We all know pot odds and hand ranges but is reverse play sometimes a proper strategy? For instance you have 88 and the flop is 8-a-3 two clubs on board you have no clubs. The proper play is to protect your hand when someone has a medium to large stack,but is it ever to just better to check and avoid disaster?

A few scenarios play out you bet to protect your hand but 2 guys have flush draws and call they miss entirely you bet large again they fold, or call and you get max-value when they miss entirely on the river. Option 2 is you check turn rolls a club you check again and maybe fold losing the minimum or call to fill up assuming your now behind. Behind is the key here we all love set's but when the tuns rolls to a probable straight or flush then in essence your hand is now worse than the previous flush draw only with more implied odds from a larger pot.

I think I like the check play better many times guys aren't on the nut flush draw and wont bet enough when they hit their flush,or not enough as a turn bluff. This prices you in cheaply enough to continue without re raise possibilities and floats the hand to a flush/fill up for you! Because you look timid the villians might place you on a good ace fearing the flush and could bet huge when you actually fill up vs their river flush what's your take?

This is just a plain bad idea. You’re leaking EV hugely, having a robust aggressive strategy adds ev to every part of our range.

Check a poker tracking database and see the bb/100 of sets.

yes. betting an amount only a better hand can have an easy time 2 call is a leak. assertive not aggressive.

Let's say the flop is 8-2-6 no flush draw. I'm checking this flop because it's near impossible for villain to have connected. In your scenario I'm betting big because I want villain to have a draw here. I want him to have Ax or 54s I want him to call massive bets trying to hit his draw. I want him to check raise me and then fire off his stack on river when the draw doesn't come in. What I don't want is a set on a super dry board where I'm going to get 1 bluff bet out of villain and then they shut down. You are going to get stacked sometimes. You are going to have to fold a set sometimes. You have to play in a way that maximizes value on the times that your set holds.

In my opinion, it doesn't depends on to be or not to be agressive to turn into a great player, but making mathematically correct decisions, most times players that play like this, seem more agressive, but it is just the only optimal choice, sometimes agressive, sometimes slowplaying...

Mixing it up is certainly the way I would go about this. If you have no information about the player at all - and the board is only coordinated by having 2 of one suite on it...dont always assume your opponent is flush drawing. I rarely ever slow play sets, i always go for max value - but over betting or being overly aggressive because you are afraid your set will get beaten is not a good strategy. On very coordinated boards - for example say 9spades 8spades 3hearts and you are holding 88 - no matter what you bet on this board a hand like 67 of spades or especially J10 of spades is not folding - J10 is likely raising you in this spot and so the mindset of "i need to bet enough to protect my hand" can certainly be a bad thing.

Sure, you want to protect your holding and get value from it...but you also dont want to over commit to a pot that you are fairly sure you stand a decent chance of losing. Lots of folks cannot fold sets...I play lots of $20 home games where players just will not fold 66 on a 6KA board after the pot has been 3 bet or 4bet preflop by the tightest player at the table. If the 6's lead, they get raised - if they check raise and get raised all in themselves they still snap it off in that spot - no thought process whatsoever. I've folded QQ before after flopping a set because i knew my opponent turned a set of Aces...it sucks, its hard to do...but when it is the correct play to fold, and you can bring yourself to that...your game will improve by leaps and bounds. Making disciplined folds can add alot to your arsenal.

Anyhow, in summary. Play your hand according to player information if you have any - otherwise, go for value, protect your holding but don't try to over inflate the pot because you are scared of every suited board. Check on uncoordinated boards with tighter opponents - or cbet small. Check highly coordinated boards or make smaller cbets to see where you stand in the hand and proceed with caution. Bet average flops or any flop that contains some over cards in it that your opponent may have hit and be sure to size your bets so they can call without much hesitation. Take your time, learn from your mistakes and use your head. Make good decisions and you will be rewarded.

Originally Posted by Jon Poker

Mixing it up is certainly the way I would go about this. If you have no information about the player at all - and the board is only coordinated by having 2 of one suite on it...dont always assume your opponent is flush drawing. I rarely ever slow play sets, i always go for max value - but over betting or being overly aggressive because you are afraid your set will get beaten is not a good strategy. On very coordinated boards - for example say 9spades 8spades 3hearts and you are holding 88 - no matter what you bet on this board a hand like 67 of spades or especially J10 of spades is not folding - J10 is likely raising you in this spot and so the mindset of "i need to bet enough to protect my hand" can certainly be a bad thing.

Sure, you want to protect your holding and get value from it...but you also dont want to over commit to a pot that you are fairly sure you stand a decent chance of losing. Lots of folks cannot fold sets...I play lots of $20 home games where players just will not fold 66 on a 6KA board after the pot has been 3 bet or 4bet preflop by the tightest player at the table. If the 6's lead, they get raised - if they check raise and get raised all in themselves they still snap it off in that spot - no thought process whatsoever. I've folded QQ before after flopping a set because i knew my opponent turned a set of Aces...it sucks, its hard to do...but when it is the correct play to fold, and you can bring yourself to that...your game will improve by leaps and bounds. Making disciplined folds can add alot to your arsenal.

Anyhow, in summary. Play your hand according to player information if you have any - otherwise, go for value, protect your holding but don't try to over inflate the pot because you are scared of every suited board. Check on uncoordinated boards with tighter opponents - or cbet small. Check highly coordinated boards or make smaller cbets to see where you stand in the hand and proceed with caution. Bet average flops or any flop that contains some over cards in it that your opponent may have hit and be sure to size your bets so they can call without much hesitation. Take your time, learn from your mistakes and use your head. Make good decisions and you will be rewarded.

That about sums it up

Some of these lay downs i can easily see bringing myself to - but some of these are unreal. Just thought I would share for inspiration

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