How to Play Suited Connectors After Flopping a Draw in a Multi-Way Pot
DECISION POINT: In a no-limit hold'em tournament, a middle position player raises and three players call. With 3♠4♠ in the small blind you call as well, and the big blind folds. The flop comes 2♣3♦5♠. Action is on you...
PRO ANSWER: We have relative position in this pot, which means that the preflop raiser is directly to our left. If we check and the player makes a continuation bet, we get to see what the entire table does before we act.
This has the benefit of allowing us sometimes to get away from hands we might not otherwise get away from if we were to lead out with our draw into this multi-way pot. In addition, we can sometimes win additional chips from calls behind the c-bettor. If we check and Villain bets 4,000 or 5,000, we might get a caller or two behind before we act.
Overall, this is a great spot for us to check and often check-raise all in against a c-bet.
By check-raising this flop, we maximize fold equity against Villain's range. Check-raising allows us to get the last bet in without using any awkward or unusual bet-sizing.
In addition, our hand has lots of equity against any Villain's calling range. This makes our hand a great candidate to semi-bluff the flop.
Checking with the intention of often check-raising is the best play.
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