Been at the table about five hands. 1/2 about 200bb deep all round. It’s in the afternoon so people are decent and not drunk. A lot of the people playing at my table are waiting for the 2/5 to start.

I am in MP with AsQd. One limper in front of me. I make it 12. Young guy who is pretty relaxed and familiar with everyone calls in position, SB calls and he limper calls.

Flop Ac7c8c

SB checks
Limper checks
HERO ?

I actually think i check back here. Lets say u bet 30, if they are any good theyd see through that as a bet to protect your ace & reraise you with all of their range, whether they flopped it or if they have air.

I'm betting this and with ~$43 in the pot, $30 seems about right. You likely have the best hand and I don't think you are always facing a raise from AsXx hands you beat especially from the young guy in poor relative position. We want to fold out lower flush draws here that can't continue but have decent equity if they have the highest spade. I bet you rarely ever see anyone raising you with air here.

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Bet/fold 32 into 38.

A lot of the time they just fold. Its hard for them to check/raise bluff with air in this spot with 3 people in the hand.

There are also a lot of worse hands than ours that will call. If we get a call, we're definitely going for only 2 streets of value.

If you check this board back vs two unknowns, you'll find yourself in some odd positions not knowing what to do.

Just to clarify some stuff as it looks like my explanation didn’t do the job well. The young guy has position on me. There are 4 people in the pot inc me.

Bet/fold 40 into 50 even against 3 people.

Can you explain your logic? Thoughts on different streets

You need to bet to deny equity. Since that's the main goal of the bet, I think Nogyong's suggested sizing is way too large. Usually sizing should be big on drawish boards, but this board isn't actually that drawish in a practical sense, since while there are a lot of draws that could beat your holding, very few of them are good enough to call a bet. Talking about stuff like 3c3 and T9dd. You need to bet like 30 into 50 or so to make those hands fold. Betting more just increases the size of the pot in a spot where you don't really want to do that, imo.

I think ChrisV is spliiting hairs regarding the bet sizing. But he has a valid point about not wanting to bloat the pot.

Frankly, I could get behind a bet of anywhere between 20~40 into 50 on this flop (or on a paired board). If they don't have an A or a high club a lot of them will be turbo-mucking on this board. And the 87 on the board means if we check back the flop someone could easily pick up a straight draw on the turn. A bet of 40 just makes it a little harder for someone to call light.

They're not likely to bluff raise into 3 other players on this board anyway. The exception is the limper. If you bet only 20 and it folds around to him and he has AxJc or KcXx, this is a good spot to put in a check-raise and hero will have to fold (our hand can't withstand a multibarrel bluff).

Ok, thanks for the responses so far everyone. I think the point about the board being not great for 9Tdd is good. A deep analysis of the board there so thank you. I bet 27 into the pot. The young guy in position called fast, Sb folds and the limper folds. Turn card is 2d. The action is on me.

HERO ?

Bet/fold 60 into 104.

If he calls there will be 224 in the pot and we will have 300 remaining in stacks.

Glad we bet only 27 instead of 40.

I still think we likely have the best hand. Villain likely has:

a) an ace with a worse kicker which happens to be a club;
b) an 8 with a club or TT/99 with a club;
c) a hand with the K or Q of club; or
d) a monster like a made flush or a set

If we bet he'll often call with A, fold with both B and C and he'll raise about half the time with D.

If we check, some villains will bet with almost all their range and we'll be capping our own range by calling (which practically turns our hand face up and announces that we can't call a large river bet).

My plan is to check the river and fold to a large bet or call a small bet subject to reads.

If I have any reason to believe he's passive I'll check the turn but most young guys know they're supposed to play aggressive.

Nice. I think this is what I was missing in my thinking. I check called 60 and check folded Js river to 126 bet.

I think I needed to hold the belief in my own hand instead of give in to the pressure of the board + oop situation.

Thanks

The way you played it was fine against a lot of players.

They will often bet the turn and then give up on the river with worse hands.

If you're a tight player, there is a lot to be said for the standard raise pre-flop, bet, bet line (subject to the run out and stack sizes). It's often scary for a loose player to call you down (even with top pair they have to worry about being outkicked etc..)

It often won't work but it tends to be a solid line to take over time.