Betting into a dry side pot.

[Tankker]

So this hand came up the other day in the fallsview 5-5 game. I played terrible the whole time I was there, but this one hand especially has me wondering if I could have done better. In the future I won't play live poker when hungover.

Me and main villian have around $500. Villian 2 has around $140.

Preflop I call 2nd in with 45dd from mp. CO calls, Button ($180) makes it $25 all call. (ignore fold preflop, its live).

Flop comes A29 with 2 diamonds, Because of the short stack of the button I decide to CRAI instead of B3B, so I check, co checks, button makes it like $60 ep limper folds and I make it ~160. Co COLD CALLS!. So at this point im pretty much done with the hand and semi bluffing unless I catch a 3. Button calls.

On the turn a 2nd ace hits and it goes check check. On the river i get the 3 of diamonds giving me the straight flush on the paired board.

I am first to act and I have about the pot left in my stack. How much do you bet?

I think i got the stack sizes and pot off by just a little here since it was 2 weeks ago, however the situation and the relative size is all right. Basically your opponent should be quite strong, you have the nuts, but there is an empty side pot. Did I make a mistake checking the turn? I was afraid of him raising all in and having me drawing to 1 out.

[gir]

No, turn was fine. Don't bluff a dry side pot.
Shove river.

Nh.

[berserk]

Turn bet would be awful. River is a shove.

[Tankker]

Is it really that simple that this is a push? I thought so to and thats what I did. Villian literally yelled at me for being an idiot, folded, then lectured me for 10 minutes about what a bad bet that was, then he left the game to go play $2-5 $200. A winning player to my right thought it was the right play, and so did I, and I guess we were right. Who likes betting $50 here?

[NOSUP4U]

The term 'don't bluff a dry side pot' is generally applies when you are deep in a tourney and the players both have someone else all in. Even then a lot of players will still bluff the sidepot. But anyway, it certainly doesn't apply to cash game.

In this case though, there is no point in betting the turn, because your 5 high certainly can't beat the player who is all in, so there is no point in pushing the other player off a better hand than you. If you had say AJ and the board was Q932 and you put the other guy on something like 88, then you definitely could bet the turn to fold out a better hand, because your A high could be good vs the all in guy.

Mark