How Could I Play This Hand Better?
Last night I was playing a low limit/no limit game. I was was in the big blind and was holding :2s :5s (admittedly not a good hand) but no one raised pre flop and I am not opposed to seeing a free flop. The flop came down :3s :4s and an unrelated 3rd card :ad if I remember correctly (well I guess not totally unrelated as i now had the straight). I had 9 outs to a very weak flush and one out away from a nut straight flush. Since all players ahead of me limped in I threw out a feeler bet (like half the size of the pot) to see what the others were holding and got a coupe of callers. The turn came :as (straight flush!). I didn't want to scare anyone off but I also didn't want to win a very small pot with such a hand so I threw out another bet (about the size of the pot) and got one caller. The river came down :6s. Again I made a pot size bet and was called. I obviously won the hand but I am curious as to what I could have done to entice the others to re-raise me. Any thoughts?
Comments
Focus more on how you play when you have marginal cards and less on how best to play a straight flush.
I think you played it fine. You might as well bet, because that board is too coordinated to get much action, so take what you can get.
Thanks for the Welcome!
What BBC means is that this situation is going to happen so rarely that the difference between squeezing one more bet out of your opponent or not is not very important. Focusing more on instances that you see very often will make you a better player.
If you want my opinion on this particular hand, I think it was played fine. Either your opponent has a hand worth raising with or they don't. As Beanie said, it is a very coordinated board and there could be plenty of action, so a reasonable size bet on the river is fine. Especially with a four-flush on the board, now they could put you on the K-high flush, while they're holding a fullhouse or slowplaying quads. But these are pretty much the only situations you'd see fireworks on the river. Most of the time you'll win a modest pot when they call you with a weak flush.
When i flop monster hands like those i like to play them fast and try to get the most money i can. If everyone folds well then owell at least i won the pot. In that situation i'd make a pretty decent sized bet on the flop, hoping somone has an Ace and will push back to get the flush draw out and then i'd call. If they flat call, well then the pots big. When the ace of spade turned, now i'd really put on the pressure. Someone might have made a full house by now, trip aces and hope theyre good, or a high flsuh draw that just hit and will play back with you. When the river comes, i might either push all in, hoping they had the nut flush or full house, or i'd make a "please call me bet" because his medium flush might not look so good anymore .
Good advise, thanks Chris.
What BBC means is that this situation is going to happen so rarely that the difference between squeezing one more bet out of your opponent or not is not very important. Focusing more on instances that you see very often will make you a better player.
It's not so much of a question as to how to best play a straight flush, but how to extract the most chips out of someone when you know you have them dominated (and they probably know as well but a little piece of them still might want to call).
I just thought that the straight flush would be a decent example since it was fresh in my memory. Thanks for your input Hork.
Playing the nuts is very tricky when you focus on how much money you can extract from your opponent. I think alot of it is your read on the opponent so you can gauge what bet will be called, will he reraise etc. That's why you should also be watching your opponents and keep track of their styles of play. Suggestion:Use the NOTES that most online programs have to write down key information about your opponent, so that in the futur you'll make a more informed decision.