O8: buying the button
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• KhKd9c (pair higher than side card, rainbow, no low)
Hero was in the cut-off seat (one seat in front of the button) holding AKQJ with two spades.
Tricky Tony had posted the single blind. Two players in front of Hero limped. Hero limped too, as did Rick the Rock on the button. Thus five saw the flop for one small bet each.
Tony bet the KhKd9c flop, Sydney Sly called, and the next player folded. It was Hero’s turn to act.
How do you play here?
Hero raised.
Why? Several reasons: (1) Hero wanted Rick the Rock to fold in order to have position for the last two betting rounds. (2) Although either Tony or Sydney could already have a full house, Hero had a good drawing hand (and trip kings with an ace kicker if nobody made a better hand than trip kings. If Rick wanted to stay in the hand, let it be expensive. (3) Since Hero figured to scoop here a bit more often than one out of three, only two callers were needed for Hero to have favorable fresh money odds. Both players who had already contributed one bet this round were fully expected to call but not re-raise.
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I don't understand this raise. If Rick the Rock has a hand (let's say a Kxxx or a 99xx), he's not folding. Otherwise, he's dead money. A hand like AAxx has one out. A hand like QJTx has 3 Ts. Do we really want to discourage dead money from calling here?
It seems as though our raise will only drive out hands we can beat, or charge us a couple of extra bets to chase hands that beat us. Are we worried about runner-runner flush draws? Are we trying to define hands while it is still a cheap bet?
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