99 on 9♥ 8♦ 7♠, checked to you — bet small, bet big or check?
The answer
Bet small
Bet ~1/3 pot
The math: 9♥8♦7♠ hits the caller's range hard → keep the pot in check: the solver bets small far more often than it checks, and never bets big.
Why
Top set — but on the caller's favourite board. 9♥8♦7♠ smashes the Big Blind's defending range: made straights (JT, 65), two pairs, and pair-plus-draw hands everywhere. A pot-size bet gets its action mostly from exactly that strength — the solver uses it 0% of the time. The small ~⅓-pot bet is the workhorse: every worse nine, eight, seven and straight draw pays it, and the pot stays manageable for the times a straight is already ahead of you. The solver even checks back a fair share of the time. Monster hand, modest bet — the board, not your hand, sets the size.
The spot
- Your seat
- BTN
- Stakes and stacks
- $1 / $2 · 100bb
- Your hand
- 9♠ 9♣
- Board
- 9♥ 8♦ 7♠
- Pot
- POT · $20
- Action on you
- BB checks
Every option
Bet smallBet ~1/3 potCorrect
Bet bigBet pot-size
Why not: The solver never pot-bets here — literally 0%. When big money goes in on 9-8-7, the hands that continue are straights, two pairs and huge draws; a pot-size bet folds out all the worse pairs and drives the action toward the exact part of their range that beats or outdraws your set.
CheckCheck back, no bet
Why not: Defensible — the solver checks a fair share of the time, that's how much this board belongs to the caller — but the small bet is the more frequent choice: plenty of worse nines, eights, sevens and draws will pay ⅓ pot.
The idea behind it
Connectivity matters more than suits. On low, connected boards that favour the caller's range, big bets isolate you against the hands that beat you — even top set sizes down (or checks) when the board belongs to their range.
Concept: Careful on connected
Terms in this spot
Play it instead of reading it
The trainer deals this hand with hints, grading and spaced repetition — and randomized variations of it once you have seen it.