DECISION POINT: In a 7-handed live $1-3 cash game the Hijack limps, the Cutoff raises to $12, and you call from the Big Blind with Q♣J♣. The Blinds fold, the Hijack calls, and the flop comes Q♥8♠5♣. The Hijack checks, the Cutoff bets $20, and both you and the Hijack call. The 5♥ turn gets checked around and action is on you, what do you do here?

PRO ANSWER: We are playing in a 7-handed $1-3 cash game with roughly $300 effective stacks. We are dealt QcJc on the Button and everyone folds to the Hijack who open limps for $3. The Cutoff raises to $12 and action is on us.

All three potential actions (folding, calling, and reraising) could be seen as reasonable in this scenario. We don’t have any strong information on how this table is playing, however if it’s been passive our hand plays well multiway in position which makes calling quite reasonable.

If the Blinds were observed as playing aggressive where calling might put us in a vulnerable squeeze situation, then simply folding preflop is an acceptable play. If we’ve witnessed the Cutoff isolation raise frequently over limpers or demonstrate poor play out of position postflop, then reraising would be the favorable play here. In most passive lower stakes cash games calling will be the correct play. We decide to take that line and make the call in position.

The flop is Qh8s5c giving us top pair and a backdoor flush draw. The Hijack checks and the Cutoff continuation bets $20. Our hand is far too strong at this point to fold, but not strong enough that we want to build a big pot this early in the hand by raising. Calling will be quite profitable in this spot in the long run particularly given our position and backdoor flush draw. We call and so does the Hijack.

The turn is the 5h and both the Hijack and Cutoff check. This is a spot where many players are tempted to bet in order to “protect” their hand. While our hand is potentially vulnerable to a 76s draw or a hand like Th9h that picked up a flush draw on the turn, those hands make up a small portion of our opponent’s overall range. The Cutoff is fairly likely to continuation betting a wide range, particularly given this is a small stakes game. The Hijack’s calling range contains plenty of A8s/99/TT combinations in addition to hands like KQ, or slow playing with something like 88 that beats us.

This is a great spot to try and get to a controlled showdown with what is likely the best hand, meaning our opponents often have just 3-4 outs when we are ahead. The times we do bet here that results in playing a large pot our hand will likely not be best vs the continuing ranges of the Hijack or Cutoff.

Checking is the best play.