Flush vs flush

[Sinnerman]

I was wondering when you play SC, you look to hit your 2 pair, straight or flush.
When you do hit your flush, should you go all the way with it, not fearing a Axs flush?
What I mean is, if you hit a flush with SC, is it wrong to lay it down to a possible higher flush?

Or is it like the set over set deal, bad luck for one, get over it.

[basementproject]

Generally, you want to play the hand in a fashion that will help you figure out what your opp has. For instance, if you flop 2 flushcards on board and maybe pair up, fire out a cbet and see how villain responds.

Coldcall could indicate a draw. If the 5th flush card hits, fire out another bet. See how villain reacts. Obviously, if he comes over the top, you can confirm he was on a draw.

Judging wether or not the flush is bigger than yours is pretty difficult. My only advice is that players holding the nut flush, facing a consistent bettor (you at this point), will probably not push over the top, as they feel they'd get more cash if they just let you do the betting.

Keep in mind that the odds of two players hitting a flush on board is very slim, any way you put it. One thing to watch out for is players drawing to 4-flushes with the nut flushcard in hand. Talk about rivered.

A good way to avoid being put into this situation is by not playing small suited connectors very much. Usually I'm folding anything under 8-9 unless I'm on the button and opps' betting patterns warrant a raise (aka i can steal easily).

[McGrain]

3 flush and 4 flush are different prospects of course.

If I have a three flush I play like i've got it even if i've limped in from the BB with 23 - i play like i've won the hand, and will only slow dpown if a fourth suited card hits.

With a four flush if i've got no read on the villian I will do everything in my power to keep the pot small if i've got something small. I will play it by read if I have one.

[Johnny Hughes]

It is easier to get away from a flush in no-limit. The flush cards on the board scare everyone so if someone raises, they probably have a higher flush. the flush cards slow down all the hands you can beat and speed up the other flushs. You shouldn't be drawing to sucker flushs in the first place. There are two types of made flushs..nut flushes, and sucker flushes.

[PantsOnFire]

Flush over flush happens rarely enough that if you are laying down low flushes, you are probably giving away profits. I would need a reason to lay down a low flush.

Let's look at some scenarios. While some players like to play any two suited like K7s or Q5s, most will play Axs. Normal players will throw away Kxs and below. If a guy comes in for a raise, it is likely not Kxs and below and is likely not the low side of Axs. It is more likely ATs-AKs. So this means the guy who raises is less likely to have a wide range of higher suited cards that could beat your flush. Also, this guy will be betting his good cards like KK or TPTK when the board is two suited. And lots of players will continue to bet these hands even when the third flush card hits. In these cases, I am going all the way with my small flush.

A limped multiway pot is a little more dangerous. Here we can get the guys with a variety of Axs as well as some Kxs and even Qxs. In these types of pots, players are much more wary of the three flush and will likely only be hanging around if the have a set, a straight or a better flush. The odds of getting over-flushed are greater but there are still other hands that are hoping nobody has a flush.

Now consider the odds. You have two flush cards and three are on board. That leaves only 8 other flush cards out there. So the odds of one guy having two of them is fairly low.

I am much more wary when there are three flush cards but the board is paired. Most guys don't play crazy with their flush with a paired board (there are always exceptions).

The last thing to consider is the effective stack size. If the pot is fairly small relative to your stack and your opponent goes all-in, it is much easier to get away if losing that pot won't hurt you. If you have a significant amount of your chips in the pot, then I would go all the way.

I consider flush over flush to be very similar to set over set or being pushed all-in pf holding KK. I would only fold these situations if I had an expert read (not likely) or if ratio of the size of the all-in (or bet) to the size of the pot was very large. Not many players would make such a huge overbet on a non-paired three flush board without an A or K high flush.

I was in a tourney the other day and called a limped pot with 98s in the small blind. I flopped a flush draw and bet out the flop. I got one caller and caught the flush on the turn and bet out again and got called. The river was a brick and I was deciding now if this guy also had a flush. I made a defensive bet of about a third of the pot the guy called and turned over the K high flush. I would have had a tough decision if he put me all-in. But in this case, I think my play slowed him down since he probably feared the A high flush.

[Johnny Hughes]

I ran into flush over flush several times in the last year or so. It is more frequent than set over set. It can be Qx or Jx. The first night I met Tennessee Longoodie, nearly fifty years ago, he loaned me money to play him heads up. I got off good winner. On the last hand I had a 10 high backdoored flush to his J high backdoored flush with no high clubs on the board. You need to put the breaks on when your opponent shows strengh if your flush is weak.

Johnny Hughes