$10 NLHE 6-max: Playing a flopped set

Being progressive on my New Year resolution to get back to posting on CC and to post hand histories much more often.

I only have 112 hands on the Villain (17/9).
Questions about my thought process:
1) Was my call on the flop correct?
2) What do you think about my thought process throughout the hand?
3) Thoughts about my bet-sizing?
4) How do you interpret his river raise.

Merge - $0.10 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

SB: $15.86
Hero (BB): $17.82
UTG: $10.00
CO: $10.00
BTN: $14.66

SB posts SB $0.05, Hero posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero has 8♦ 8♠

UTG raises to $0.40, fold, fold, SB calls $0.35, Hero calls $0.30

(I will generally call one raise while set mining. Over 38 hands, SB was 38/26. I would have called the raise for set mining. Having a LAG type in the SB gave me more incentive to call).

Flop: ($1.20, 3 players) 8♥ 7♠ T♦
SB checks, Hero bets $0.90, UTG calls $0.90, fold

(I hit the set on an OK board. SB could have anything, I figured the pre-flop raiser has a high pair or Ax high. I wanted to get money into the pot.)

Turn: ($3.00, 2 players) 4♥
Hero bets $2.25, UTG calls $2.25

(Not a scary turn. Is donking a good idea? UTG only called my flop bet and is only calling here).

River: ($7.50, 2 players) Q♥
Hero bets $5.62, UTG raises to $6.45 and is all-in, Hero calls $0.83

(Queen would give villain a straight but I don't see how the villain would have raised UTG pre-flop with J9. He could have QQ but that's only a few combos. If he had TT I would expect him to raise instead of call on previous streets. I figured I was good in most situations.Would you figure the same?)

WP sir. You thought process was also good. Gold star imo (but shove river, why bet $1 less than his stack when he clearly likes his hand)

Do others call a PFR with pocket pairs? I know this is vague.

Humps said:

Do others call a PFR with pocket pairs? I know this is vague.

Click to expand...

The vague answer is yes. You need to be deep enough to set mine, and we are well deep enough here. On the button 3betting lower pairs is possible (22-77) to give you another way to win when you don't bink your set.

J9 is not in a 17/9's UTG range, plus it was a straight on the flop.

Set-mining for a single raise 100 BBs deep is standard against a strong range.

bet 1.10 on flop, then 2.70ish on turn sets up river for stacks better.

Also there are a bunch of pair/pair + gutters/ 2pair type hands he can have that are just never folding. I like the turn bet because of this, hes going to be flatting some of his range that he would be checking back equity for free carsds/pot control (8x, 9s, JQ,) so you pick up more value there, bigger bet sizing would leave ~5.60ish into 8.50ish

You played it just fine. Don't worry about this one. They just happened to get lucky. As for the river, I think he'd be chasing a draw or has a high pp, Either way, more times than not you're going to beat him on the river and I like the bet. Once again, well played.

jbbb said:

The vague answer is yes. You need to be deep enough to set mine, and we are well deep enough here. On the button 3betting lower pairs is possible (22-77) to give you another way to win when you don't bink your set.

Click to expand...

Thanks. I may need to call small ish/ single raises with PP's.

As for the OP's post I agree your thought process is good, there are only a few combos that beat us if he has 10s or Qs then it's a cooler.

There are no issues flatting with a mid pocket pair in a 3way pot, particularly with the original raiser being UTG and having a very strong range. I would be more inclined to squeeze say if the original raiser was on the button given the weaker ranges of both players.

The flop is very well co-ordinated and there are plenty of action killing turn cards (J 9 6). I don't really understand any reason for donking the flop though? Given our relative position on the original raiser, I much prefer checking the flop. Given the strength of UTG range, it is reasonable to expect a cbet, and we can hope to induce some action from the SB. This will inflate the pot making a flop raise bigger, and all in possible on the turn.