Folding hand 3 would be absurd, I don’t have a calc in front of me but you’re going to be nearly even money against a non AA overpair, you have 11 outs plus backdoor straight chances. Hand 1 is the only close one there but I’d just stack off against a splashy player. There certainly exist opponents where I’d fold.
Edit: oh and not raising pre hand 2 is criminal.
On hand #2 - no one ever folds at this blind level. They start folding at abou 1600 and up. They also love to limp call big aces. My thought process at the time was I’m very likely to be in a 3-4 way bloated pot where I won’t feel comfortable w/o 2p+. But I still have roughly the same odds of stacking them with 2P+ if it’s a limped pot.
Hand from today. Table is super call happy. Blinds 600/1200-1200. I have 22k chips.
I pick up QhQs in UTG+1, 8-handed. Just rip it here with 18BBs?
I elect to make it 3000. MP calls, CO calls, blinds call. Maybe 4k is better? Not sure it would thin the field any.
Flop Kd5h3d - BB, bad splashy old guy, bets 2800 into 16k pot. Is this even worth a call?
3000 is perfect, which is the sizing I would use with my entire range. Maybe 14k chips or so (M7) you open shove.
Yeah just fold flop. Sometimes a worse pair or flush draw kinda donk-bluffs you out but there’s just no good way to play turns or rivers without hitting your one clean out.
3000 is way, way too small for that table. Open shove is too much. This is a spot you just ignore all the shit and play the most ev chips you can. 6k is better than 3 and it’s not close.
Splashy guy could have fucking who knows with that bet. Problem is behind you obviously.
Having a larger pot is a good thing when you enjoy positional advantage, unless the pot is so large that your positional advantage is negated by there being no poker left to play. Raising is not only immediately +EV (in that ATs is better than their ranges), it sets you up to get handed some sort of advantage OTF. You’ll be able to take it down sometimes on Kxx or Qxx when nobody has anything, you’ll also get given free cards a lot.
If I helicoptered you into one of the limpers’ spots after they’ve limped, with whatever junk range they have, think about how pleased you’d be when suzzer doppleganger limps along instead of making it 6K. It’s far worse for them to face a bloated pot from OOP than it is for you.
Where are you playing
Hollywood Park
Big hand from tonight - 13 left, top 9 pay, I have 119k before posting BB for above average stack
Blinds 4k/8k-8k, HJ - an older black guy who I hadn’t seen play a hand for 5 orbits since I got to the table - limps, it folds to me, I check Ks5c
Flop AsJc5s, I check, HJ bets 8k (min bet) into 28k pot, I call
Turn Kc, I check, villain over shoves into 44k pot, I have 95k behind, he has me barely covered
Am I ever getting away here?
Fold flop? Raise flop? I might consider raising pre sometimes but not w/o a read this guy was limping a lot.
Turn CR seems super standard.
One argument for getting away is my table was sooooo soft. Everyone was playing super tight just trying to get to the final table so they can chop. I had chipped up from 45k to 119k by shoving w/o being called and one time shoving AQs over a MP raise.
All the bigstacks were at the other table. The only player who could call me down w/o risking being crippled or out was 2 to my right and playing super passive.
I think I fold flop 90% of the time. As played it’s a pretty tough fold, but it looks like he hit a set or 2p and is protecting against draws. I really don’t know what you’re beating, maybe a pair with a flush draw. I fold flop because your 2nd best card came and it still doesn’t look good.
I’d normally call flop but against a guy who hasn’t played a hand for 800 orbits probably better just to x/f flop, it hits all his A-rags and JTs and such as well as anything he was trapping with. Turn is gross but I guess I call it off. It’s annoying because your equity gets eaten into by the fact that just an ace has significant outs against you, but two pair is two pair. If your table is soft enough it could be right to fold.
With your reads I think its a clear flop fold and clear turn fold. Its rare that unknowns let alone seemingly tight players will overbet jam bluffs or thin value hands.
Suzzer gets hero call happy
Hand #1 - blinds 100/300-300 - 40k effective - calling station lady limps UTG, I make it 1500 in UTG+1 with AsKd, UTG+2 - a loose reg who seems to play mostly straight up post, but I assume is capable of bluffing, calls, calling station calls
Flop Qs7d3s. UTG checks, I bet 2k into 4600 pot, UTG+2 calls, UTG folds
Turn Td - check, check
River 4s - check, he bets 3500 into 9600 pot, hero call?
Do you play it different on any other streets?
Hand #2 - blinds 200/400-400 - 30k effective - I made it 1000 with AThh in UTG+2, button - splashy kid calls, calling station lady calls in BB
Flop 5c8d9h - checks around
Turn Qd - checks around
River - 3d - checks, button bets 2500 into 3600 pot, hero call? I felt like a Q bets turn and anything else checks river (with this guy). A monster bets flop or turn. So this is either a flush or weird 2p or air?
Should I have bet turn maybe?
Hand #3 - blinds 300/600-600 - 60k effective - guy who hadn’t done much bets 1600 from MP. Folds to me. I call in BB with 75s. (I know - just fold, always fold, forever fold - nits - but I R postflop Xpert so I call)
Flop As7h8c I check, he bets 1500 into 3900 pot, I call
Turn 4c - check check. Maybe lead my combo draw? But I do still have a pair for showdown value. CR is pretty mandatory here right?
