Biggest Multi Weekend Ever... Some hands

[Jason Strasser]

Hey all. I made some pretty crazy moves this weekend, a bit out of character, to mix in with my very tight standard tourny play.

I felt like giving a mini-report on this weekend. I played in so many poker tournaments I feel sick right now: Party 600 and 200+rebuy wcoop on stars on saturday, and party 200 and the 500 nl wcoop stars on sunday.

Overall Party was good, placed in both but low money, and stars I busted quite early in both.

Here are a few hands I'd like commenting on.

Hand 1: Early in the Party 200 on sunday. There is a maniac who has gone all-in PF many times to my right (to steal the 10/15 blinds). He limps in MP, I limp behind with AQo after contemplating an isolation raise.

Flop AJ5. He checks, I bet pot, he pushes, a massive overbet. Your move?

Hand 2: Wcoop 500 NL. I have 4k, a decent slightly below average stack. A player who has open raised fairly frequently does so 3 off the button to 300 (blinds 50/100 I believe). I reraise to 1100 or so with 72o. Blinds fold, he thinks, and calls. Flop Q74, he checks. I push.

Hand 3: I get 99 in the BB in the party 200. I have 8k sb has 7k, we are both above the 4.5k avg. blinds are 100/200. He raises to 500. I call. Flop KT8. He's aggressive. He bets 600. I raise to 1500. He calls. Turn: Ace. He checks, I push.

Hand 4: I raise with 77 from the button after its folded to me in the 500 NL. Blinds are 50/100, raise was to 300. Tosh is in the BB. Reraises me to around 800. We both have under 4k. I call. Flop KQx (I think, this hand is from memory, tosh correct me if wrong). He checks, I check. Turn blank. check check. River blank, check check. (blank < 7).

Hand 5: I have 13k chips at the party 200. Blinds 250/500. I open for 1400 with QJo in the CO. Stack is well above average. A 11k stack calls me on the button. Flop T9xr. I check, he pots it, I move all-in.

Thoughts?
-Jason LAG Strasser

[MLG]

Hand 1: Did maniac limp a lot as well as go all-in, or was limping an odd play. If it wasn't odd then I call.

Hand 2: I don't think there is anything necessarily wrong with the play. One caveat, before I attempt a play like this I like to know that this player can lay down a decent hand to a reraise. (I think the biggest whole in a lot of online players games is calling reraises too often with marginal hands) So, I'm hesistant to make this play unless I either have notes on a player, or have seen him lay down to a previous reraise at the table.

Hand 3: If you plan on playing this hand this aggresively after the flop why not reraise preflop?

Hand 4: I think you might be giving this pot up to 88, 99, 1010, JJ. I probably bet the turn after 2 checks from the reraiser and hope to push those hands out, and if I get called give it up on the river.

Hand 5. Yupyup.

[Tosh]

[ QUOTE ]

Hand 1: Early in the Party 200 on sunday. There is a maniac who has gone all-in PF many times to my right (to steal the 10/15 blinds). He limps in MP, I limp behind with AQo after contemplating an isolation raise.

Flop AJ5. He checks, I bet pot, he pushes, a massive overbet. Your move?

[/ QUOTE ]

Bah I hate these players when all I hold is a decent but not great hand. Its probably close, if you call no doubt you'll be shown a worse hand quite often, and a random better hand sometimes too.

[ QUOTE ]
Hand 2: Wcoop 500 NL. I have 4k, a decent slightly below average stack. A player who has open raised fairly frequently does so 3 off the button to 300 (blinds 50/100 I believe). I reraise to 1100 or so with 72o. Blinds fold, he thinks, and calls. Flop Q74, he checks. I push.

[/ QUOTE ]

If your hand was J4, would you make the same play? I think this play was just for show, you still have 3 more to act after you too, so it wasn't like there was noone else around. Theres a time and a place for resteals, I don't think this was even close. I also enjoyed playing with you so I was a bit annoyed.

[ QUOTE ]

Hand 3: I get 99 in the BB in the party 200. I have 8k sb has 7k, we are both above the 4.5k avg. blinds are 100/200. He raises to 500. I call. Flop KT8. He's aggressive. He bets 600. I raise to 1500. He calls. Turn: Ace. He checks, I push.

