How do you play with nuts?

ExLeper78

Getting the nuts is far more rare than going heads-up. So, how do you play when you know your hand is unbeatable? For example, in the following hand I hit quads on the turn. What is the best way to play this hand from here on. If I call, I don't get paid. If I raise too much it may scare him off if he didn't improve on the turn and I still lose out - likewise an all-in (which was never really an option). I ended up betting small (1/4 of the pot) and it worked out well. But, I think if I were playing at a higher level (this was a 30p sit'n'go bounty hunter) someone would have noticed that the small bet was an unusual move for me and would have been suspicious.

So, what is the correct move on the turn?

Hand History #358565827 (14:47 04/04/2011)

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
jokev10	Small blind		75.00	75.00	4952.50
WOBLY57	Big blind		150.00	225.00	1440.00
	Your hole cards	2 2
troyze	Call		150.00	375.00	5807.50
NIMAC	Call		150.00	525.00	3815.00
ExLeper78	Call		150.00	675.00	3310.00
jokev10	Fold
WOBLY57	Check
Flop
		K 5 2
WOBLY57	Check
troyze	Check
NIMAC	Check
ExLeper78	Bet		337.50	1012.50	2972.50
WOBLY57	Call		337.50	1350.00	1102.50
troyze	Fold
NIMAC	Fold
Turn
		2
WOBLY57	Check
ExLeper78	Bet		300.00	1650.00	2672.50
WOBLY57	Call		300.00	1950.00	802.50
River
		6
WOBLY57	All-in		802.50	2752.50	0.00
ExLeper78	Call		802.50	3555.00	1870.00
WOBLY57	Show	6 10
ExLeper78	Show	2 2
ExLeper78	Win	Four 2s	3555.00		5425.00

SILEEK

I'd be grateful wobbly chased a flush all the way down to the river :-)
I repeat I am no expert, but if you bet half the pot at the flop and he called, then
when you made quads on the turn, I think a bet of less than quarter pot was too small??

ExLeper78

That's what I was thinking the turn bet was too small. But, my main intention was to keep wobbly in the pot. I achieved that here, but how would I keep my opponent keen if - sorry wobbly - I were playing a better player.

SILEEK

In Response to Re: How do you play with nuts?:

That's what I was thinking the turn bet was too small. But, my main intention was to keep wobbly in the pot. I achieved that here, but how would I keep my opponent keen if - sorry wobbly - I were playing a better player.
Posted by ExLeper78

Yeah, fine line between keeping somebody on the hook and
pricing them off it, but with 20/20 hindsight it looks like wobbly
would have called even if you'd doubled the turn bet?!
Look on the bright side, you took his 1440 stack from the flop onwards, but
if the King had been anything but a heart, he folds :-)

Talon

  The simplest answer as to how to play the nuts is to play the hand exactly the same way no matter whether you are bluffing betting on a draw or with the made hand.

  This obviously works best when you are with people for a longish amount of time but this style of betting will ensure that they will never be able to put you on a hand and not know where they are in the pot so are much more liable to make looser calls by thinking their card and draws are live.

delaney09

In Response to Re: How do you play with nuts?:

That's what I was thinking the turn bet was too small. But, my main intention was to keep wobbly in the pot. I achieved that here, but how would I keep my opponent keen if - sorry wobbly - I were playing a better player.
Posted by ExLeper78

turn bet is fine cause if you bet more than 300 it is more than likely he isnt going to call cause he will not be getting the odds to hit the flush 300 is fine as you want to milk as many chips out of him as you can betting 5-600 = him insta folding and you making the minimum possible from the hand.... 1/2 or even a 3/4 pot bet on the turn and thats it over.

By keeping a better play keen do the same thing bet flop small bet on the turn if you feel they have something eg. a flush draw or even a bigger pp even if you dont stack them but get called on every street you are getting maximum value for your hand which is the main thing, you don't always have to stack your opponent to gain max. value from the hand by getting called on flop turn river for good sized bets is a good thing cause it doesn't always happen.