up QJs. i call a $3 raise (nl btw) flop comes down 8s, 9s, 9h. i call a $5 dollar raise. turn comes 7d. i call a $10 raise. river comes 10d giving me the nut straight... you have 70.25 in front of you, button has 20.50 and the other guy has WAY more than you. it's towards the end of the night and you are stuck about $40 what would you do?when i've had some feed back i'll let you know what i did and how it panned out.

[SBriand 4]

I don't know, I would be a tad worried that the raiser, if it was the same guy who raised the pot each time, had 99.

[Wilderness 0]

Are both the players still in the pot with you? What positions are each of the stacks in (ie where is the big stack in relation to you)? Who has been betting? What are the blinds (is $3 before the flop a big/small/med raise)?

[FromTheRail 0]

I assume when you say QJs you mean they were suited in spades so not only did you have a gut straight draw, a flush draw and two over cards? How had your opponents been playing? What hands were they possibly holding? What was blind and bet structure?However, just from you post I deduce a pair of wired 8's so the full house beat your straight and you got broke on the River when you moved in?

[rog 0]

I really love these problems...I learn a lot from the other repsonses. Here's my shot at it:This is a tough one. His bets are too big to be encouraging the draws to stay in, since even if your straight draw was open-ended, you'd be getting wrong pot odds to call, so my gut feel is he doesn't have it, and he's protecting a vulnerable hand...high pocket pair or A9. On the other hand, when you called against the odds, why would he bet out again on the turn? Full house or quads would certainly call those bets, and most other hands would fold. I think he's either taking a shot at it with A9, or KK, OR he's got quads and is hoping someone (like you) has wired 8s. In 3 handed play, a set of 9s may be good enough.Now, as to what to do, twice now you bet against the pot odds to draw your straight with a paired board. If you are beat, you were beat two calls ago, and the board hasn't gotten any worse, so why stop now? You committed yourself to this pot,and you made the best hand you could have asked for. If you fold it for any reason you better ask yourself why you played it in the first place. Stand by your hand, and go home broke if you have to.I would have folded on the flop 99.9% of the time, but if I did decide to stay in, I would have re-raised on the flop to show strength, and slow down the raiser. If he's still coming at you on the turn, you fold out. Rog

[rog 0]

Hmmm...I didn't read your post as giving you a flush draw. That would explain a lot of things, and of course completely invalidate my analysis. So, clarify please...did you have a flush draw? Did the 3rd player stay in to the river? How much are the blinds? I was assuming about $1, and on re-reading, I have no idea why I thought that. Is the raiser loose or tight generally? Is he capable of a big bluff with 2 pairs? I'll re-post my thoughts later, but there's too many unknowns right now. Rog

[Vensula 0]

a) orginall raiser was dealer, who was also the short stack, he's very loose when he's down to try and get even (at this point he's stuck probally 80)B) the small blind called all the to the river and called the orginal raise at the riverc) yes i did have the flush draw on the river and did put the short stack on a 9 and the other player on a high pocket pair.d) blinds are .25/.50i think tha's all the info asked for

[QKRTHNU 0]

If it was the short-stack doing the betting you may as well push him all in. If you get raised by the big stack I would call suspecting to beat a lower straight, or maybe a split pot.So what happened?

[Vensula 0]

so tha's waht i did... i pushed the short stack all in... i flip my straight he flips pocket 10's :(so i lose to 10 full 9's i was most upset that A) i didn't see it coming (didn't put him on pocket tens) and B) it was my third tough beat for a lot of cash of the night i know crap happens in poker but sometimes it gets to me... rather than go on tilt (which i'm pretty sure i owuld have) i just walked away

[doubleup 0]

flop comes down 8s, 9s, 9h. i call a $5 dollar raise. turn comes 7d. i call a $10 raise. river comes 10d giving me the nut straight...

With two 9's on the board you didn't have the nuts because a full house would, and eventually did, beat you...

i was most upset that ... B) it was my third tough beat ... of the night .

What happened in this hand wasn't a tought "bad" beat. You said yourself,

I didn't see it coming.

That's not a bad beat, that's bad play.With as many outs as you had after the flop, why didn't you re-raise?

[Vensula 0]

i didn't say i had the nuts... i said i had the nut straight... meaning that since i put one of them on the straight, thier straight couldn't be better than mine. bad play maybe, BUT looking at the situation purely from a math standpoint, it was a tough beat. in a 3 handed game the odds of someone having a full house is pretty rare. yes it happens and i understnad that but i can't play every single hand thinking that oh wait... there is gonna be a full house this hand. why didn't i raise? because i had figured i had the best hand and wanted to get the most out of the hand... by allowing another player to do the raising (since i know that he would) i was hiding my hand. He wasn't going to fold either way. I play with him at least 1 time per week, and when it's towards the end of the night and he's down he starts chasing cards pretty bad. more to teh point, when i posted this originally i was seeing how others would have played it. and it seemed that those who posted agreed on how i played it. so you are doing the hind sight is 20/20 DU... looking back yeah i should have maybe even folded it, but at hte time (i tried to post an good view of hte situation for everyone) and becasue of that i think i did play the hand as well as could be expected.