just wanted everyone's opinon on this hand.

1/2 NL prima
opponent and i both have $200

opponent recently sat down. I've never played with him before in my life.


i'm dealt [3h] on the button. MP guy raises to $6. bunch of callers...i hop along for the ride.

FLOP $30
[4h][9d]

Everyone checks to me. Well..i'm not shy about betting. I bet $20. only the EP guys calls (he didn't rase preflop.)

TURN $70
[4h][9d][5h]

nice card! i have a flush with an straight flush draw. I bet $40..he calls. hmm...

RIVER $150
Kh][4h][9d][5h][5c]

I don't like that river card. Opponent thinks and thinks...bets $70. I think and call. i have 3-1 odds and i like my hand.

he shows JQo and i win.

What do you guys think of my play throughout the hand? I guess the river is the most important aspect.

BTW..before i read supersystem...i wouldn't call this hand preflop..let alone bet on the flop. thanks doyle.

Unless the raiser and/or some of the caller are very deep I dont like the preflop call. A suited connector would be much better, but 63s is worse than junk.

You know you got lucky to be playing a moron, which is why you posted.

I disagree. a hand like [3h] can easily bust a stack if it hits. No one sees 63 coming...or 42 or 53.... thats why doyle loves those cards. The little straights and two pairs they make are lethal to big cards. I'm sure Mad Genius would agree with me here. (of course MG quit poker..so maybe that says something LOL. )

The other thing is I can play flop and post-lop better then the other players. May sound arrogant...but it's true. Hell, if the crazy european didn't call...i probably would have taken the pot right there on the flop with my legit looking bet.

I wouldn't recommend anyone playing these cards on lower limits however. One must be real careful on all limits with these...but on lowerlimits there are so many calling stations it makes more sense just to go with the good hands.

Why don't you like the river card? I would like that river card very much. If you were ahead on the turn you are ahead now.

On this type of draw-heavy board almost nobody is slowplaying a set. Especially not with this many people in. And especially not because there are several players left to act after him. Besides, we can eliminate KK meaning the only two sets he can have are 99 and 44 (let's assume he didn't call the flop with 55). I would expect almost everyone to checkraise their set here.

When he smooth-calls you have to put him on one of two hands - either a weak King (KT-KQ), or a draw. When the flush card hits and he again calls your bet, I would no longer include a King in his range of hands - he's almost always on a flush now. When he bets $70 on that river, it's usually gonna be a bet that's asking for a call - I would fold without a read. What other hand could he have? Not many players call off big bets with gutshots, and looking at the action through the turn we can usually eliminate everything else by then.

And one other thing. I don't like to play [3h] in 5-way pots. The reason why is that even when you make your flush you are always gonna be afraid of a bigger flush such as in a case like this. Bottom two really isn't strong 5-way and could easily be beat by higher two pair or be counterfeited when the board pairs. Trips aren't that great because it lacks deception. The little straight is really the only thing that you can make and feel very good about your hand. I think this type of hand does play VERY well headsup or even 3-way though, especially if you are the preflop aggressor.

Doyle likes these hands because when he takes a stack, its a MONSTER stack. He plays unlimited buy in NL, not the game we play.

He can raise someone off an overpair when they facing a $50,000 raise and they know Doyle has another $400,000 behind.

Besides, a suited connectoris one thing , but a suited 2 gapper? Come on Kenny. You know youre going to bleed alot of chips with that cheese.