River 8s - I check, he bets 3000 into 6900 pot (What bets here? Unless he knows me I’ve played this exactly how most players at these play a weak ace. I felt like this was an 8 or air.)
Yeah I think I botched this pretty bad - and it is probably my biggest leak. I just say well if you’ve got it you’ve got it and snapcall. I don’t even stop to think things through. He had KJ and was playing scared.
I can think of 3 hands like this I could have gotten away from instead of busting near the bubble or busting 6th when I was 2nd in chips. In all cases I snapcalled/shoved. The only one that was correct was probably shoving JJ overpair over a minraise from a guy I hadn’t played with except for 2 hands. He had a set but could have had a worse overpair or A8 or something.
These kinds of hands happen so rarely - where you have to lay down > TPTK vs. unknown in a not completely obvious spot near a bubble or money ladder bubble. I’ve had maybe 3 of them in 50 tourneys played. But I always just spaz out and don’t even think much.
I have always struggled with switching from I have the nuts and how can I get all this guy’s chips - to oh shit I probably should fold this. It’s a big leak.
Hand 1: Clear fold, everything got there, you might even lose to villain’s bluffs. Maybe there’s some “everything got there so its a good spot to bluff, so its a good spot to call” type of logic, but without specific reads you just make the more obvious play.
Hand 2: This is actually a bit suspicious, mainly due to turn check, a “splashy kid” semibluffs a flushdraw almost always here. Bet size also seems pretty polarized. Most likely hand is 33. I would be slightly afraid of losing to villains bluffs here so I think I fold. Don’t like a flop bet or turn bet, there’s just too much either villain could have a piece of and you won’t know where you stand.
Hand 3: Meh. Prefer just a fold, like you said weak aces take your line a ton, and its pretty bad for villain to bluff people off weak aces at this level.
nit life i guess
I might have screwed up Hand #1 because I don’t remember being scared of the FD. Do you play it differently if it’s the 4d instead? I do block the As even if it was the 4s.
Well if its if the 4d the As blocker is bad for us, so I still fold. I think I fold as strong as JJ here. There just isn’t any kind of read or awkward play pattern to suggest this isn’t just a normal value bet.
Its not that bad. Preflop a 3bet is optional, I do prefer a call though with these stack sizes since a 3bet is borderline committing.
Flop obviously just folding is standard, but its not the worst bluff spot, you’re putting everything but a ten in a tricky spot. Turn is kinda weird though. If you bluff flop its like saying you mostly expect weaker pairs to fold so it doesn’t make sense to now value-bet as if they’re all calling. On the other hand check-folding with this SPR is ugly. C/C would also inconsistent with your flop play (don’t bluff if your opponent will float a lot), but not necessarily bad. I think I slightly prefer c/f to both shove and c/c despite the ugliness with the understanding that turn gets checked back a decent amount.
Hand 1: I am inclined to check the flop this early in a tournament. If you can establish that you don’t always c-bet with AK, it makes them less likely to call you later when they can only beat AK/AQ type hands. These players aren’t going to bluff you a lot when AK unimproved is the best hand. I prefer waiting for a potential delayed turn c-bet to a flop c-bet here.
Hand 2: Hero calls seems bad. You beat zero no-gap connectors. The only one-gap connectors you beat are 42, 64, and KJ. You probably need him to be betting a lot of weak aces for a call to be correct. I wouldn’t be surprised if it is a thin value bet with a hand like A8 or 77. Their thought process with second pair on the flop sometimes goes: I can’t beat top pair on the flop, so I check but will bet second pair on the turn if it is a smaller card. Oops, there’s a new top pair on the turn, so I check again. The flop and the turn checked through, and nobody bet a river brick, so no one probably has 9x or Qx. 8x/66/77 are probably good, so I can bet those hands.
Hand 3: Defending your bb is fine. I’m a nit who is a tenacious big blind defender, so long as the pot is going to be heads up. Unlike a lot of players, having a caller in between makes me tighten up my bb defense range. I assume you have clubs since you mentioned a combo draw. A hero call seems more justified than in the other two hands, but don’t be surprised if he has AK or KK. This is totally how some players might play a hand like QcJc, c-betting flop, taking the free card when they gain equity, then bluffing the river when they miss.
Ew, no thanks, villain might be bluffing with the best hand here and in any case it’s hard for him to call the flop with a hand that doesn’t beat you now. Even stuff like 65s got there.
Do you think this guy has any sense of what an implausible-looking bluff this is? The problem here is that it seems really unlikely he can have value, but a bluff also seems really unlikely, because it’s such a no-hoper looking bluff against two players including a calling station, because a lot of the no-pair hands on this board are such junk (he might not bluff ace high), and it has to be something he doesn’t stab turn with as well. My spidey sense says you lose here, but maybe it’s worth a call; it’s close but I think I want to fold.
Similar issues, like this looks like a cunning bluff when you have a bad 7, but how much can he reasonably expect you to fold here? You have about the worst hand you can possibly have and are still thinking about calling. The bet is also not sized as a bluff. He’s going to show up with AT or something.