how do u play sets on flop

J

jimmyd1953

Enthusiast
Silver Level
Joined
Oct 9, 2010
Total posts
66
Chips
0
i really feel im not making enough when i hit a set on flop. im primarily talking about 9s or less. if i see 2 cards suited or connected i bet pot, unless someelse made abig raise preflop then ill check if im before him. lets say flop is 2,5 ,10 rainbow , ill bet minimum with a set, then push pot on turn . is this wrong? if flop is 8 6 and 3 all suited and i have a set of 8s , i will check and call hoping to pair the board. so may scenarios, any replys by winning poker players is welcome, if u r losing money dont reply . lol. the killer set for me was this. i won 109$ entry ticket in satellite. big payout. so im in the tourney and its early to middle stage of tourney.i have 6500 in chips. i get pocket 6s. a player raises big into me ( 800 i think) and i call with the intent of folding if i miss my set. flop is 2 6 and 8, i know he has a big pair probably aces. i shove allin and he calls with pocket aces. he has 2 outs and hits an ace on the river. was this bad luck or did i play this wrong?
 
C

crK9

Rising Star
Bronze Level
Joined
Mar 28, 2011
Total posts
1
Chips
0
What position were you, what position was he?
 
SYWTWAF

SYWTWAF

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Feb 13, 2011
Total posts
198
Awards
1
Chips
4
To be able to give more precise responses, I think it would help if you posted a complete hand history as an example of each of the specific scenarios you mentioned. The optimal move in a particular case depends not just on your hand and the board texture, but on numerous other factors as well (e.g. your opponents' tendencies, the players' positions, and the pre-flop action). But I can work a bit with what I've got--

jimmyd1953 said:
if i see 2 cards suited or connected i bet pot, unless someelse made abig raise preflop then ill check if im before him.
You've got the right idea with charging potential drawing hands big to continue on a wet board. I'd probably bet a bit less than pot-size; somewhere around 2/3-3/4 pot. You've also got the right idea with checking to the pre-flop raiser and letting him continuation-bet, in which case you may want to check-raise.

jimmyd1953 said:
lets say flop is 2,5 ,10 rainbow , ill bet minimum with a set, then push pot on turn . is this wrong?
It depends on the turn card and what I put my opponent on (was the turn likely to have hit him?). Just in a vacuum, though, I'd rarely min-bet the flop. You want your bets to either extract value from your opponents' worse hands or get them to lay down better hands; min-betting, for the most part, achieves neither. In NLHE, my flop c-bet sizing is generally between 1/2-3/4 pot.

jimmyd1953 said:
if flop is 8 6 and 3 all suited and i have a set of 8s , i will check and call hoping to pair the board.
Depending on how many players are in the hand on the flop, you can't just assume someone has a made flush (especially if you're HU). It's generally better to take initiative and lead out with such a strong (and potentially best) hand, price out players drawing to a flush, be able to represent a flush yourself, etc. than to passively check/call and leave deciding if your hand is good to guesswork. But this is really situation-dependent, so again, a full hand history would help.

jimmyd1953 said:
i have 6500 in chips. i get pocket 6s. a player raises big into me ( 800 i think) and i call with the intent of folding if i miss my set. flop is 2 6 and 8, i know he has a big pair probably aces. i shove allin and he calls with pocket aces. he has 2 outs and hits an ace on the river. was this bad luck or did i play this wrong?
Your pre-flop play is questionable (hard to tell definitively without knowing the size of the blinds, but it seems as though you didn't quite have the implied odds to set mine). But as played, you again had the right idea trying to get your stack in with the second nuts on the flop. It seems like you donk-jammed into the pre-flop raiser, though; it would have been better to check-raise him instead. The fact that you happened to lose the hand is bad luck, but irrelevant to whether you played it well or not. I would be happy to get it in on the flop every time in this spot, and be completely indifferent to getting drawn out on.
 
Last edited:
R

RamdeeBen

Legend
Silver Level
Joined
Aug 9, 2010
Total posts
7,745
Chips
0
Regardless of the flop I will always bet the same amount as I had been in prior hands to give that same image as a c-bet or general bet as they won't know exactly what I have. There is little point in checking to them if you are always betting 80% of the time.

The only time I may check if the board is dry and there is more than one opponent only because a standard raise from someone I will re-raise and quite happy to ship against someone willing to stack with top pair or two pair. If it is a very wet board and I bet and get re-raise I'm always shipping, don't care if I get a fold, in the part I always tried to slow play a set and had bad suck outs so rather get a half decent pot and a fold than a suck out from them!
 
laidlow

laidlow

Enthusiast
Silver Level
Joined
Feb 4, 2011
Total posts
77
Chips
0
I find its best to play em like a pair, bet for value on every street and don't slow play.
 
pricecube

pricecube

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Mar 7, 2011
Total posts
112
Chips
0
If I'm the first to enter the pot having raised, I will always bet the flop having made a set (unless I have some table-specific info which makes me act to the contrary). If I have been c-betting a fair bit anyway, my hope is that someone will think I'm messing around this time. If I get re-raised I'll normally ship. If I get called, I might check the turn to give the impression I want to get away from the hand and then shove on my opponent's raise. I suppose it depends how deep we both are. Of course, any flush draws or pairs on the board will affect how I play the hand and it might be that I play the same type of hand in two different ways within the same session/tourney.
 
