Zithal

The quiz by All Aces, got some great food for thought out there, and while I was playing over the past couple days, I came across a sitution that seems to come up often enough that I'm not sure if I'm playing correctly or not.

The situation is that of coming across a flop that pairs the board; KK9 for example. What are your general ideas on playing this type of flop if a) you hit it hard (AK or K9 or 99), b) You kinda hit it (A9), c) You miss but have overcards to the singleton (AT) or d) You completely miss (34).

I think the toughest part of this flop is that most people check if they either completely miss it, or strongly hit it. If you bet to find out where you are, it's an easy hand to trap with as people who have kinda hit it, or have overcards to the singleton will also check it.

So, just gathering some thoughts around this type of a flop - it seems to be giving me problems, so I'd love to hear what others think of it. (If you're exceedingly board, feel free to comment on how your game changes if you see this flop in NL)

Thanks!!

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professor

That's a good question.... this is a tough kind of board to play into, especially in early position. And I think the decisions are completely different depending on whether it is limit or no-limit.

In a limit game I'd bet out if I hit the flop at all, even if I
flopped a monster. Consistently betting out at boards like this allows you to disguise the strength (or weakness) of your hand. Of couse, if I'm raised I have to think about what I'm doing. It might be worth calling the raise or not, depending on who raised and why.
In middle or late position if I have to call a bet it all depends on what I think of the bettor. I wouldn't call two bets with just the 9.

In a no-limit game if I hit this kind of flop I'd put in a
"teaser" bet.... around 1/2 the pot or a little more.
If I only have the 9 I'd be gone to a raise, but if I have
the K then I'll re-raise BIG TIME. If I had a hand like
QQ, JJ, or TT I'd probably still re-raise, but not so much.
In late position I wouldn't call any serious bet with only
the 9, and I would raise any bet with a K. With QQ or JJ
facing a bet I would have serious problems. That is
a tough decision that would have to be made at the moment.

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ScottyZ

Here's how I'd play it in low-limit.

For (c) and (d), check and fold the flop.

When you hit trips (or better), go ahead and bet and/or raise the flop. This is both a deceptive play, and a very sensible value play. Believe me, this *is* deceptive. I've had opponents go so far as telling me that they didn't put me on trips because I had bet out on the flop.

The cases where you flop two-pair are a little more tricky. For me, it's going to depend on what the exact flop is.

Holding A9 on a flop of KK9, I'm likely going to check & fold. The harsh (but sweet) reality of LL is that your opponents are often going to be playing all Face-any combinations. It's too likely for someone out there to have a King. Yes, I realize I'm likely to be folding the best hand quite a lot here. I'm the exact opposite of a chaser in sone sense.

On a less daunting flop such as 559, I'll go ahead and bet out on the flop. It's considerably more likely that I have the best hand.

Here's an aside question. Suppose you are in a low-limit game where you know for a fact that a particular player will bet (if facing a check) every time the board pairs on the flop. (Assume that none or few of your opponents are catching on to this.) What is an appropriate counter-strategy against this player?

ScottyZ

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