The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

I hate it when two of the same card comes out on the flop after someone has called my raise. Doesn't matter if I'm already holding a medium pocket pair like 10s, or if I paired the other card on the flop, it seems I get trapped and lose many chips if I play it strongly without making a set. Suppose I'm holding said pockets 10s and I raise, and I get one caller. The flop comes:

J-J-Q.

Now what do you do? If I'm first, I'll lead out with a bet and hope to take it down right there. If I'm called, alarm bells are ringing off in my head. Would someone call your bet with only A-K after this flop? Maybe a horrible player would, but if you're up against someone who knows what they're doing, you have to ask yourself if they're holding A-Q, K-Q, A-J or even worse, Q-J and made a boat. The absolute worst case scenario of course, is if they're holding pocket Jacks or Queens in which case you're up against quads or a full house and you're drawing stone dead. And don't forget the possibility that they're holding Kings or Rockets.

If I hold position and a bet is made, I might raise if I have enough chips to see if they're simply making a continuation bet and hope to take the pot down right away (Each situation is different of course, for example, if I'm against a player who hasn't played a hand in a hour, this is an easy fold). But let me tell you, if I get any more action with the hand, I'm done with it. If they re- raise, I'm dumping those 10s lickety-split. I've made an attempt to take the pot down and it didn't work, so kudos to them if they're bluffing. Instead, I'm going to keep the remainder of my chips and not think about if I'm going to commit the rest of them to this toss-up situation and pick a better opportunity.

Maybe you've had better luck with paired boards, but myself, unless I flop a set or full house, I approach with caution and will readily give it up if I meet any resistance. Why risk all of your chips when it's so easy to be up against a much better hand?