I hate sets - crappy river

[GooperMC]

***** Hand History for Game 3152360782 *****
$25 PL Omaha Hi/Lo - Monday, December 05, 23:36:55 EDT 2005
Table Table 68464 (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 2: IAmABuggyBot ( $33.02 )
Seat 5: pcrastinator ( $19.98 )
Seat 9: davebreal ( $26.78 )
Seat 1: mavres ( $20.25 )
Seat 10: busdecks ( $24.20 )
Seat 6: augelli ( $37.65 )
Seat 3: TheMentalist ( $24.05 )
Seat 8: shag13 ( $7.30 )
Seat 7: brian1964 ( $30.90 )
Seat 4: megamills ( $25 )
IAmABuggyBot posts small blind [$0.10].
TheMentalist posts big blind [$0.25].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to IAmABuggyBot [ Ks 6c Kd 5h ]
pcrastinator folds.
augelli calls [$0.25].
brian1964 calls [$0.25].
shag13 calls [$0.25].
davebreal calls [$0.25].
busdecks calls [$0.25].
mavres calls [$0.25].
IAmABuggyBot calls [$0.15].
TheMentalist checks.
** Dealing Flop ** [ 5s, 2s, Kh ]
IAmABuggyBot checks.
TheMentalist checks.
augelli checks.
brian1964 checks.
shag13 checks.
davebreal checks.
busdecks bets [$0.40].
mavres folds.
IAmABuggyBot calls [$0.40].
TheMentalist calls [$0.40].
augelli folds.
brian1964 folds.
shag13 calls [$0.40].
davebreal folds.
** Dealing Turn ** [ Qd ]
IAmABuggyBot checks.
TheMentalist checks.
shag13 checks.
busdecks bets [$0.50].
IAmABuggyBot raises [$4.95].
>You have options at Table 65322 Table!.
TheMentalist folds.
shag13 is all-In.
busdecks calls [$6.15].
IAmABuggyBot calls [$1.70].
** Dealing River ** [ 6d ]
IAmABuggyBot ???

Opponent was a LAG. Usually he would bet small on the flop then pot any turn if he didn't get raised. Do you like the turn CR? What do you do now?

[Felonius_Monk]

[GooperMC]

[TomG]

[briachek]

I agree with TGoldman, I check raise the flop. If the turn is a bad card, i'll check/fold to a pot bet but if its a good card, I want people to pay the max so I need to build that pot on the flop.

[Kuso]

[GooperMC]

[TomG]

Those are all legitimate concerns for your hand. Revewing your specific hand, I suppose my advice was more a general strategy for how to play top set on a low flop rather than specific advice for you. For your exact situation, with 8 people seeing the flop(!), I still think a check-raise is best here. Unfortunately, a bad result occurred since it was checked around to the cut-off who bet small, the button folds, and now you're next to act. The cut-off's bet was too small and/or there just weren't enough callers in between to get as much of your stack in the middle as you would like. Nonetheless, I don't like smooth-calling because even with your read on the villain I think too many things have to go right for you to be happy-- 1) A safe card arrives and 2) Villain pots the turn (when a safe card arrived). I don't like the chances of that ideal scenerio, nor do I like having someone who bet $0.40 into a $2 pot determine my fate for the hand. So I still think your best play is a check-raise and in this case the maximum. Hopefully a player or two will call in the middle to set the stage for a large turn bet by you. If the cut-off plays back at you, I would just grimmace and push. However, I wouldn't expect that result too often from someone who bet $0.40 into a $2 pot. I agree your hand isn't playing out perfectly, but I still think a check-raise is best considering the circumstances.