AlanBostick
Tuesday, November 29th, 2005, 4:56 PM
QUOTE (The Bwaves)
The UTG player doubled the blinds, whenever you see someone raise UTG you should think right away "fishy bet". If you use Slansky's theory of pre-flop selection, you need a better hand in early position to raise with than in later position with many players to act behind you. So at this point we can assess that the double bet is a pot sweetener and he could have a monster hand. MP1 could have seen this bet as a weak raise and is trying to outplay UTG after the flop, but lets not give him a lot of credit because he's showing weakness by calling.
Your raise may be a litte light. Only because your up against two opponents, you can actually apply a squeeze play. If you were to re-raise say 5 to 6 times the original raise, the UTG player will be put to a decision to lay his hand down because he doesn't know if the player in MP1 is holding a monster. Most likely since MP1 called he's showing weakness which means he could be slow playing a monster but the chances of him having a monster like AA/KK is unlikely. If we can consider UTG's bet as a pot sweatener you would just want to call and hope for a uncoordinated flop.
This
is the PokerStars dime-and-quarter game we're talking about, right? A squeeze play like that isn't likely to work, because it only works against players who kn0w how to play.
OP's raise is a reasonable amount; there's $0.35 in the pot from the blinds, UTG's raise makes it $0.85, the caller makes it $1.35. A pot-sized raise would be one of $1.85, making it $2.35 to go. $2 to go is very much in the right ballpark.
Bet the flop (I like OP's bet). If you're called, you don't want to put any more money in the pot. Pray a fourth diamond doesn't come, unless it's the ace that gives you the nut flush. (Any other diamond is a reverse-implied-odds card.) If your flop bet is raised, you can probably fold.