Daily Hand Quiz

How has the BB checked already?

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Anyway. With only one opponent left to act I prefer to check and call if not rereaised by bb or utg.

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I think we need a semi-bluff lead here. First, this puts the pressure on our opponents. While we could use the free card, we’ll also be disguising our hand. If we bet out and win the pot right there (unlikely), we’re happy. If we check the flop and turn a flush, a bet could scare our opponents off the hand. Betting half the pot and getting one call gives us 3 to 1 pot odds–slightly less than what we need to draw to a flush, but if we factor in implied odds (we don’t need much) and the possibility that our A and/or J is good (maybe discount them from 6 outs to 3) we have 9 outs to the flush plus 3 from our AJ leaving us with 12, or a 24% chance to hit by the turn giving us 3 to 1. We’ve got the backdoor straight, but can’t double count the Q10s. I wouldn’t put the two checks on a K because they should have bet into the 2 spades on board to reduce our pot odds. Good chance we bet and player left to act calls, BB probably folds, UTG may not call if other player does. If other players fold and UTG calls he may have mid pocket pair maybe even AQ. If he reraises we need to consider chance he has AK, KQ, KJ, QQ, JJ, 1010. If he has the K we are getting significant implied odds to make a call, unless we feel like he can get away from the hand if another spade falls. We loose 3 outs though because our one pair A or J is no good. Last thing, commitment decision should be made when we’ve put in somewhere between 1,800 and 2,400 chips. So far we’ve only thrown in the 40 ante and 600 preflop, betting half the pot at around 1,400 brings us close to a commitment decision. One more big bet gets about 1/3 of our stack in. Just something to be aware of.

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I would check/call.

UTG can easily be put on any pocket pair, or holding on to something like KQ, and be looking to trap.
EP is short-stacked and may well go all-in if he’s holding Kx. The pf bet was small and lots of people will call that with any face card.
A raise would not get rid of these situations, it also might discourage another flush draw that we would rather have tagging along for the pot odds.

If everyone checks, bets should come on the turn and you may well have improved by then.

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I lead this flop because a)it disguises our hand if we hit the flush, b) we need information from our opponents and c) we may win the hand right here with a bet.

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With paired Kings on board, I’d check-call intending to control pot size.

It is a multi-player pot, no opponent reads, and decent stack sizes. Leading to rep a king leaves Hero vulnerable to a raise. This is somewhat dangerous with a paired board, drawing to the A-high flush. EP raiser likely calling with made hand (pp), or planning to c-r w/Kx.

Check-raising not only builds the pot, but can be read as a flush draw, especially given active image. Hero is also oop, so I’d pass on this option.

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Checking here does us no good. 1) If we check, and call, and then a spade hits and we bet, we are going to get zero action. 2) If we check, and CO checks, and a spade hits, we will get zero action, because there is no way anyone who doesn’t have a king would check on this board and take it 4 handed to a turn for free with a flush draw on board. 3) If it checks around, and a lower spade or the queen hits, and the table explodes into action on turn betting, are we going to lay down an ace flush to what surely spells full house? If we bet, we at least find out what they have. Some of these guys could have limped in with 56 spade, or other suit and completely missed. By betting we find out: who has a K, small pocket pair, or flush draw, and how these holders respond to our bet will explain a lot. If the 8 or 9 or Q of spades hits lets say, and 2 people explode into action, we are in trouble. But if we don’t bet we won’t have any idea if they have smaller flushes, or full houses, or slow played kings. And are you ready to stack off with your nut flush to a full house just because you weren’t willing to spend only 3% of your stack for some very valuable information? There are a lot of limp/min-raise callable hands that could destroy us here. The 2 could mean we are already drawing dead. More small cards/small spades could end us. KQ,KJ,KT, are all possible here. There are way too many things here that could reasonably be crushing our nut hand. I understand the argument for checking and pot control, but betting 900 here to potentially save ourselves 12,000 on the river, is not only another beautiful form of pot control but it is damage control, and minimizing your losses to min-loss when you should be stacking off is what seperates the winners from rail.

The real danger here is that we are potentially holding an unfoldable monster of a hand, that VERY LIKELY could be only 2nd best. That is a horrible position to be in, but it can be avoided here, this isn’t a cooler. This is the problem with checking our draw 4 handed: we go to the turn 4 handed completely blind with a paired board. Gotta bet here for about 1/3. If you aren’t willing to invest 3% of your stack here to find out what is potentially make/break information, then you have a serious leak. Information costs money in this world, and the table is no different. Drop the 900 out and get learnin’ ya a lesson matey.

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i’d do an information bet / semi bluff ..

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I would check/call. Pot-control is important when there is a pair on board especially with 3 other players.

I think that raising here is a pretty bad idea.

If they have a mid pp they will raise heavy we have to fold.
If they have a high pp they either raise heavy or call putting us in danger of facing full even if we hit a flush.
If they have trips they may raise heavy because of the fear of flushdraw/pp hitting, we have to fold.
If they have cards we would easily beat, they would just fold.

We don’t achieve anything with the raise, because better cards would want to stop the play right here while worse card would fold, so we don’t get any value with it.

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I vote check call.

We are behind of many hands though the outs are decent. The problem here is if we lead and suddenly all calls. What kind of info can we get? No read still.

Worst case here is someone (say someone is really donkey) bluff in such a board with 4 ppl in game. So what, I would fold with no problem.

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