Betting with a poor hand

Another situation where I should probably play more agressive is when the best hand sort of "falls into your lap"

Let's say you have K9 on BB and you check in. Then flops come e.g. K-5-4.
Should you bet straight away with your top pair with bad kicker?

I tend to check and see what the opposition does, and even check again on the turn.
What is the correct play?

Raise.

I would say it depends on your table. If you have some stations, a raise is fine. If you have loose agro donkish players, a C/R is also good. and so on.

So, as mainstream an answer as this is.... it depends.....

I would bet just to find out if your opponent has anything, but you were probably better off raising pre flop to limit the field, and also give yourself the option to represent strength if high cards came on the flop.

how many people in the hand? what positions? any reads?

it really depends on these things. in a vacuum i would probably c/c half the time, lead half the time if it's 1 or 2 opponents. You can slowplay/try to play a small pot here. For one, the board is relatively dry. Two, we have a strong hand, top pair OK kicker. It's a spot where, if we're ahead, there are very few cards that will give our opponents a better hand. We're unlikely to win if this pot gets really huge but there is some value to be had from worse.

That dosent make any sense.

In a vacuum you would take your preferred action 100% of the time.

If you have 2 choices,

1. c/c
2. b/f

In a vacuum you pick the action that has the highest ev.

In a vacuum ther is no reason to take a lower ev line, what would be the reason? balence? deception? metagame? these are all things that dont exist in a vacume. In a vacuum its purely about taking the highest ev line.

Another way of thinking about it (in a vacuum) is why would c/c be the most profitable line on a Monday Wednesday and Friday yet be less profitable on a Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday?

When I say in a vacuum I mean absent other information. In fact, I don't play the same hand in the same position vs. the same opponents the same way 100% of the time. Even absent other information, balance/metagame/deception are still considerations. In actual play we would have quite a bit more information.

You are often in a vacuum at the micros so balance, metagame and deception are not really considerations.

Scenario : You are a reg playing often. An unknown player sits down.

There is no metagame etc as he knows nothing about you.

There is probably no future metagame, you play often yet have never seen this guy before, why do you think you will see him again with any frequency and why do you assume he makes such maticulous notes that you need to be deceptive?

In any scenario there is a single highest EV line, why are you deviating from this against unknown players who you dont expect to see again?

So Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays you take the highest ev line against this player and on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays you do not.

Not very much information here. To start with it depends on how many are in the pot, whether the board is rainbow or not and if SB completed or if anyone has limped prior..so hard to give an answer really.

Obviously though, it's not been raised so you can most definitely say your hand is the best, even your kicker most likely beats anyone elses kicker if they hold a king. I think most will be raising late position/cut off K,10+

I don't like "check" very often to be honest, I like leading with most thinking "Someone isn't betting straight out with top pair here" and will quite often float.

I'm unsure of why checking the flop and even the TURN is good play? Your just giving everyone a chance to hit something better. What if you are bet at? You just flatting down to the river? What if then an Ace for example hits or a flush drawy board comes along, check/fold?

I would bet the flop if there were 1 or 2 limpers. If they just call, they probably dont have a king. If they call im putting them on ace rags, some type of draw, are possible a set. If you just check the flop and opponent checks or positional raise, now you are pretty much guessing what other guy has and no feel for his cards becuase you expected him to do that. K9 is a decent holding on a K54 board with 1or 2 limpers. I would be aggressive on the flop.

hey buddy when you hit the k9 in the bb on a limped flop, i would bet out there to ffind out where your at, actually pretty pot sized unless you have a good feeling a player at the table is betting. then i would just call and check raise the turn. if you lead out with your king , make a pot sized bet to determine if someone has a better hand by you. usualy, no one is going to raise you there unless they have you beat. but having the k with a weak kicker in a checked flop is always kinda scary.
HOPE THAT HELPS!!
TTYL

so if villain has a set & they just 'call' your 'POT' bet.. how are you planning on proceeding on the turn there? (cuz they don't have you beat 'right'?.. cuz they didn't raise ya (so you could find out 'where you're at')