Betting the nuts

[Aisthesis]

Well, this is a question to which I have no real answer but would like to explore with you guys. It could equally be posted in the cash game section. I'm just putting it here because I'm currently playing more tournaments.

I'll open it up with a statement and an example. Statement: I'm inclined to slowplay these things a lot, and I'm not completely happy with this.

Now an example from a few days ago: I limp with KQ and the flop comes AQQ (2 diamonds, I believe it was, but the suit doesn't really matter). I'm in MP here and just bet out something like 2/3 of the pot, getting one caller. Now comes the clincher!!! The turn is another Q. Ok, no way I can be beat at this point (AQ did worry me a bit with my KQ, but I doubt I could have laid it down, just wasn't sure how hard I was going to play it before the turn). I check, and my opponent bets half the pot. I call. Now the river brings the third flush card. I basically try to sell my hand for about half the pot, which is now pretty decent, and I figured that the A, which I assume my opponent has, will still call that one. What happens? Believe it or not, my opponent moves in, and I obviously call. And even more insane was the fact that this guy was betting his flush on the river!!! With THAT board??? No way I had less than a boat there. Oh, well, I'm not complaining.

Anyhow, in the "the nuts" category I'm pretty much putting any hand where there's no reasonable way to get outdrawn--AXs and you flop the flush, AA or KK and you flop top set with a rainbow board, stuff like that.

I guess what I do like about slowplaying there in tournaments is that you can consistently win a decent amount without risking a fold all the way around. But I do think another option is to sizeably overbet the pot, like double or so--maybe even all-in, although it's just awfully rare that raising to, say, $100 on a $6 pot gets any callers (the rare case that it does might actually be more profitable in the long-run, however).

The more reasonable options in my mind are:

1) checking in the hope that someone will catch up or bluff at it.

2) make a weak-ish bet (1/3 to 1/2 of the pot) with the same intention and allowing possible drawers to stay in while building the pot.

3) bet pot. this to my mind "looks" more like you have a solid hand that needs protecting. On the flop in my example, I would generally assume that someone is betting a hand like AX (including AJ, etc.) rather than the trip queens.

4) sizeably overbet the pot (maybe 1.5 to 2 times pot) in the hope of looking like a bluff. This is certainly a good start on getting someone's whole stack involved IF they take the bait on the flop (in my example, I wasn't sure I had the stone cold nuts until the turn). On a suited board, it might also look more like you have just the A of the suit rather than the made flush, not sure about that. I generally don't do this because I feel like my table image is usually quite tight, and I hate to waste my monster by folding the fiel. But it's probably worth trying against some LAG-ish opponents who like to throw chips around. For a tight player, a bet like that is also "out of character," so there might be a decent chance, I think, that they'll take the bait if they have some kind of hand.

Anyhow, I think which option to choose certainly will have a lot to do with the particular table, but I'd be interested to hear how others approach this kind of thing. One thing worth noting on some of these, while I do call them "the nuts": even if you have AXs on a suited board, a set might play you and CAN realistically outdraw you with the full house. So, you do have some problems in situations like that: Is your opponent calling or raising your bets with a suited connector? Or have you been outdrawn if the board pairs?

Objectively, I wonder whether just sticking with a pot-sized bet shouldn't be the rule rather than the exception. A question that one might also ask (say, with a hand like top set with KK or AA) is: Do you have the deck crippled?

I guess that's really the decisive issue here. If so, maybe indeed check and let the field catch up or bluff. But if it's possible that someone does have a bettable hand (or draw), go ahead and bet pot.