Archive Pick: Improved draw first to act on the turn, high stakes no limit cash

Game type: 200/400 no limit cash, Full Tilt Poker
Your image: A little weak
Opponent’s image: Solid pro and new to the table
Your hand: T♦8♦
This hand is from our archives; view the original quiz and comments here
The setup: You’re playing a little tight weak so far this session and are down a few thousand when the following hand comes up. You’re in the SB with T8d. Two players fold and the button makes it 1k to go. You call and the BB calls. You flop open-ended:
9♦J♣3♣
You check. The BB checks and the button bets 2,750. You call and the BB calls. You improve to a flush draw on the turn:
A♦
It’s your action. What’s your play?
1.27.09 / 3am
If it’s a check raise then IMO it has to be a shove for maximum fold vig as we only have a max 30% chance of improving on the river. This is one of those counter intuitive spots where I will check raise all in if the button makes a pot sized bet and check call a smaller bet to keep the BB in. Heads up and I’m check shoving in this spot all day.
1.27.09 / 6am
check-call I think. With this play I get to see the last card without the price of a re-raise and if I hit my draw there’s a good chance I’ll get paid off (he might not credit me with a runner-runner flush & a 7 would not look too threatening on the board).
You could try and represent the A with a check-raise but there’s a danger that he will shove to call your bluff, in which case you’re not getting good odds for your draw.
1.27.09 / 7am
I really don’t like the suggested c/r because our hand appears to be exactly what it is…a draw and at the very least will be interpreted as a large part of our range. I would c/c or lead. I actually believe c/r is the worst of all possible options.
1.27.09 / 8am
I think Richard has this mostly right. I like the C/R here, mainly because the ace of diamonds hit the board. If it were any other diamond, our C/R would be easy to diagnose. But because it’s an ace, villain has to consider top pair or two pair in our shoving range. I don’t think BB is making a move at this either. He’s a top pro who had an option to bet after we checked the flop, and he didn’t. I’m not too scared of him. Check and raise the almost certain bet from the button. And yes, your raise should almost certainly be a shove.
1.27.09 / 9am
I put lead as it is going to say to the BB I have a hand and you need to pay me if you have a hand. Basically lead to take the pot right there.
1.27.09 / 3pm
I voted c-c. Leading puts the hero in danger of getting raised and making the draw expensive. With less than a 1 in 3 chance to hit the riv, I don’t like the c-r. The c-r would have been better off after the flop - getting slightly better odds to make the hand and likely would have scooped the pot.
1.28.09 / 2am
I too like CR, and given that the button bet 9600 it really can’t be anything else than a shove.
1.28.09 / 2am
Also, samo2, that’s precisely the point - if our showdown equity is 30% here then thit means that if we have at least 1 in 3 chance to get our opponents to fold, we’re already doing fine. And in an (unlikely) event that both call, we’re again even money in showdown equity.
1.28.09 / 4am
I voted check-call, as we are unlikely to fool anybody to believe we are not drawing no matter if we lead or CR, and our two draws are the best conceiled ones making implied odds reasonable.
2.26.09 / 1pm
leading on the draw in this position is not smart, c-c with a draw proves you have a weak hand and if you don’t hit the river you have no chance of bluffing the better out of the hand which leaves c-r as the best and most reasonable option.

1.26.09 / 11am
What we said then: I think this is a great spot for a check-raise. You have enough chips to exert a good amount of pressure on any reasonable bet either of your opponents might make, and the check-raise allows you to negate some of the disadvantage of your position.
You also should be able to get most hands your opponents are likely to have in this spot to fold, and if all the money goes in, you’ll still have a decent amount of equity against two pair or a set.
What actually happened: You checked, the BB checked and the button bet 9,600. You called and the BB folded. You made a flush on the river and checked again. The button shoved and you called, and the button showed 44.