I had a big night last night. This hand I took a guy's stack but I almost took very little by being aggressive early. Feel like I could have gotten more by playing it slow, but I've learned on these forums never to play slow.

So ... is this a rare occasion when a slowplay would have been the thing to do?

10c/20c NL at Gaming Club as usual.

I'm in the BB with 99. EP raises to 80c (4x the BB), MP1 calls, MP2 re-raises the min to $1.40. SB folds. I decide to call. EP and MP1 call.

No particular reads on anybody. I haven't played much with these guys, I don't have PT, and I'm 4-tabling for the first time so there's too much action to take in.

We're 4-way to the flop with a pot of $5.40 after the rake.

Flop is J 9 5 rainbow -- hit my set!!

I am out of position, of course. I initially want to check and let the preflop raisers be aggressive at it, but I would be pissed if it checked around. I think and then bet $4 into the pot. EP & MP1 fold instantly. MP2 thinks and thinks and thinks and calls. He has about $13 left.

Turn is a K. I bet another $4. He raises to $8. I put him all-in, he calls.

He shows AK and I take the pot.

So, good result. Any time you get a full stack it's a pretty good result. But I feel like I could have let the other players build the pot for me because of the two preflop raisers, so maybe I get even more by checking? Also, I'm sure the PF raiser was on the verge of folding the flop with his unimproved AK, and giving me a very small pot, which would have sucked.

So. Would this be a place to check the flop? Check-raise or check-call a decent bet?

Or was my bet on the flop the thing that made the preflop raiser NOT put me on a set, so he was willing to drop his stack with TPTK?

Help me think about this, please. Thanks a lot!

Leading into the raiser is one of the trickiest things you can do. Almost nobody does it with a set. You should take note of anyone you see do it, because if that person does it to you,you can get away without losing your stack with an overpair.

In this case, the guy shouldve folded his unimproved AK, but most low limit players will never do that.

Back to the hand. I lead into the raiser alot with a set (but usually not full pot)

Alot depends on where you are in relation to the raiser and who is in between you and him. In this case, I wouldve bet about half pot, hoping that someone in between you and the raiser would put some money in the pot before the preflop raiser raises the flop.

Now in this case, the preflop raiser had AK so he wouldnt have raised the flop, but you lead into him knowing that theres a good chance he has an overpair and will raise your bet.

If you check,it will most likely get checked to the raiser (no dead money in between you and raiser). If the raiser then bets, and you raise, then the people in between can get out too easily.

Does that make any sense?

Ice is right on here but one the thing he failed to mention. Why not slow play here? This is just about as a harmless board as you can ask for? I dont agree that you should never slow play, but you do need to know when you can do it, and when you have to fold when it bites you in the ass. Pretty much the only hand that really scares you here is Q/10 or 8/10. Its a pretty good chance that the preflop raiser is not playing either of these hands. There are two other options, either they have a PP JJ is really bad but if thats the case you are going tose your stack and chalk it up to bad luck. Other than that he is playing big cards AK, AQ, AJ, etc... or a big pair AA KK QQ 1010. If he is playing big cards he is drawing to running broadway cards to beat your set with a straight. You want him to catch a pair, cause than he is drawing dead, plus there is a good chance that he will take a stab at the pot with big cards with a very ragged flop. The second option is the a big PP if he has a big pair he is drawing at 2 outs or a running straight and is going to love this board. The point here is that if your opponant has AA KK or QQ you are most likely going to get his whole stack if you check plus you may get some extra dead money when you check raise. If your opponant has two over cards and you bet the correct play is he folds, you got lucky that he is a bad player and called a bet he should have folded to. If you check here he takes a stab at the pot, hopefully someone else calls you raise and get extra money you wouldnt have gotten before. There are not likel to be strong draws out there with this board. Chances are anyone who had a pp bigger than 9 would be betting here so it is unlikely that you are going to be drawin by somoone catching a set of AA KK QQ if one hits on the turn. Wow that tuned into a book.

If the preflop raiser is good, youre not going to get his stack if you check (if he has an overpair like you mentioned). If you check he will bet and you will call.

He then will either check behind you at the turn or river because he knows there are no real draws and will be afraid of whatever youre calling him with on a non draw board.

The pot will be kept smaller and you'll get 1/3 to 1/2 his stack.

When you lead into him he wil raise which immediately makes the pot bigger so he has to bet more at the turn. Then you can check raise him and pot commit him.