1/2NL: 99 flops overpair in straddled pot, line check

Very poor play, all things considered:

1) Pre: You should never open-limp, but you should especially never open-limp a hand as strong as 99. You should be coming in with a raise 100% of the time with this hand.

2) Flop play seems fine, I guess. You have a decent hand that could be best, but it’s one that needs a lot of protection. Denying equity with a check-raise is probably the best way to do it. I think your sizing should be larger, but this might be okay with your specific over-pair on a rainbow board.

3) Your comments on the Turn are strange. You say you’re putting CO on a straight draw. That seems plausible. Okay. The flop was 873. The only straight draws are T9, 96 and 65….and you have two 9s in your hand, making the first two much less likely. So if you think he has an OESD, the likeliest OESD he could have is 65….which just made the nuts on the 4 Turn. So are you betting $120 to fold to a raise? Or are you seeking value from his T9/96 holdings?

What you should actually be thinking—when you hold 99 on an 873 flop—is that it is extremely unlikely that your opponents have straight draws, because you have two of the cards they need for the likeliest straight draws. You should weigh their range more strongly to top pair, two-pair, and set-type of hands. Now, if you had QQ on this board, then it’s entirely reasonable to assume they have straight draws…but not when you have 99.

I’m not entirely sure we should be betting the Turn against two players. You check-raised the flop with one of your very worst value hands and got called by two players and a card that completes an OESD just hit. You aren’t going to have the best hand very often. CO still has all the overpairs, Button has all the two-pairs. This isn’t a spot where you want to shovel money in—you’re gonna be value-cutting a lot. But I suppose bet-folding small isn’t terrible—we do want to deny equity to random overcard hands Buttom could have (an A5ss/JTss that had a backdoor flush draw or something)

4) When both players call your Turn bet you should be hearing the Kill Bill sirens: “I do not have the best hand!” You have the worst overpair and are blocking both missed draws! It is almost impossible to come up with two hands you are beating here! If you, I honestly don’t know what you would be trying to accomplish. Are you considering turning your hand into a bluff, trying to get CO to fold an overpair? Or would it be a shove for value, hoping to get called by an 8? (Which of these V’s do you think has an 8?)

Welcome to the forum, OP. Please don't include results until discussion dies down, or at least 24 hours after the first post, whichever is later. Results bias people's advice. I edited them out, and won't comment on river, since I saw them.

Pre: limp/call with 99 is iffy, though I can see pot/control attempts since you are UTG in a splashy game. I still prefer coming in for a raise, though, especially as you are deep enough that you probably will have trouble getting stacks in if you hit a set.

Flop: Don't hate a c/r with a hand that is likely best, to deny equity on a wettish board, but it's a one-and-done in most cases.

Turn: CO was the open raiser. Why do you put him on a SD? If BTN has ATC, no need to protect. This is probably a c/c, imo. If I were going to bet, this small sizing that also sets up a really easy river shove (implied, to threaten Vs, not actually something I'd actually do unless we river a set) is pretty good, imo, though it might be small enough to induce a bluff, an dour hand isn't really strong enough to call a raise, so I prefer the check/eval rout, with a call being the most likely.

River I won't comment on, except to note that we counterfeited 78 and to point to my turn plan above..

As I mentioned, leaving

Huh. Preflop doesn't look great, but if you want to have a limping range with this dynamic and you want to fit 99 in there, OK. Not as problematic as later streets.

Why the flop c/r? 99 on 873r three ways OOP isn't really a hand you should be looking to get stacks in with, and that's what you're doing with the c/r. Laggy players are allowed to make big hands too. This looks like a good spot to donk into the PFR. Probably looking to c/c once you check.

Turn is not a great card. 65 was the most likely draw as you block T9, and 65 just got there. Normally this would just be a c/f. If one or both villains are as erratic as you say... eh, OK.

River is 100% a check to induce when you put CO on a (missed?) draw and BTN on ATC.

Yeah, you definitely played it incredibly splashy.

You basically overplayed your hand and turned it into a bluff, but hopefully it worked out.

You shouldn't be doing that with a med PP for over 300 bb's, I would just call the flop and also you shouldn't be putting people on one particular hand. Straight draws are certainly possible but so are a lot of other hands, including hands that beat you.

Yea I can see how this is not played well looking back. My plan on the flop was to attempt to isolate 1 of the players - the CO was C-Betting every flop and the button calls any bets with any pair. My image at the table was seen as tight because I was strictly not playing garbage hands like half the table. I was attempting to rep a set by betting strong and trying to get folds. I put the CO on a straight draw by their live-tells - my check raise got them visibly flustered/annoyed, my big turn bet also got him visibly frustrated, all of which did not seem like acting in the slightest. I had been playing against these players for many hours and felt confident in these reads. All of this action was to set up a river shove, regardless of what overcard came out and how I played the hand thus far (representing 77 or 88). Still, I do believe I overplayed my hand in most scenarios, but this particular time against these 2 players I put real thought into the decisions, not just betting and hoping as it may seem. Thank you for the input - much appreciated!

My first post on here, apologies and thank you for taking the time to edit them out. I put him on a SD purely from his live-tells after my check-raise and large bet leading the turn. I was folding to a shove/big raise, but in this case the player was visibly frustrated both on the flop and turn, in which it seemed incredibly unlikely that they would be acting. I do block T9 but after he flatted the turn with another player behind I was confident he was still drawing and not slow-playing. My flop and turn play was setting up a river shove to represent a flopped set, although looking back that was incredibly reckless considering 56 did get there and I would not play this way against most opponents/similar scenarios with this weak of a hand. Thank you for the input!

A straddle is a blind, so you calling 5 is a limp. Don't limp. Pick a raise size and raise all your hands to that size. I like $15.

You should have a plan for your hand starting preflop. You have 140 straddles. That means you can open raise and probably even call a 3bet hoping to hit a set. You can do some bluff catching with 99 heads up. But limp calling and then planning to check raise flop multiway when you have he weakest over pair looking to get in 140 straddles is not a profitable plan. In that scenario, when 99 is an over pair, when all the money goes in, it usually isn't good.

Your post doesn't make sense. You are putting the two villains on a draw and any two, then why do you need to represent a set? The fact of the matter is you have a decent hand on the flop. After the preflop raiser check calls flop and turn, it is more and more likely they don't just have any two cards.

Looking at you hand street by street:

Preflop don't limp.

Flop raise is too thin. You have horrible equity against the hands that CO can have you crushed with, but are way ahead of his bluffs. Would rather check raise 2p and sets, and if you really want to bluff, straight draws at least have equity against overpairs. Or a hand like middle pair with a backdoor straight draw also has equity vs the check call range. But honestly, multiway just don't plan on making a ton of bluffs or thin value raises. Raise 2p+ and save bluffing for heads up pots.

Turn you should not bet 1/3 after a huge flop check raise.

River I guess we check and see what happens, I would probably fold to a jam. But I would never get to the river like this. I think your main take away should be that if you don't butcher pre, flop, and turn like this, you never have to worry about what to do on the river.