[Jezza]

Hi guys,

Cheers for the responses so far. When he checked the flop it basically means he either 1) Hit big style or 2) Completely missed. I very much doubt he has QQ KK or AA here, or any hand containing a jack or even an 8. If he had any of these hands he would have certainly bet the flop after raising preflop. I have to think he basically either has a "two high cards" type hand like AK or AQ, either that or he has flopped a set also. I think its possible he could have the lower sets on the flop here. He only raised small preflop which a lot of people do with smaller pocket pairs (to try and build a bigger pot for if they hit their set, they wont raise a big raise like they might with queens which would limit the amount of callers they get, just a small one to drag everyone in). So the decision to check or bet here is quite a close one. If he has two high cards we would probably like an A to hit the river (and is he really going to chase for that if we bet now?) to get paid off and if he has the higher set we would like to lose the minimum, so checking would be good there as well. However I decided to bet. Firstly it disguises my hand. For the reasons I said before there is 0 chance he will think I have hit a set of 3s by leading the turn. If he has any hand reading skill at all he will realise that I think he has probably missed the flop thus could be leading the turn with almost any holding trying to steal the smallish pot. He certainly wont think I would with a hand as strong as a set. This could cause him to try and play back at me with whatever air he has and I could win a bigger pot because of it. He could also make a mistake and chase with his two high cards drawing dead for the river. Unfortunately it does mean I start to make the pot bigger and will lose a lot more to a higher set which is looking definately possible from the check on the flop. I guess we will have to make our minds up about that later on in the hand if he livens up. A slight plus to leading also is that there is now a diamond draw on the board. If he had raised preflop with two big cards suited in diamonds then I am charging him to hit his draw, which is far better than letting him hit it for free.

So all said and done I decided to bet the pot....

----- TURN ----- [8d Js 4c][3d]
HERO: bets £11
VILLIAN: raises to £22
HERO: ????????????

hmmm now what?

Jez

p.s. alexross yes this is a real cash game hand, I played it last night online.