$50 PLO on UB as usual. My stack: $80. I'm SB with [Qd][6h][2s]. It's an unraised pot with 7 callers, so I complete my blind.

Flop: [7s][4h].

This was a table full of chasing calling stations, so I figured that betting out here would leave me with 5 people in the hand. Therefore I attempted a checkraise. However, it got checked around.

Turn: .

Not the best card, but I'm still ahead most likely. I bet out the pot ($4.50). EP player (stack $60), who is not exceptionally tricky, raises to $12. One MP player with a $25 stack goes allin, and now it is back to you. What do you do?

My problem here is that I don't know whether EP has weak aces (in which case he would definitely have limped in) and has me drawing dead or whether he has a huge draw. If he had a small stack I'd push and let fate decide.

Am I right that this is a push or fold situation? If I call, then he can still reraise and I have the same problem. Moreover, if he calls, then I don't know what to do on the river, being out of position.

So I folded, figuring that there would be less risky opportunities. Turned out that MP had a set of 4s with the straight draw and that EP had both flush draws.

Any ideas?

Pieter

Well, your hand is not very strong at all - and you hit it - with essentially no redraws on the flop. This is one of those situations where giving a free card is very bad - even though you may not have 50% equity in the pot. On the flop - you need to bet out the pot to knock people out or at least charge them for being there. On the turn - you would probably bet out again because the AAxx hand should've gotten out of the way at that point.

However, given the way it was played, I probably would've called anyway. Even if you are behind (and that is not a guarantee), I suspect you have the redraw to the 2nd nut flush as a live draw. I'd say you are probably better than 2:1 to have the best hand at the moment, and on the times you don't have it, you can improve about 1 in 5 times.

Folding definitely isn't a bad move since you don't know where you are - especially with 2 flush draws out. I'd probably call here and assume that my opponents were overbetting their hands because everyone checked the flop.

The solution of course is to make sure you bet your hand on the flop. If you don't think that is the right move - tell me which cards you are happy to see for both the turn and the river.

/d

I agree with star. I would have bet the flop.

However, on the turn, I think you can make a case for folding, calling and raising. Since I would have bet the flop, I was gonna be the aggressor on the turn. Assuming you check the flop, I put the MP on a lower set because he didn't show any aggression so it hard to put him on AAxx (unless you've seen him play this way). He checked the flop since he's wary of playing low sets, no one shows interest which tells him his set is likely good. I probably would have called on the turn or raised if I felt that the MP would come with me. What the river is determines my play but since you say that the MP wasn't tricky, I don't see him likely raising like that with a flush draw so you can value bet the river to get a decent side pot in case the all in player made the flush.

What was the river?

I disagree with both of you in that I think that checkraising is fine on this flop, unless it is a tight passive game where bets on draws are very unlikely. This is an action flop and if someone bets you can make a sizeable raise that will push mediocre draws out of the hand and get more of your stack in the middle on the early streets. Betting out is fine also, though, so in that respect I agree - a free card would suck here.

On the turn, with minimal money invested in the pot, I would raise or fold. But seriously, do you expect a cut and dry answer here? It's easy to look for a quick "play hand X in situation Z in this way" solutions to poker problems but cases like this are very situational and depend greatly on your reads of the opponent and the situation. I think it would be misleading for me to attempt to give any sort of answer, and kinda missing the point too - considerations you need to be thinking about include:

a) How loose the all-in raiser is - would he make this move with less than the nuts?
b) How loose the EP player is - will he call off his stack here with a marginal draw (i.e. if you're behind the AA from the all in player, can you make your money back in the sidepot if EP calls and misses a draw?)
c) What are the implications of you taking a marginal gamble here in future hands, if you win/lose?
d) How good is my read here, on either player?

If your read on either player was minimal (often the case for me because I play multiable tables) then I would probably lean towards acting on my gut feeling and fold. I agree with you in that it is a high risk situation (even if you're ahead there's liable to be a whole world of cards that kill you), and I would also suspect that a low set would've bet on the flop, making that hand less likely... So, most likely youre up against a monster draw or a set that cripples you.

I would likely have ignored my gut feeling, called, and lost to the set of aces