Trips on the flop

[JereLock]

I'm not sure if this situation occurs enough to even warrant a discussion, but how do you deal with a flop of, say, trip sevens if you're not holding a face?
I didn't put a specific hand because I'm searching for a more general answer

[RapidEvolution]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm not sure if this situation occurs enough to even warrant a discussion, but how do you deal with a flop of, say, trip sevens if you're not holding a face?
I didn't put a specific hand because I'm searching for a more general answer

[/ QUOTE ]

Am I holding a 7? lol

Seriously, this depends on a whole bunch of factors including table, position, preflop action, postflop betting and how high the face card is.

The most general response I can come up with is to check/fold and laugh as someone with an ace get pimped by someome who limped in with 66. OR as I watched yesterday, watch KK bet preflop, flop, and shove turn only to lose at the end. Not to a 7, but to someone with A-5 who won when the case 7 hit the river. lol

[metsfan88]

In this spot I usually try to see a turn card for cheap. If I pair one of my cards on the turn, you can usually assume that you have the best hand, but this also depends on reads of the table. If there is a bet on the turn when the turn card is better than my two cards I'd just fold if someone showed any strength.

[PantsOnFire]

Are you saying you start with 87 and flop trip 7s but you are afraid of kicker trouble?

Here is what I look at when I am considering kicker problems:

1. Some hands are more prone to kicker trouble than others. The worst hand is Ax. When an A hits the flop, your first concern is your kicker. Trip aces with weak kicker are also a concern however, it is half the concern given that there is only one A out there.

2. Things change in a raised pot. When there is an early raise, hands like AJ, KQ and KJ can face kicker problems and that's why you usually don't cold call early raises. However, in an unraised pot, now AJ looks a lot better when an A hits the flop.

3. The kicker is also related to what the highest card is on the board. For example you have T9. If it is a raised pot and the board is 9 3 2, you can assume that A9, K9, etc. is less likely. You are really worrying about an overpair in this situation but you are ahead of AK, AQ.

4. When it comes to trips, it is half as likely that your opponent has the same hand as you with a different kicker.

5. You are more likely to have kicker issues in a multiway pot. Although in an unraised pot, lots of players may be on draws. To me, this is a good time to keep the pot small and if somebody hits his draw, then just give up.

6. You also have to look at it from villain's point of view. If the board is paired, and villain has TPTK or an overpair, he is thinking about whether you hit those trips. And he will try to figure out your starting hand to determine how likely it is you are playing that trip card in your hand.

So in your example, say you had 87 and the board was Q 7 7. If it is a raised pot, then you can say that hands like A7, K7 etc. are much less likely. If you get action here, it is more likely to be from AQ or an overpair. If it is an unraised pot, then hands like 97 or A7 are more plausible.

Low trips are probably less likely to run into kicker problems than high trips. For example, if you are playing QJ and the flop is J J 6, then players could very well have KJ or AJ.

When figuring out your kicker troubles, you need to consider what kind of cards villain could be playing that could have you outkicked. Some tight villains never play Arag so you have to be careful when you have Arag.

In general, I worry very little about set over set. I worry quite a lot about top pair, weak kicker. Trips falls somewhere in between and depends on the factors I have discussed.

[PantsOnFire]

[ QUOTE ]
In this spot I usually try to see a turn card for cheap. If I pair one of my cards on the turn, you can usually assume that you have the best hand, but this also depends on reads of the table. If there is a bet on the turn when the turn card is better than my two cards I'd just fold if someone showed any strength.

[/ QUOTE ]
Are you sure you are answering OP here and not some other post?

[Albert Moulton]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm not sure if this situation occurs enough to even warrant a discussion, but how do you deal with a flop of, say, trip sevens if you're not holding a face?
I didn't put a specific hand because I'm searching for a more general answer

[/ QUOTE ]

If the flop is 777 and I don't hold a 7, then I'm very cautious about playing a big pot even if I have AA. I'd just as soon play a small pot vs some lower pair, than get stacked by 78s, especially if the stacks are deep.

I suppose if they're shallow and I'm up against an overly aggressive opponent, I'll get all-in with TT-AA if I think he has a lower pair than I have more often than a 7 or a higher pair.

On the other hand, if I have 7x and the flop is 77y, that is a different story. Is that what you meant? Or did you mean the flop is 777?

[karlwig]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm not sure if this situation occurs enough to even warrant a discussion, but how do you deal with a flop of, say, trip sevens if you're not holding a face?
I didn't put a specific hand because I'm searching for a more general answer

[/ QUOTE ]

If the flop is 777 and I don't hold a 7, then I'm very cautious about playing a big pot even if I have AA. I'd just as soon play a small pot vs some lower pair, than get stacked by 78s, especially if the stacks are deep.

I suppose if they're shallow and I'm up against an overly aggressive opponent, I'll get all-in with TT-AA if I think he has a lower pair than I have more often than a 7 or a higher pair.

On the other hand, if I have 7x and the flop is 77y, that is a different story. Is that what you meant? Or did you mean the flop is 777?

[/ QUOTE ]

ummm... so you're saying that you're afraid of 4 of a kind when you flop the best house possible with pocket AA and a 777 flop? That's the most stupid thing I've ever heard...

[Matt Williams]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm not sure if this situation occurs enough to even warrant a discussion, but how do you deal with a flop of, say, trip sevens if you're not holding a face?
I didn't put a specific hand because I'm searching for a more general answer

[/ QUOTE ]

If the flop is 777 and I don't hold a 7, then I'm very cautious about playing a big pot even if I have AA. I'd just as soon play a small pot vs some lower pair, than get stacked by 78s, especially if the stacks are deep.

I suppose if they're shallow and I'm up against an overly aggressive opponent, I'll get all-in with TT-AA if I think he has a lower pair than I have more often than a 7 or a higher pair.

On the other hand, if I have 7x and the flop is 77y, that is a different story. Is that what you meant? Or did you mean the flop is 777?

[/ QUOTE ]

ummm... so you're saying that you're afraid of 4 of a kind when you flop the best house possible with pocket AA and a 777 flop? That's the most stupid thing I've ever heard...

[/ QUOTE ]

It depends on the game. If it's SS limit and there are 8 seeing the flop, yea I would be worried. If it's heads up, no.

[JereLock]

I meant a flop of 777, but I'm glad I was unclear, because pantsonfire's post was very helpful as well as the others!

[PantsOnFire]

[ QUOTE ]
I meant a flop of 777, but I'm glad I was unclear, because pantsonfire's post was very helpful as well as the others!

[/ QUOTE ]
Against one opponent, the chance of him holding a 7 (on the flop) is 2/47 or 4.3%. That's a pretty low probability. If I had a nice high pocket pair, I would be pretty happy. However, if the effective stack size was deep, I wouldn't go overboard. I'd be looking to bet 1/2 to 2/3 pot as value bets. If the effective stack was short, I would be thinking all-in very soon.

Most of the time, with this sort of board, I would be playing to see who got the better full house. I think mathematically, if you have a good full house here you will make enough profit to cover the times when you lose to quads.

And Albert, I not giving up sevens over aces here very often if ever.