top straight against flush draw with lots of callers

Texas Hold'em $0.25-$0.25 NL (real money), hand #215,739,254
Table San Francisco, 8 Mar 2006 08:14 AM

Seat 1: mackzymal ($14.75 in chips)
Seat 3: evozing ($39.85 in chips)
Seat 4: hapycampr ($12.75 in chips)
Seat 5: melioris [JH,10H] ($26.25 in chips)
Seat 6: RJC3 ($23 in chips)
Seat 7: piitster ($9.75 in chips)
Seat 8: sm93726 ($28.75 in chips)
Seat 9: Lucifere ($9.35 in chips)
Seat 10: teetime87 ($8.35 in chips)

ANTES/BLINDS
RJC3 posts blind ($0.15),
piitster posts blind ($0.25).

PRE-FLOP
sm93726 calls $0.25,
Lucifere folds,
teetime87 calls $0.25,
mackzymal folds,
evozing folds,
hapycampr calls $0.25,
melioris calls $0.25, [JH,10H]
RJC3 folds,
piitster checks.
POT-$1.25
FLOP [board cards 7S,9C,8S ]
piitster bets $0.25,
sm93726 calls $0.25,
teetime87 calls $0.25,
hapycampr calls $0.25,
melioris bets $1.25, (this is just under a 50% pot raise)
piitster folds,
sm93726 calls $1,
teetime87 calls $1,
hapycampr calls $1.
At this point I figured that at least one player was chasing the flush, and I started to regret that I didn’t bet more.
POT-$6.50
TURN [board cards 7S,9C,8S,AC ]
sm93726 bets $2, In my mind this screamed that he had the nut flush draw and just paired his As.
teetime87 calls $2,
hapycampr folds,
melioris bets $6, Is this too small of a raise?
sm93726 calls $4,
teetime87 calls $4.

This was the tail end of my first orbit, so no good reads on anyone. My question is how to do play it when you hold the top straight but there is a flush draw on the board and a lot of callers? If I raise too much on the flop I would have scared everyone away, but since I had a lot of callers I was giving odds to chase the flush draw. Is the correct strategy to try and take it down on the flop with a large bet? And if so, how big of a raise is big enough?

It is standard to bet the pot on the flop if you want to protect your hand. If you honestly feel safe giving them a turn card because you aren't confident you will get action on the flop, then you really need to hammer a reraise, all in prolly. I like the way you thought through the hand, you just need a better plan to take advantage of it.

I think it is a good play, what is your plan on a spade river?
On a club river? On a river that pairs the board? On a safe river?

Raise to near $2 on the flop, and as played on the turn, a raise to $6 has them call $4 more into a $16.50 pot - which gives both the flush and straight draws (which is most likely what you are dealing with here) odds to call...if that's what you want, fine...I'm looking to clean house here though...so I'm raising to $10 minimum on the turn in your spot...probably more like $12-14. If you feel that pot-commits you, there's nothing at all wrong with a push on the turn here...pot is nice and I really don't want to see another spade or club which either beats me or negates my confidence on the river.

on a spade or paired river I am hoping that it is checked to me so I can showdown for free. If bet to me, my action depends on how big of a bet.

on a club river I am value betting, and calling if raised. If I lose to the runner runner club flush I lick my wounds and mark down the fish for later. Same play with a safe river.

thanks for the advice folks. While I played it I feel shitty about my low raises. I think I should have raised a little more on the flop (maybe up to 2) and then pushed on the turn. It was clear that sm was going call a push here and I should have made him pay for the draw. In the end it all worked out and he even paid off a nice value bet at the end. But I think I should have played it stronger.

RIVER [board cards 7S,9C,8S,AC,KH ]
sm93726 bets $1, He missed his flush, and now is wondering if his TPwK is good.
teetime87 folds,
melioris bets $10,
sm93726 calls $9.

SHOWDOWN
melioris shows [ JH,10H ]
sm93726 mucks cards [ 9S,AS ]
melioris wins $44.15.