Poker Forum

hello everyone...
a friend of mine has been bemoaning her luck recently, stating that she never wins with a flopped set. i have tried to explain my ideas to her, but she seems rather unconvinced... (she beat me heads up recently on a lucky out and now thinks i am rubbish - though she may have a point there!) so i thought i''d pose a couple of open-ended questions and get your feedback (see, claire, no suggestion, feeding or coaxing there!)
okays... consider some scenarios:
limped preflop
you 22 - three opponents on full table.
board 2h 9s 10s
raised 4x bb mtt third level in
you 44
board 4 k k
same scenario
you 55
board 5 as ks
i would be interested to learn your ideas (as would my friend, claire)

i''ll then explain my theories in a couple of days...

what would you rather hold, and why

In Poker,personally i''d rather be holding 44 with a made full-house on the flop than be up against straight and flush draws with a low set. any day.in the scenarios you mention, you are likely to be up against someone with kq, or (maybe less likely) qj. you may be able to force them to pay for their draw but there is a risk that they''ll either fold cheaply or, even worse, hit it.in the case of ak, there is a chance that you''ll be up against a high ace or even ak which you might also be able to take for a load of chips. the problem again here is that they may also be afraid of the straight/flush scenario.therefore, for me at least, 4 k k is great especially if you get someone with another k but who can''t make their own full-house.i''m not a bit pot-odds guy but very very rarely have i seen a low boat get beat by a higher one, far more often i see sets get beaten by straights or flushes if they don''t make the full-house by the river.probably wrong, but there you go...

i love the 44 the board is 4 kk which means he has to have kk to beat me or if he has one k he has to pair up his one other card and has only two cards to do it in. i have to have a big advantage. the 22 againsted a spade draw he still has 9 outs. or might have pocket pair and get lucky again. then we have the 5 ak spades , if he has two spade he had 8 out if i have the spade 5 ,also the board can pair giving me a full house . he or she would have to be very lucky to win this hand . hope with a little knowledge mix in some luck and u have a poker player .lol !!!

Honestly, there's really no way to control or predict the outcome until the river. You could have the top set on the flop (which is the best hand at that point) and still lose. So even if you went all in after the flop....someone might call you with a draw or two pai...and then hit their card on the turn or river. Unfortunately, that's just the way poker goes.