OK, I think I have a strategy here. Now, I have to say, I realize that every game is different. You can deal out the same cards to the same players and get a different winner every time. It just depends on the people. However, I have had this situation pop up a few times and wherever I can pull it off, I think I have found the best way to handle it.
I'll give you a situation.
You are small blind (first position) and delt :qd: , :qs: you raise pre-flop with 2-3 callers. (it's important that you don't get too many callers for this to work)
The flop comes :5h: :qh: :jh:
What do you do? It seems to be general consensus to overbet the pot, but sometimes, especially in tournaments and low limit, you will still have chasers, and you could always be betting into someone with a made hand.
If the field has been cleared (only 3-4 players in this hand), and people are paying attention to what you (and others) do, I say check-raise. Hopefully you can tell what others have by the check. If you have a big raiser you can get out from a made flush without spending too much. If you have a small bet back to you, raise it back up big to get those flush draws out.
If you are afraid of giving away a free card, look at it this way. There are 9 more hearts in the deck if just 1 person has 1 heart. There are also 7 5s, Qs and Js in the deck to give you a hand that will beat any flush, not to mention about 37 non-heart cards left unseen. If he's playing to get the heart, and you are playing to not get the heart OR get the Q, J, 5, you have well over a 50% chance to win.
People fear the check-raise and it can be very effective to get people to fold. Also, the check will give you valuable information into what others have.
Here is one problem. How are you going to read the guy in 2nd position holding pocket 5s, pocket Js or even QJ? Won't he overbet the pot and get you to fear the flush? I'm sure there are other problems with this. That's why I want to know... What's your take on this?