RichieRich91

RichieRich91

Rising Star
Bronze Level
Joined
Feb 28, 2011
Total posts
7
Chips
0
Got dealt pocket 9s earlier and the flop came out a 9 high rainbow with no straight draw, I value bet the flop, got 2 callers, ace on the turn, value bet again, both of them shoved with roughly 20 bb each, one had A10 and the other had AK, Ace comes on the river.

Sick sick sick
 
R

Riemannian man

Enthusiast
Silver Level
Joined
Nov 9, 2010
Total posts
38
Chips
0
Got dealt pocket 9s earlier and the flop came out a 9 high rainbow with no straight draw, I value bet the flop, got 2 callers, ace on the turn, value bet again, both of them shoved with roughly 20 bb each, one had A10 and the other had AK, Ace comes on the river.

Sick sick sick

Solid triple up.


OP:
"if flop is 8 6 and 3 all suited and i have a set of 8s , i will check and call hoping to pair the board."
This was the only one I really disagree with. Most of the time, I'm making a decent sized bet around Pot size.
 
A

aaron_jd

Enthusiast
Silver Level
Joined
Feb 15, 2011
Total posts
77
Chips
0
Depends on the board, the players, chip stacks, and position. There is a good chance that I'll just bet my sets with no slow play.
 
RichieRich91

RichieRich91

Rising Star
Bronze Level
Joined
Feb 28, 2011
Total posts
7
Chips
0
Solid triple up.


OP:
"if flop is 8 6 and 3 all suited and i have a set of 8s , i will check and call hoping to pair the board."
This was the only one I really disagree with. Most of the time, I'm making a decent sized bet around Pot size.

Yeah I was happy with it, ended up deep ITM
 
E

engman

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Mar 28, 2010
Total posts
195
Chips
0
You played it perfectly. There's nothing wrong w/hitting, putting ur person on a hand and knowing that you are ahead. If they hit the 2 outer, whatever stuff happens. Just don't let yourself go on you tilt. Good luck in your future tournamnets.
 
Rldetheflop

Rldetheflop

Head Ranger
Silver Level
Joined
Jul 11, 2009
Total posts
1,959
Chips
0
You played it perfectly. There's nothing wrong w/hitting, putting ur person on a hand and knowing that you are ahead. If they hit the 2 outer, whatever stuff happens. Just don't let yourself go on you tilt. Good luck in your future tournamnets.


well once he hit the set he may have played it perfectly but preflop calling with 6's pretty bad with those implied odds.
 
blueskies

blueskies

Legend
Loyaler
Joined
Jan 31, 2009
Total posts
3,643
Awards
9
Chips
304
I don’t like the min. bet flop shove turn approach. I agree with the suggestion to keep the bet sizing the same.
In MTTs, I generally do not make calls with small PPs under normal circumstances unless I think I am up against a desperate short stack shove or if I am so short that I can’t afford to fold.
Once less than 10BBs, I would either shove or fold preflop unless I have great pot odds and implied odds to call.
 
B

bluemrr

Rising Star
Bronze Level
Joined
Feb 22, 2011
Total posts
6
Chips
0
dry board: slowplay against agro, value bet 1/2-2/3 pot with passive
Scary board: bet about pot size for defend
 
J

jimmyd1953

Enthusiast
Silver Level
Joined
Oct 9, 2010
Total posts
66
Chips
0
well once he hit the set he may have played it perfectly but preflop calling with 6's pretty bad with those implied odds.
if i rememember correctly he pre floped raise 4bbs.
 
A

ariesj11

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Mar 28, 2011
Total posts
118
Chips
0
I think you played your set the right way just very unlucky he hit his ace. I would not check if i had a set on a board of suited cards then i would bet the pot or even over the pot to deny people the correct odds to call. It is a risky play sometimes to bet more than the pot, but i have found that i have won more pots in the long run by doing this.
 
K

killingbird

Enthusiast
Silver Level
Joined
May 5, 2010
Total posts
36
Chips
0
Regardless of the flop I will always bet the same amount as I had been in prior hands to give that same image as a c-bet or general bet as they won't know exactly what I have. There is little point in checking to them if you are always betting 80% of the time.

The only time I may check if the board is dry and there is more than one opponent only because a standard raise from someone I will re-raise and quite happy to ship against someone willing to stack with top pair or two pair. If it is a very wet board and I bet and get re-raise I'm always shipping, don't care if I get a fold, in the part I always tried to slow play a set and had bad suck outs so rather get a half decent pot and a fold than a suck out from them!

Pretty much this. If the board texture is such that you are expected to cbet, then you need to be cbetting with air and flopped monsters. Just make sure you are doing it with air.

As a side note, I cant think of a scenario right now where betting pot is every a good idea. Well, at least not on the flop.
 
Top