$25 NLHE Full Ring: Top set on dry flop, 3bet pot

PokerStars - $0.25 NL - Holdem - 8 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

SB: $31.81
BB: $16.08
UTG: $24.75
UTG+1: $25.00
MP: $30.14
Hero (MP+1): $49.42
CO: $28.22
BTN: $46.59

SB posts SB $0.10, BB posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) Hero has 9♠ 9♥

fold, UTG+1 raises to $0.75, fold, Hero raises to $2.50, fold, fold, fold, fold, UTG+1 calls $1.75

Flop: ($5.35, 2 players) 3♠ 9♦ 4♣
UTG+1 checks, Hero checks

With such a dry flop, should I have bet? I could get value from hands like 1010 or JJ, but do I get value from any other hands?(I discount AA, KK, QQ because he probably would of 4bet pre)

Turn: ($5.35, 2 players) Q♦
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $3.00, UTG+1 calls $3.00

Bet sizing? I wanted this bet to look kind of like a cheap steal attempt bet because I still feel like villain could not have much to call a large bet with unless he had 1010, JJ or AQ.

River: ($11.35, 2 players) 2♦
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $5.00, UTG+1 raises to $19.50 and is all-in, Hero calls $14.50

?

Also, since this is a 3 bet pot, what changes?

His calling range should mostly be pairs and AK (sometimes). You have a top set now but any TJQ can be tricky if he flatted those pairs preflop. I disagree that QQ always 4bets, you 3bet his UTG raise and a range that does that is pretty strong.

I would bet flop since you can stack smaller sets and sometimes he will chkraise you with an overpair + overpairs will call the flop for sure. You can bet around the amount you did on the turn.

I think he has QQ here. AdKd is possible too.

* I am not sure why you are 3betting UTG raise with 99?

why wouldn't you bet the flop, missing value from the majority of his 3bet calling range, villain could be checking a smaller set or an overpair with the intentions of check raising you, chances are overcards aren't going anywhere with a c-bet on the flop either he will literally call a c-bet with his entire calling range, your turn bet definitely looks like a cheap steal which is what you intended however this invites villain into calling hands like AKd AJd, i can't see villain flatting QQ on the turn i'd expect to see some sort of a raise there, as for the river unless he's slowplayed the **** out of AA or KK i don't see anything we can beat now other than smaller sets which we can't be sure villain is holding because we didn't bet our hand strength which gave us no additional information on villains cards, as played i'd probably put villain on AKd or AJd no other hand makes sense.

I think checking the flop is good, then you give more power to pair 10 or J's and your opponent easily can be trapped, also i don't think he had QQ but maybe only AQ. You played the hand well and win big pot.

Gotta be betting, your range is going to be mostly big cards on the 3bet unless you're well polarized. Either way I expect him to continue or c/r a lot of the time, and we do want to stay balanced for when we continue with high cards. Plus we're not allowing ourselves to get in PSBs for stacks. Gotta stack off on the river, we've underrepped our hand and it's a weird line for a flush to take (2d can be seen as an action killer). It sucks when he shows up with diamonds but can't do much about it.

Keep in mind his open/flat range pre combo'd with the way he played it is probably A10d, AJd, KJd (expect J10d to repop turn a decent %, AKd to 4bet).

So I should bet that flop like what, 80-90% of the time in a 3 bet pot? I suppose most people don't flat 3 bets pre and give up on the flop to one bet. If the pot was not 3bet, the check is maybe the preferred move?


LD, I did not have much of a read on villain since it is Bovada but from what I could tell he was loose passive and I wanted to isolate since I thought I had an edge post flop against this particular player. I suppose I could of flatted and had a multiway pot but I just didn't really want that.

I pretty much never check the flop.

Even if he missed he can check call flop with overcards (AK etc.) and then he can hit his overcard on the turn. The whole idea with a set is to stack his overpair/TPTK/lower sets and that comes only with betting.

Lets say he is really loose passive and has AQ. He probably check calls flop and then certainly check calls turn and then we shove river and that is that.

3betting 99 is bad since most of the time (75%!) flop brings overcards and then what? I would rather 3bet Ax hands and suited Broadways.

I bet the flop. When he checks, he has to expect me to cbet a lot of the time. If he's folding then, it's not especially likely he'll be willing to play a big pot if I check. So I bet to build the pot to try to win a big pot when he has a hand he'll continue with vs checking to try for small value and to hope he improves enough to play a big pot.

It depends on your read of the opponent.

A bet might put him away or a check might give him a draw.

I would say it depends upon the personality of villain and yours.

IPlay said:

LD, I did not have much of a read on villain since it is Bovada but from what I could tell he was loose passive and I wanted to isolate since I thought I had an edge post flop against this particular player. I suppose I could of flatted and had a multiway pot but I just didn't really want that.

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If he's loose-passive, and he's raising, he's probably not folding and his range is strong. bluff-3-betting with 99 sounds really bad here.