Should i have played this hand differently? I'm okay with how i played it for my level of play, but i think i could have done it differently.

(pokerchamps, no hh for converter)


3rd hand of SNG, blinds are 10/20, first two hands resulted in no big chip lead, so pretty much everyone has 1500 chips, +/- 20. i'm on the button with 7 8

MP2 raises to 40, fold, fold, call, fold, I call, SB folds, BB calls, fold, fold

Pot has 140 chips.
Flop is 5 6 7

BB bets 80, MP2 calls, fold, I call.

Pot is now 380.

Turn is 7

BB checks, check, I check (really think i messed up here, but worried someone might slow play the flush or that BB had the str8 already)

River is 9

BB bets 80, fold, I call

Don't think i played this very well, but welcome all comments.

I dont think you played it badly at all. The SB must have really had garbage to fold with the odds he was getting, but your big danger in this hand is the BB, as you noted.

Your big concern seems to be not betting the Turn with trips, but I think that would be a mistake. As Sklansky points out, you dont want to raise when you would absolutely hate a re-raise. With a draw to a full house I would hate being raised by a made straight (that I have outs to tie) or a semi-bluff from a flush draw. You are closing out the action with a check, so thats fine.

If there were a live player behind you I might think twice about checking, because now the likelihood of mutiple draws is too great and you need to think about eliminating them, plus there is no guarantee that the player behind you will close the action, and you may be facing a bet and raisze anyway. Betting here is a close decision that having a read on your oppoents might help make. If the live player is aggressive, then Id beat him to the punch and bet myself. If hes passive and likely to check then I would just check.

The only thing I don't like is the check on 4th st. If you bet the turn you would likely have found out if someone slow played the flush. Other than that I think it's OK.

You got to see if you had the best hand cheaply. No sense in overplaying draws this early in the tournament.

For the reasons I stated already, but maybe not strongly enough, in this situation I HATE betting. You are begging to be reraised by a made flush, made straight or semi-bluff, and you have no way of knowing which is which. If you check and a blank hits you will have the same decision to make regarding whether a check from the BB is a slow play or a made hand that you would have to make if there is a reraise now.

The only way checking costs you here is if a diamond falls and completes the flush, in which case I would fold to a large bet, and have saved whatever I bet the round before and the possible reraise from a semilbuff.

If you do make the full house and were facing a made hand you will get all his chips.

thanks for the comments. I felt like the check on the turn was a little weak, but was scared of the possibilities. I usually like to bet and find out where i'm at, but as was pointed out, a re-raise would have caused me a lot of problems deciding what to do (probably would have folded to a big re-raise).

Once I made the str8 on the river, should I have raised the BB there? I also thought my call on the river was a little weak with the str8, but again, if BB had the flush, he would have re-raised and probably got me to fold.




As it turns out, BB had Q5os, no flush draw. Guess he was semi-bluffing.

Absolutely not. I really don't think this one is even close. Just calling there is fine.

Thats not even a semibluff..he thought his 5s were good! I dont think you can raise on the river either. Youre unlikely to get it called unless youre beaten. Its tempting to try and double up early but the flush possibilities are too scary.

Thanks for the responses.

I was thinking about this hand after the tourney was over and started telling myself I played the hand weak. I didn't think I played it bad at the time it happened, just as an afterthought.

Good to get some reinforcement that my initial play was ok.

Again, thanks.

i raise this flop...

i'll add more, i havn't read many responses.

you have TOP pair with an OESD. this is a fav. over most other hands out there, unless someone flopped the str8 obviously, or is on a flush draw with a pair..


which is why you should raise. make the flush draw pay (cuz he very well may not have a pair at all here) and be well behind.

3 handed, if you raise here you may not get much action as a min raise pf can mean a lot of things. first, weak hand, maybe AT KJ, etc....or occasionally a big pair. If you are up against a big pair you'll find out quick, but you should still raise this flop from the bb leading. He usually wont be leading with a str8 here, he'd probably c/c and go for action on the turn, or c/r --- granted I say that cuz I'm assuming he is an idiot and think slowplaying is the only way to play a made hand. I love leading with strong hands...but i dont see it much at the lower level SNG...

dunno what the buy in is here, but the flop bet is weak, and you should raise. just simple.

turn horrible check. you need to put some kinda money in the pot. you'll find slowing down too much will just make you played scared poker whenever anyone bets cause you will be thinking,

'how can they bet? I have such a strong hand now yet he is still betting..he must have me beat..' - you'll just automatically be putting ppl on better hands than you whne you sholdn't be. it's always good and smart to be thinking thru a hand, but it's more important to take control of a hand and be in charge. give other people the wheel and you'll lose control.

that just turns you into a weak player....you need to get money in the pot when you are a favorite with a draw, or very well may have the best hand as well with the top pair and the draw

of course you can make a tough lay down if you are raised or whatever on the turn, but you should get more money in on these kinds of flops. they are why u play soooted connectors, and in three way pots you need to be a bit more agg.

- Jordan

I can see arguing for a raise on the flop, though I am suspicious of the BB leading out.

Betting the turn is wrong, wrong, wrong. IMO of course.

why cause the preflop raiser called a weak bet? that automatically means he has a flush draw?

If anything he may have the A and have a flush draw on the turn.

