First blog entry/Getting more $$ in the pot when you put the other player on a flush draw

So finally I get to blab on about poker without anyone shutting me up ha. I just starting to seriously grow my bankroll a few weeks ago just playing for about an hour a day real casually at best. I deposited 20 dollars into poker stars and within a few days grew it to 38 dollars playing merely one table at a time. Up until yesterday I started playing up to three tables and I would have to say that I've made the transition well.

Well enough about the introduction, I'm going to get right into the subject matter. I play a lot of live poker and it seems that every tournament I go to I see someone betting a huge amount on the flop with top 2 pair and justifying that they did it to scare away anyone going for a flush draw. The truth of the matter is that you do want to develop a large pot when you suspect someone is on a draw, but you also want to be smart about doing it. In tournaments, especially the ones I'm used to where the blinds go up every 10 to 15 minutes or so; if a person has a flush draw they are most likely going to gamble for all their chips. If its in the late stages of the tournament, you can expect and instant shove with any sort of draw. When it comes to live cash games their is a few approaches that you might want to take when you feel your hand is best at the moment and you want to extract as much value from it as possible. Lets look at a hand I encountered today while playing 6 max $0.01/$o.02 USD tables today.

I was under the gun pre-flop with As-10d. I raised to $0.06 and had three callers including the small blind. The flop came Ah-9h-Qs. The small blind checks then I check behind him. The reason I checked in this situation is because I had 3 people call my raise, I could of easily been dominated by anyone holding a better kicker. If I bet and someone raised, I would have a tough decision in my hands. The guy in middle position checks then the last person to act bets $0.12 into a pot of $0.26. The small blind called instantly then It came down to me. Since the person that bet $0.12 was in position over all of us I gave him far less respect for his raise and when the small blind just called I assumed he either had a weak Ace or he was on a flush draw. So I figured I'd might as well find out where I was at and raised it to $0.44. The point of the raise was to either get re raised and know I'm beat for sure or let the flush draw call me in which I get more value for my hand if he misses his draw. After my raise the guy in middle position folds and then the original better in position folds as well. The small blind calls me leaving it to heads up on the turn.

After the small blind called, I figured his range was pretty far and I was almost positive he had the flush draw. The turn was a blank, a 4c. The small blind checks, and I decide I want more money in this pot. I bet out $0.52 and the small blind called. When another blank hit on the river, 7c I was almost positive I was good. The small blind checked again and then I opted to check behind him just in case he was slow playing a set or really did have a higher Ace. Sure enough he reveled 2h-3h. I won a nice pot of $2.20 on that hand and goes to show that getting money into the pot when you suspect the other person is on a flush draw can bring in good dividends. The trick is not to make a huge bet to scare them off their hand. What you want to do is make it unprofitable for them to call your bet, but still make it luring enough that they want to gamble with their draw.