$2 NLHE Full Ring: Flush draws - is my play correct?

nabmom said:

I'm no expert but I thought I'd share my thought process for this hand and I'm curious to see how far off I am!

First something that you didn't include in your post: Do you have any reads on the other players in this KJ hand? How have they been playing so far? How many hands do you already have with them?

My thoughts: I don't think KJo is necessarily a bad hand to play from early position, but it really depends on the table. With the action so far, despite the odds you're getting, you will be out of position for the entire hand. And KJ can get you into trouble. This is because you could hit the flop but still be dominated and perhaps not realize it. So it's really important to think about your plan for the hand as it progresses. What are you hoping to hit and how will that impact your actions since you are out of position?

Pre: What kind of range would the CO 3-bet you with? What kind of range would the BTN call with?

Flop:As played, given that you have straight, flush, and straight-flush (back door) draws on the flop, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to lay it down. I like the check on the flop because you don't have a made hand yet and you're facing 2 opponents (and that yucky out-of-position disadvantage). I'd call the action just as you did.

Turn: Here's where it helps to think about your plan for the hand again and ranges that you think the others have. You have your flush and you have the blocker to a straight flush. Only a hand with the K of clubs beats you. Would the CO 3-bet with a K of clubs in his/her hand? Only KK or AKo makes sense. What would the BTN call with? KQo? KJo? They'd likely 4-bet with KK or AK.

So now I'm no longer worried about the CO. The Turn bet is small and they've been showing aggression since the start. The hands that fit that don't seem to be a threat to you. But suddenly the BTN wakes up. Instead of the passive call/call play you get a pot-sized shove.

And now I don't know what I would do. A lot of time I would probably let it go and I honestly don't know if that saves me money in the long run. I can be a victim of the "they can't really have it" mentality and call and lose a lot of money that way when I don't have the nuts.

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MinhANguyen said:

KJo fold pre and fold to the 3-bet. You are UTG + 1 and have 7 people to act behind you, 5 of which will have position. You will be dominated a good amount of time when you get action, you will be OOP, you will have a bluff-catcher OOP, and when you get 3-bet at theses stakes full-ring you're dominated 99% of the time.

As played, fold flop. You are not drawing to the nuts. This is very important because even if you make your hand, you might end up losing your stack instead. And even when you do hit your hand, you might not get paid off. Given your reads that they're a little loose and that one of them played for stacks with TPTK (I'm assuming going all-in on the flop??), then I'd sigh-call the shove.

AQs Why are you raising the flop? Especially min-raising? You're giving the pre-flop aggressor to do exactly this when you do. You're allowing them to fold out all their bluffs and make moves like this when they have a genuine hand. This is not a value raise. I doubt she is opening KQo UTG 7-handed, and at the very minimum she'll have AQ. Also QQ/KK/AA. Just check-call it down and check-fold river unimproved if she fires the third barrel. You're inflating the pot OOP, and as played you pretty much have to stack off.

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