i was discussing this play with a friend earlier today. he believes raising for a free card on a draw in position doesn't work for NL, but i disagree. I'm wondering what some of you feel about this play? i'll give a hand from my session today to illustrate.

2/4 nl on stars.

SB isn't a very good player, the sort i've seen calling down with mediocore holdings. he has about $250in play, i have him covered.

folds to me OTB and i limp with [9d]. SB raises to $12. BB folds, i call. Heads up flop

Pot = $28.

[Ts][5d]. he leads out with $20. i raise to $50. he thinks and calls.

turn: $128 pot

he checks. i bet $80. he thinks and calls.

river $280 . he checks. i put him in for his last $120 or so. he calls and mucks [Qc].

Obviously, i was lucky to hit it on the turn instead of the river. but that's besides the point.

Pros:
* assuming i flat call the $20 bet. the pot is now almost $70. he's likely going to be more than $30, making it even harder to call with 9 high. by raising now, if i can get my free river, it's going to be significantly cheaper.
* if he flopped a monster he may try to check raise me on the turn. if i miss, all the easier.
* my hand is well disguised. he's not likely to put me on a flush draw. a raise to $60 may have been better than $50 for accomplishing this, but in this case it worked well.
* create's a looser image, giving more potential for getting paid off on solid flops

Cons:
* he may reraise me, thus pushing me off the hand
* A good player may pick up on what i'm doing and not pay me off when i bet the diamond turn/river, thus taking away my implied odds.
* He may bet into me again on the turn, thus costing myself more money than i may otherwise have had to pay to draw.

What are your thoughts?

/Edit : ok, i did this hand from memory, and someone managed to screw it up a bit. fixed now though

I think you got very lucky. Its not very often that a deck has two 9 of diamonds.

I like your play though because he is going to slow down many times and especially for the deception. If you would have flat called him until a diamond hit, he would be less likely to call your all in.

Ive made that play quite a bit and I like it. I prefer it in an unraised pot though.

Also, if you min raise the flop with a set like alot of people, then make your raise a min raise here too.