Blind steal #1
 

This is probably the weakest part of my game. I tend to be either too aggressive and go too far in these situations or play it too weak. I need to get some balance.

I have a tight image.

I open raise on the button with 9hTh and only the BB calls. The BB seems to be a good player. He is selective preflop, but seems a bit overly aggressive with some of his raises. I have seen him Iso raise an EP player with 7h8h in the cutoff. He almost always open raises from MP or LP if folded to him. I have only been playing for an hour so I don't have any great reads. He seems to be taking down a lot of pots with out a showdown.

The flop: QdQc4h

He checks, I bet, he raises. I am curious to here your thoughts on how to play the rest of this hand. Is this simply an easy fold and move on type of situation? Do we call and hope to improve? Do we three bet and try to bully him out of the pot? If I decide to call and pick up a flush or straight draw would this be the right place to semibluff raise? If I three bet and he just called the flop, do I bet the rest of the way assuming nothing scary comes off?

What if this guy was a LAG? I would think that just calling here would be the right play since he could have a wide range of hands and all my outs could be live including backdoor possibilities. Three betting would just be spew against a player like this.

What if I didn't have the backdoor flush draw?

I would love to hear your comments regarding all aspects of this hand.

Thanks

Re: Blind steal #1
 

By the way this is a 9 handed 20-40 live game.

Re: Blind steal #1
 

I don't rate the backdoor flush draw as much of a consideration, really. It's a paired board and even though you often have 6 outs when he's c/r a hand like A4, you could also be in worse shape. I think this is one of those hands where you have to just fold right away and move on to the next hand.

If it was a weak player you thought you could outplay later, you could consider calling and then raising a lot of turn cards, especially those giving you a good draw (the Jh would be a good card for you) -- on a semi-bluff with a raise that has some fold equity (i.e. now you've represented a Q well).

Re: Blind steal #1
 

if u've been tight for a while and haven't got out of line yet, this would be a good time to do so. I would call and raise some cards (J/A-K, possibly a low heart too).

I guess I would call a turn 9/T and call his river bet or bet if checked to.