AJ from MP

Why are you raising the flop?

Originally posted by Casey55
Why are you raising the flop?

To make him fold his straight or flush draw.
Or anything
I am not interested in seeing the river.
But he didnt fold so I guess he was quite convinced into strenght of his hand.
I dont have much hopes to improve my hand vs Q therem but I was hoping that anything weaker or draw will fold.

Originally posted by miropro

Originally posted by Casey55
Why are you raising the flop?

To make him fold his straight or flush draw.
Or anything
I am not interested in seeing the river.
But he didnt fold so I guess he was quite convinced into strenght of his hand.
I dont have much hopes to improve my hand vs Q therem but I was hoping that anything weaker or draw will fold.

Why do you want weaker hands to fold? You want to keep weaker hands in the pot while extracting value from them but AJ is not really a value betting hand on this board I dont think and villain is donking on a wet board. When you raise like this your opponent is going to continue with hands that are beating yours or have good equity versus you and fold out the weaker parts of his range. I dont think you want to create a massive pot on the flop with 2nd pair like this

Flop raise is indeed bad idea. You have mediocre strength hand that can't really raise for value. Also pot is 3way which make villain donk bet likely stronger. We also have Ac which give considerable backdoor equity and turn playability.

When villain donks turn again I would not mind folding as this looks pretty strong to me. When we call then another Q is one of best rivers we can get. Now Q is less likely and we actually beat hand like J9 (should not bet but who knows...) and no draws completed. So as played if we didn't believe villain on turn then call again river imo. We also get very good pot odds.

Well donk bet was made at the flop by BB, after SB checked.
BB folded after my raise, but SB was quite happy to go on.
I raised the flop because so many people at these limits donk bets their draws as "protection" from higher bets and to keep the pot odds in their favour.
I dont want them to have pot odds. My hand has almost zero chance to improve, but flush and straight draws do and I dont know if I have any showdown value so I am trying to take the pot at the flop.
But that silent guy that check/call the flop didnt fold and he actually donked the turn.
That is the point where I should realise that I am beaten and fold, but I was actually so confused with his move that I call instead of fold.

Not sure if you guys noticed, but it wasnt the same guy donking flop and turn.

Yeah didn't notice and it's even more reason to fold turn. When SB call he is versus two opponents that have shown strength and should worry that BB might 3bet.

For BB bet it's fairly reasonable sizing with half pot. Not like 1-2bb bet.

Originally posted by miropro
Well donk bet was made at the flop by BB, after SB checked.
BB folded after my raise, but SB was quite happy to go on.
I raised the flop because so many people at these limits donk bets their draws as "protection" from higher bets and to keep the pot odds in their favour.
I dont want them to have pot odds. My hand has almost zero chance to improve, but flush and straight draws do and I dont know if I have any showdown value so I am trying to take the pot at the flop.
But that silent guy that check/call the flop didnt fold and he actually donked the turn.
That is the point where I should realise that I am beaten and fold, but I was actually so confused with his move that I call instead of fold.

Not sure if you guys noticed, but it wasnt the same guy donking flop and turn.

When you play a hand like this on the flop your going to get called by hands that have AJ in a rough shape, what your doing is trying to win the pot now because your afraid of being outdrawn. This is a mistake. You have to realize that your opponent's ranges contain all sorts of hands, and when you make a big raise they will fold the weaker hands and sure you will win a small pot but when you raise big and you get called, they are calling with the parts of their range that crush you or are doing well against you. Don't be afraid of being outdrawn its part of the game and it will happen... you just have to learn when to get out of the way when a draw does come in and when to continue.

Your hand here has good Backdoor FD and SD potential.. I would certainly just call IP on the flop and see what develops. Middle pairs and marginal hands can be good when a bit of money goes in the pot, not so good when a-lot of money starts going into the pot, in general.

SB cold calling on the flop is a very strong play because he doesn't know if BB is going to 3-bet the flop yet he has just called 13bb.

Your hand has actually quite a decent chance at improving, backdoor-Flushdraw and backdoor straight-draw potential, you also have an over-card to the board

Agreed with ghaleon and casey.

Pre-Flop - good (although I'm not a 9-man player I assume AJo is good from MP). SB range should be a bit tighter, BB range a bit wider.

Flop - you have a medium strength hand multi-way (meaning it isn't that strong), so you want to play for a smaller size pot. If opponents had checked here, I'm checking back and hoping to improve on the turn. If a brick comes on the turn and it goes check, check, then 2nd pair is probably good and I'm betting.

As played, facing this bet-size, I'm calling and hoping to pick up the FD or SD on the turn. (If you do pick up the straight draw though, you still have to be cautious because it's quite possible villain has 2 pair or a straight now).

Turn - Here's the deciding factors for me:
:spade:You were the aggressor pre-flop and on the flop, and after check-calling a re-raise on the flop he is betting into you.
:heart:The flop hits SB's range quite well.
:diamond:You have 2nd pair and no chance at your draws anymore. <weak>
:club:This is building into a big pot and there is another street to come. <fold>