[quote:85e3c83dd2="MushMouthMike"]Wanted to run a hand by you guys to see how you guys react to this, and if you always react the same?
Let's say it is the 1st hand in a tourney so you have no read on anyone.
You are dealt:
10 :spade: Q :heart:
You limp and go to the flop with 4 people (90 in the pot..sb folds).
Flop:
10 :diamond: 9 :spade: 8 :spade:
Three checks to you, and you make it 80 to go.
Only person that calls is the BB, who had previously checked
Turn:
Q :diamond:
What is your action and why?[/quote:85e3c83dd2]
i think that the most important aspect of this hand is missing in your description: how much money did we start with? since we appear to have started with blinds of 10/20, then i'll assume this is an online SnG where we started with T1,500 in chips. so with that in mind...
picking up where we're at, there is T250 in the pot and the big blind has checked to us. obviously, this is a [i:85e3c83dd2]very[/i:85e3c83dd2] draw heavy board (though let's not forget that we, too, have a draw). assuming the starting stack of T1,500 is accurate, then we have T1,400 left. with that in mind, i prefer a bet here, something around T175. if this guy is on a flush draw then you're going to get called on any bet of the pot and under. thinking otherwise is just foolish. T175 is enough to give a drawing hand poor odds, and enough to keep a flush draw from raising you on a semi-bluff, as any even remotely decent player will not raise a flush draw with four to the straight on board with you betting both the flop and turn. so if you bet the T175 and are raised then you can be quite certain that your opponent has the straight. if you bet and are raised then you can safely fold without having to second-guess yourself. but if you bet and are just called, then you are faced with a rather simple decision on the river. if a safe card comes and you are checked to then you can value-bet (something in the T250 range) or simply check behind and see what happens. and again, if you bet and you happen to get raised then you are almost certainly beat. if a safe card comes and the big blind bets into you then you can just call if it's on the low end, something half the pot or less, which would give you >3:1 on your money. any more than that and you can fold. would you potentially fold the best hand? sure. but that's poker.
in the end you can't just check the turn. there's just too much out there to beat you (assuming you are ahead) to give a free card and just give the hand away. you definitely want to avoid 'worse case scenario' thinking.
