Top pair weak kicker flush draw with no fold equity

blueskies

blueskies

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In a situation where I flop top pair with a flush draw but with a weak kicker in a multiway pot, how aggressive should I be when I am pretty sure the other guy has a bigger top pair?

For example, I just had this hand:

Qh4h on BB. I checked after CO and SB limped in. 3 way.

Q6h3h on the flop. Better to bet here or check?

I usually check.

CO bets pot, and SB flats.

Better to call here or raise?

In this situation it's very likely that CO has a Q, and is never folding, isn't it better if I just called (assuming that he will still call a decent size bet even if the flush hits)? This way, I can attract SB in too.

In this actual hand I shoved and won against QT. I shoved in this case because CO only had a bit more than $1 left and SB only had 80 cents and I wasn't basically just putting $1 on the line.

Afterwards I kinda kicked myself cuz thinking about it, with no fold equity, I essentially put it all in knowing I was likely behind even though it was just as a slight underdog.

A shove in such a situation is generally slightly -EV, yes?
 
Matt Vaughan

Matt Vaughan

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If you want feedback on a specific hand, try putting it up in the Cash Game HA section (this is from a cash game, right?) here: https://www.cardschat.com/forum/cash-game-hand-analysis-50/

I would say that 3-way with top pair and a flush draw you actually have a lot of equity. I'm not sure what stakes these are, but there is no guarantee that villain has a Q here. His flop betting range is much wider than just top pair imo, since it's a limped pot.

It's impossible to tell you if you're play was okay if you don't give more information about the action: all the betting, the pot size on each street, etc. That way we can compare the pot odds you'd be getting/giving to your likely equity in the pot and see if a shove was +EV or not.
 
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