[Buzz]

[ QUOTE ]
Buzz, if the turn is raise why wouldn't the river be a clear raise?

[/ QUOTE ]CJS - Good question.

It's not clear after the turn what these guys are drawing for. Could be diamonds or spades, or maybe not. Could be someone is chasing with a non-nut low. Whatever, since they've all put in one bet, they're all probably going to call a raise. (A drawback to raising on the turn is a heavy handed SB might make it a three bets with a six straight or an A-4-X-Y low, which might have the sad effect of eliminating chasers, but I'd take that risk).

By raising on the turn, you set up for a possible conversion of a low only hand to a scooper on the river. If the river card doesn't fit well with anyone's hand, they all probably check to you, and if you have a reasonably solid image, your river bet may take the whole pot.

Raising on the river without the raise on the turn won't scoop the pot for you, especially since SB has bet, BB has raised(!), UTG is all-in (!!), and MP has just called a double bet (!!!).

After the turn it was not as clear that everyone liked their hand this well! But yikes, when the action gets to you on the river, it looks a lot like someone else may also have the nut low! Possibly two or three of your opponents also have the nut low! That was not nearly as evident from the information available to you after the turn.

There's enough in the pot so that I don't think you want to fold on the river, but one can make a very strong case for calling.

Buzz