Help getting value

Mlg90

Hi everyone, my first post here, I have been watching the forum and reading for a little while now, I thought it is about time I posted.

I am fairly new to poker, so please excuse any daft questions with obvious answers!

What I am asking is, how would you go about increasing the size of a pot after a big flop, without scaring the other players off.

To explain, I had AJ UTG, I raised 3BBs and two players called.

Then came the flop, AAJ. Clearly I was happy, but in this situation I struggle to make the right decision in order to add value.

I thought that if I go for a decent CB, I am only getting called by another Ace or JJ which I thought was unlikely. I don't want to place a bet that will force them both to fold, but then I don't want to place a bet too small as I want to gain maximum value.

I decided to check-raise. The third player placed a min-bet, I raised half pot, and they both folded.

My question is, how would you play this hand in order to gain maximum value, or do you just put it down to "one of those things."

Again, I apologise if this has some fundamental answer I am missing. I look forward to posting more and learning more from the forum.

Cheers, Matt

Lambert180

It depends on the board but in this case, and I mean no offence here, but check/raising is probably the worst possible thing you can do.

It's tricky because when you smack a flop this hard it's so hard for anyone else to have a piece of it. Sometimes we can check (and just call a bet) if we think checking and showing weakness means they're likely to try bluffing us.

Check/raising looks SUPER strong on this board, like you have a minimum of Ax. That means you're only hope of getting a call is from a decent Ax or JJ and like you said that's very unlikely. If you just cbet then you could have a lot more hands like KQ/KJ/KK/QQ/JT/QT etc so you're more likely to get calls

Mlg90

No offence taken and thanks for the reply.

That definitely clears it up, I suppose you will never get value if your opponents dont have a hand worth betting on and check raising shows them that I do.

hhyftrftdr

Assume you're out of position for the hand? Deffo not check raising, just force out all their bluffs and marginal hands.

Think either option of standard c-betting or checking is fine. With 2 villains, I'd probably lean towards c-betting, but as Lambo says, when we smash a flop it's so hard for anyone else to have something to go to war with.

Unless one of them has a the case A, we're unlikely to get 3 streets of value. Even 2 might be pushing it vs some players. If you do check the flop, probably gonna have to check most/all turns, and maybe give them the noose on the river as well. If you think you can narrow them down to Ax by the river, go for maximum value.

seanallen

I'd normally just bet small, about 1/3rd pot. Think it gets people to put money in with the widest possible range( Ax, Jx, plus all the straight draws, possibly pocket pairs depending on the table/players) You'll be able to make up for the value you miss versus Ax later on in the hand a lot of the time. I find it serves the purpose of building the pot a little at the same time as giving people a bit of a chance to catch up, turn a pair/ flush draw/ straight, plus there will be a few gin cards in the deck a lot of the time where we can potentially play for stacks on later streets. 

Slipwater

Your c bet (assuming it ain't too large) will probably be called by any ace, any jack, KQ, Q10, and most pairs... at least for one street, so you'd probably get a few chips out of a lot of cards. But after that, you'll be lucky to get much more.

PuppetJack

I had the exact same thing happen earier ( only with KQ. 
I was OOP so I checked on the flop - villain checked behind, then i fired a delayed cBet on the Turn, which got raisd :-)

now I was faced with two options 

option 1 - check raise & continue with strength on the river, (unlikely they wouldnt check behind imo)

option 2 - call the re-raise then either lead on the river & see what occurs or try to feign weakness & check, hoping they don't check behind. 

I went for option 1. - the villain folded shortly after.

j3ono

Hi matt

More info needed really, but a lot to do with image this hand some players I can name a few, won't be given credit for hitting this flop hard. They will get called alot of the time when c betting others we all fold. Best tip work on an image and crush.

Run good

Jon