Made hands on the Flop
Hero is Big Blind with A
K
Preflop: 5 folds, MP3 calls, CO calls, BU folds, SB raises, Hero 3-bets, MP3 calls, CO calls, SB caps, Hero calls, MP3 calls, CO calls.
Flop: (16 SB) Q J
T
(4 players)
SB bets, Hero ?
You're in the big blind and are happy with the premium hand you're holding. You 3-bet a raise from the small blind. Unfortunately, he's showing extreme strength and caps. On the flop, you are 4-handed.
Suddenly, you really like the cap before the flop - you have the nuts. The pot is already 16 small bets in size and the small blind makes a bet.
Never slow-play a straight! You currently have the nuts - the best possible hand - and your aim is building a pot. As the pot is quite sizable already, your opponents get pot odds of at least 9.5:1, even after a raise, meaning they could profitably call a gutshot. Additionally, the small blind has showed extreme strength before the flop; you hope to see another raise from him.
After the raise, there are still a lot of bad hands who are forced to stay in the pot due to the good odds. You can't be sure whether there would be a raise behind you in case you just call, either. Therefore the right decision in this situation is to raise.
Hero is Big Blind with T 9
Preflop: 2 folds, UTG+2 calls, MP1 calls, MP2 folds, MP3 raises, CO folds, BU folds, SB folds, Hero calls, UTG+2 calls, MP1 calls.
Flop:(8.5 SB) T 9 A (4 players)
Hero ?
You are in the big blind with a suited connector. MP3 raises and 2 players enter the hand before you. You decide to call the raise, hoping for a good draw. On the draw-heavy board, you hit two-pair, though.
You have a strong hand and can assume that you are ahead a lot of times. You still have to protect your hand due to the draw-heavy board, though - your aim is protection.
If you donk on the flop, you will give pot odds of 9.5:1 to the other players. A two-pair has 4 outs against you and could thus profitably call. On the other hand, you would avoid a free card, meaning there will be more money in the pot - that answer is thus still worth 1 point.
There is a better way to protect your hand in this situation, though. The pre-flop aggressor is sitting directly on your right. It's quite probable that he bets in case all the players behind you check, as he is pre-flop aggressor and could have hit the flop with a good ace. If this happens, you could confront the other players with double the stake, worsening their odds to 5.75:1 and allowing you to protect your hand as strongly as possible.
Hero is UTG+1 with K K
Preflop: UTG folds, Hero raises, UTG+2 calls, 3 folds, CO calls, Button folds, SB calls, BB folds.
Flop (9 SB): 6 7 J (4 players)
SB bets, Hero raises, UTG+2 folds, CO calls, SB 3-bets, Hero ?
The dealer finally has some mercy and deals the Cowboys to you. You raise from early position and get three calls. You have an overpair on the flop and the small blind donks into you. You decide to raise in order to protect your hand. After a flat-call, the small blind 3-bets you.
The small blind shows a lot of strength. He usually has at least top pair. You can still consider yourself to be ahead on average, though. You also have an additional player who has passively called both raises. He's often holding a weak top pair, a middle pair or - in rare cases - a monster. He could also be on a straight draw.
You can thus assume that you are still ahead against both players and protect your hand by raising again.
Last Updated on Tuesday, 20 December 2011 11:22