[AlanBostick]

Feedback I'm getting in another forum is that I should have mucked this turkey in the first place. Pat nines play well head-up against someone drawing; multiway they come off a lot worse. If I wanted to play a nine, it should be something like 9-7-smooth or better, where I can open and then see what happens. If I'm against one guy who is likely drawing, then I stand pat; but if its multiway or against a better pat hand I can pitch the nine and draw to a better hand.

I don't want to do that with a 987, of course, because pitching a nine to draw to an eight is generally a money-losing proposition.

One lowball expert suggested betting out after the draw in hopes that the rocky old guys would put me on a good hand and not call with their eights or better nines. This doesn't strike me as good strategy -- lowball river betting is tractable to game theory, and game theory sez I should be betting my stronger hands and a particular fraction of my weakest hands; a rough nine falls in between those ranges, good for stopping bluffs and not much else. It's a hand that wants to see a cheap showdown.