Troublesome Trips

OK so I am dealt 7c8c in BB and get to see a free flop. Flop is Qd 8d 8s. In this situation I have a hard time handling my trips. If I check I risk letting draws complete. If I bet and are called I am immediately suspicious because "OMG they slowplay so much!" If I bet and are raised, then I am put to a difficult decision - should this be a difficult decision? How does the situation change against different #'s of opponents? Does it change if I am in position since I would still be unsure if they c/c or c/r? I now try to avoid betting when I would have a hard time deciding what to do if raised, but it also feels wrong to check this hand.

Bet, bet, bet. If you get raised, consider the competance of the other player but be prepared to get it all in most of the time. Sometimes if you get raised you might look for a cheap showdown. Don't check your good hands, you want to extract value from the players who don't believe you have them. Play trips like thay are a good hand, confidently.

Lead out and hit anyone playing back at you with a big reraise. QQ/8X higher kicker are all that beat you here. You have to play trips fast.

I'm going to play the devil's advocate here. I bet them most of the time, but sometimes it's good to slowplay here.

If the draws get a free card and the turn is a blank (most of the time), you're bet here might look like a steal to any kind of made hand. Besides, trips has good redraws. If the draw makes it, they might let you in cheap enough with turn v-bets so you can draw to your ten outs on the river.

Also, this kind of thing happens a lot from the blinds, since you get in on any two, and most of the time these flops hit "unplayable" hands. So if a lot of people limped in, you can check just on sheer numbers. Someone will bet a lot of the time.

if alot of money goes in by the river u may very well be beat. If it doesnt keep pushing the bet button

Agreed with dev, sometimes I slowplay em, sometimes I bet. Depends.

I would rarely ever slowplay this. A check on a board like that and then a reraise or big raise on the turn from one of the blinds is very suspicious/transparent. I like to lead off w/ 1/2 to 2/3 pot bet sizes all the way to the river. It looks more like I'm testing the waters w/ top pair and I am giving an opponent w/ a monster plenty of oppurtunities to let me know.

in a multiway limped pot, trips is a good hand, but it's also one that you could lose alot of money with if you arent careful. Unless I think the op is a total donk, I am NOT looking to play for stacks with bare, unimproved trips. Lead in on the flop. Like someone said up above, check raises on a Q88 ish board from the blinds is like flipping up your cards and showing everyone your trips. 1/3-2/3 pot on every street, and if you get raised, start looking for a cheap showdown. You only really have 4 outs to boat up and improve your hand, and every other card is making your hand worse.

In this situation bet hard. If you had PP and caught trips, I recommend slow playing them if and only if there are no potential straight or flush draws, which doesn't happen often. Very bad poker move to give away free cards that could de-stack you later in the hand.

Originally Posted by Lodogg

In this situation bet hard. If you had PP and caught trips, I recommend slow playing them if and only if there are no potential straight or flush draws, which doesn't happen often. Very bad poker move to give away free cards that could de-stack you later in the hand.

I'm definitely not worried about losing my stack by giving away free cards. I think that's part of my problem here - I'm just scared to death with weak trips especially against multiple opponents.

But remember there are only 2 hands out of literally hundreds that have you beat (QQ is raising pre-flop often enough to be no problem). If I have AQ here and you bet I will re-raise you - possibly also with KQ - I am *exactly* who you should be stacking in this situation (except if you call or re-raise my re-raise, I am slowing right down, but many won't).

keep betting. what are you afraid of? if you are beat by a higher kicker the opponent will let you know. eventually and you can fold. bet cuz you need the value.