BB leading can be a lot of things. It can be a flush draw, if can be bottom pair, mid pair, top pair. It was a min raise preflop. No paint dropped, bb might think his small pair is good and made a weak bet on the flop trying to take it.

He saw two others call and slow down. If he was betting his flush draw and got there checking is so bad and you should see why.

You should be raising this flop most of the time and be betting this turn as well. Giving a free card to our preflop raiser on the turn is bad. We have freaking trips right now, and in a small three way pot I'm not going to play scared poker and assume my opponents have a full house, flopped str8, or turned flush on what was a weak bet on the flop and most over cards will call there anyways.

If you raise on the flop, most likely the PF raiser goes away, the bb may or may not call. If he calls, then leads the turn I'd be a bit wary, and depending on the size of bet I'd make my decision. If he only calls the flop raise then c/c the turn bet I'd probably assume he has a straight draw, or maybe a pair and a str8 draw.

Most likely though I bet this BB will fold on the flop raise, and if not there, def. on the turn bet we make.

- Jordan

No, because you have draws to a monster, but hate to call a big reraise with the board that coordinated and the bets coming from one of the blinds. You cant know if thats a semi-bluff or a slow played made hand.

What are you forgoing by not betting here...possibly shutting him out from a draw. If he is going to call with a losing made hand here, he will on the river also so that loses nothing, and no hand no draw and he folds now or after a blank on the river.

We've got 10 outs to a monster, what could he be drawing to?

His best card to be drawing to is the 8d. That gives him 9 diamond outs to win, and 6 outs to salvage a tie..call it 12 outs.

His next best (and much more likely) scenario is an overpair with a diamond. That gives him 2 outs for a higher set and 9 flush outs for 11.

When you have the best hand and basically as many redraws as he has draws, why would ever risk a reraise?

My initial thinking that I played this hand bad was largely along the lines of what Jordan has stated. Playing it too weak. I see both sides of the coin here, and I think both are valid plays.

I was not concerned at all about the preflop raiser after he only called the flop bet by the BB. I was more concerned that the BB had made a straight on the flop (perhaps the low end, but none the less a made hand). At that point, I became content to call and see if my hand improved.

On the turn, while i did hit trips, the flush and straight possibilities scared me away from betting it, even though it was checked around.
I have watched many a player in these $5 buy in SNGs try to play very tricky, slow playing big hands, etc. so while I gave serious thought to betting the turn, decided I had more to lose by betting into a made good hand (straight or flush) than I could make by betting and seeing everyone fold assuming I had the made flush or straight.

These are the kind of hands that get me to think about different ways to play them and to get opinions from here that point out other ways to play them that i didn't think about.

Thanks.

they aren't tricky. They are dumbasses.

I see the same thing at $50s. Punish them.

- Jordan

I agree with Jordan. Bet the flop, you are likely leading and might take down the hand right there. If you are just called I'd bet the turn as well. True, a big raise here would probably scare me off the hand, but at least you'll have an idea of where you are at if you are taking control. Besides, I absolutely hate giving people cheap draws against me. You would have been kicking yourself if the river was a and he had any in his hand. Also, since you showed no strength he could easily bluff on the river and you would have folded the winning hand. How big of a bet would you have called?

If he bets there I am probably reraising him regardless of what I have- I know he will not bet a made flush, he is just trying to find out where he is- so, I would probably raise the pot just to mess with him, since he is scared that his hand is no good.

Its so clear to me that a turn bet is wrong I cant even believe its being discussed! Looking at it from the other hands perspective, as loismustdie does here, its a near perfect semi-bluff situation...what appears to be weak calls from the other hand, a good size pot but nobody pot committed, and a very scary board with a coordinated card just hitting.

Yet again comments from skilled players that don't consider the typical skill level at these tables. A bet on the turn would be pretty transparent to a more advanced player, but I'd guess that 1 in 10 would reraise knowing that this was a "feeler bet".

On the flip side, if you find yourself against more advanced players it would appear from these comments that betting a made flush is the right play. Put out an "obvious" feeler bet with the nut flush and beg him to mess with you.

[quote="LPY2005"][quote="copernicus"][quote="Loismustdie"][quote=macphec]

Yet again comments from skilled players that don't consider the typical skill level at these tables. A bet on the turn would be pretty transparent to a more advanced player, but I'd guess that 1 in 10 would reraise knowing that this was a "feeler bet".


On the flip side, if you find yourself against more advanced players it would appear from these comments that betting a made flush is the right play. Put out an "obvious" feeler bet with the nut flush and beg him to mess with you.[/quote]

Guilty as charged..at least as far as not considering what might happen at an unskilled table..I dont know that im particularly skilled, just learning like everyone else.

As far as betting out if youve made the flush, absolutely, unless its the nut flush, in which case maybe you can afford to check once. Giving a naked Ad a free card to beat you is a potential disaster.

Raise to 320. You have to make the most of it when you do hit a flop like this with suited connectors. The only hand that has you in really big trouble is the made straight. You give yourself a shot at the best-case scenario by raising: you take the pot right now.



Sounds good. If a flush draw got there and is slow playing, you want to see a river and catch an eight. You will tax someone with a flush in a big way if that's the way the hand unfolds. There is so much upside to checking, especially if you've built a nice little pot with the raise on the flop.



Works for me. Unless the river is a diamond, you are going to have to call almost any bet.