[NL$100 FR] SC's decent(ish) flop, mutliway with action.

First hand at the table, no reads. Oh its a fast table as well, snap decision time.


pokerstars Game #16966864880: Hold'em No Limit ($0.50/$1.00) - 2008/04/24 - 17:43:25 (ET)
Table 'Tietjen II' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: Xxloveangel ($27.45 in chips)
Seat 2: asturiano ($136.90 in chips)
Seat 4: pI@nB ($98 in chips)
Seat 5: nanomalefiko ($48.20 in chips)
Seat 6: Ultim0 ($9.50 in chips)
Seat 7: Basadoni ($99 in chips)
Seat 8: tenbob ($100 in chips)
Seat 9: sweeetweeed ($57 in chips)
Basadoni: posts small blind $0.50
tenbob: posts big blind $1
Hardcore182: sits out
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to tenbob [5c 6c]
sweeetweeed: folds
Xxloveangel: calls $1
asturiano: folds
pI@nB: raises $4 to $5
nanomalefiko: calls $5
Ultim0: calls $5
Basadoni: folds
tenbob: calls $4
Xxloveangel: calls $4
*** FLOP *** [Tc 6d Qc]
tenbob: checks
Xxloveangel: checks
pI@nB: checks
nanomalefiko: bets $3
Ultim0: raises $1.50 to $4.50 and is all-in
tenbob: ???

I'm not closing the action if I call, is leading this flop better ? Check raise ? C/C (and take the easy way out)

I don't think leading this flop is a good idea being OOP with so many other people yet to act. We will get our information either way with this many people in the pot. Checking just gets us that info a little cheaper.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm not sure in this situation we can do anything but call/fold because ultimo did not make a full raise when he went all in. If we can't raise anymore, this is a trivially easy call.

Assuming we can still raise here though, I would probably put in a healthy raise, figuring I have 11 clean outs, possibly 14 if ultimo only has TP. I think we need to assume that ultimo caught at least TP with this flop if he's willing to stick in the rest of his stack.

I'm kind of puzzled by nanos $3 bet into a $25 pot though. I'm not sure how often people at 100NL make these kind of retardedly small suck/blocking bets on the flop, so I'm not really sure what to make of it. My initial thought would read him as weak and making a semi bluff blocking bet. Then again, I've been getting hammered lately so what do I know

Opponent's hand ranges aren't as important here (unless we put them on a set or two pair+). So the things we really need to consider are:

1) Do we have fold equity?
2) Can we trap a ton of dead money in the pot?
3) Are our outs clean?
4) If we want to play fast, what's the best way to get our money in.

Unless there are maniacs who are willing to stack off light on the flop, or idiots who can't fold top pair when a draw completes, I think our standard line should be to try and get our stack in on this flop & trap the most dead money in.

The trick is, pI@nB is soon to act after you. If he c-bets 18$ into $25, that still won't be enough to get your stack in. So we need to lead out here (and small) trying to get the max amount of callers, and hopefully a raise. That way, if there is a raise, we'll be able to easily get our $ in.

/me opts to lead out for $11.99 into a $25.50 pot.

But as played, there's only 2 players to act after you. I think 4.50$ is about the right price to see a cheap turn card. If there's a check raise, then we'll really have a good decision to make.

During the hand, I'm probably thinking "stacks too deep to CRAI, and I don't like leading cause it'll leave me with tons of tough turn spots, so I'll just check and call any reasonable bet".

Looking at the hand now I think I like leading though - it disguises our hand tremendously by leading into this many people, builds the pot to make it easier for when we hit, and very rarely we'll actually take the pot down immediately. It also gives us good leverage if someone raises because we can then shove if the raise is big enough and get tons of FE over TP hands and even overpairs. It becomes incredibly obvious we have a draw when we call this bet and then lead/ch-r the flush card.