15 people left, your in late position with 10,000 in chips, woohoo! you picked up AQ suited...so you raise an unopened pot upto 4.5 times the blind...lets say blinds are 100/200, you raise to 900...the big blind(6,500 in chips) snap calls after it goes fold/fold through the button...you think something smells fishy because your opponent is a fairly tight ROCK, so you decide hes got a BIG hand, but not a monster(AA or KK)...flop comes down 9d Td Js, whoohoo, you flopped a monster double draw...your opponent instantly bets out for 1/3 of the pot...what are you thinking here? what are your hand ranges that your putting him on....heres my take on the situation...

since your opponent is fairly tight, im atleast putting him on KQ or AK, but possibly even TT or JJ, which means he would have you about 2.25 to 1 oddswise if you theoretically got it all in on the flop...i highly doubt he has JJ or TT, because hed probably insta shove or bet the pot, to push you out if your drawing to either the straight or the flush. little does he know you are drawing to both. my honest read in this situation is that he flopped the straight and is looking to get paid off by value betting it, even if the flush hits.

My next question to you is, say you read him for KQ and you put him on the made straight on the flop...if he value bets 800 into a pot of almost 2000, do you call to hit the flush/nut straight, raise it and get him to commit or do you fold it?

lets take a look at the odds here via cardplayer magazine...

even if your opponent flopped the K-hi straight, you are ONLY a 42.73 to 56.67 underdog to win the hand...granted your 8's are dead except for the 8 of diamonds, however this isn't a very porfitable card anyway putting the straight flush out there for your opponent to slow down...

If the hand panned out as JJ/TT/or 99 vs AdQd
you are about a 60-40 dog in all cases...

If your opponent holds AK offsuit, AKo vs AdQd
in this situation you are the favorite 51-46 on the flop


when all was said and done, i let my opponent value bet into me to see the turn and i called cheaply on the flop, the turn brought the 8 of clubs...giving me the Q hi straight, he checked and misplayed his hand, and i checked behind and the 2 of diamonds fell on the river...this put alot of pressure on him to make a decision because there was so many different draws outt here and he didn't get information on the turn from me about anything with the check check move, and he ended up betting half his stack into me on the river, and i requested time, and raised him all in and he snap called with KsQh. My thought about the way he played the turn was that he wanted me to bet because i didn't take too long to reach my decision on the flop...so i thought to myself...NO NO, he wants you to bet, just check and if you miss the flush on the river, you can still call a value bet...if it's not too big...

let me know what you think, sometimes it's like i have x-ray vision...haha

also, the very rare check-behind play by an aggressive player is something to be highly regarded if you really want to see that last card on your big draw and your opponents EXPECT you to play fast...sometimes even YOU have to slow play, it really throws them for a loop...

till next time, good luck and may the 4's be with you...(quads that is! haha)

thats my new saying, im trademarking it
mh