[/ QUOTE ]

Think it would be read dependant

[ QUOTE ]
Hand 4: I raise with 77 from the button after its folded to me in the 500 NL. Blinds are 50/100, raise was to 300. Tosh is in the BB. Reraises me to around 800. We both have under 4k. I call. Flop KQx (I think, this hand is from memory, tosh correct me if wrong). He checks, I check. Turn blank. check check. River blank, check check. (blank < 7).

[/ QUOTE ]

2 Corrections. You open raised 450 with 75/150 blinds and I raised to 1050. Flop was KTx, turn a J. River a 2.

I was reraising with a hand I thought was best, not really expecting you to call. The flop and turn was too much in the playing zone, I just checked it down with you.

[ QUOTE ]
Hand 5: I have 13k chips at the party 200. Blinds 250/500. I open for 1400 with QJo in the CO. Stack is well above average. A 11k stack calls me on the button. Flop T9xr. I check, he pots it, I move all-in.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah I play my draws aggressive too.

[The Ocho]

in quick, first-reaction bullet form:

1) call the maniac.

2) you're the maniac.

3) hope he believes you have an ace.

4) this is the one pot you would have won by betting. Home-boy prob has a hand that beats you in showdown but drops if you bet.

5) if I'm ever gonna read you for a semi-bluff-check-raise, this pot would be it. That raise into that board screams draw. He may call/gamble on a one pair hand. Plus, he's already put ~ 1/3 of his stack into the pot.

[Jason Strasser]

Haha... The 72o hand wasnt so good I know. It really wasn't purely for show, although that hand did have some fun element to it. I had been planning to do this if that particluar player raised again, and I guess it was a little nutso.

But I also think that this play isn't as horrible as you make it out to be. He folds a ton of hands here like any ace except AQ. Any pair lower than jacks. I think this play is easy to say, "jason you suck". And I partially agree, but I also think that this isn't horrible, and I did try to pick a good spot with it.

-Jason

[MLG]

I didn't think it was awful (see other post) but I also think you are overestimating the hands that you will get to fold. I think if he is calling preflop with a hand like 99 he will probably call here too. Not all of the time, but at least sometimes.

[Cleveland Guy]

Not that I'm near the expert you are - but here is my 2 cents.

1. Call - guy is a moron and needs to pay.

2. I never play 72o unless I'm on the big blind and it's checked to me, even then I want to throw it away.

3. I like the push. Only hands he can realistically call you with are AA, AK or QJ.

4. Gotta place a test bet out there somewhere post flop. You were in the perfect steal position, and he called your steal bet. You still have a real hand, plus you know your opponent.

5. I'd just call the flop. Any scare card, or if he has 2nd or 3rd pair and he checks the turn. That would be a good place to push.

But as I mentioned before, you seem to be a lot more skilled than me, so I'm not sure what my advice is worth.

[Tosh]

I think its awful because its not even headsup. There is too much to go wrong, I would not fault you if he was SB. He wasn't even THAT much of a maniac, and we certainly hadn't seen him showdown any really terrible hands - that I can remember.

EDIT: He won the tournament.

[Yeti]

I'm not too keen on how you've played hand 5.

I'd probably push immediately on the flop, you aren't really in awful shape against anything, but it would be nice to take down the pot right here without flipping.

By letting him pot it you have got him pretty committed.

[fnord_too]

Hand 1: I probably call and kick myself when he flips up AA.

Hand 2: I probably muck pre flop, but I think your line is fine too if you have a tight image. I usually have a tight image by mid tourney. I do not resteal often, but when I am usually successful, though sometimes I have to fire a second barrel as you did here. I hate it when that second barrel is all in, but sometimes you just have to grit your teeth and push with a weak hand.

Hand 3: I'm not crazy about this play. I like popping it before the flop better. My problem is, even knowing he is aggressive, I have no idea where I am at in the hand. I don't like playing big pots unless I feel good about going to a show down, and here I would be worried that the sb is engaged to soemthing like KQ and is too weak to stand it up at the alter.

Hand 4: I certainly don't like the idea of putting more money in the pot voluntarily post flop. Betting here is a case of only getting called by a hand that beats you, and there are very few hands better than yours that you fold. I may or may not fold to the preflop raise. That would be dependant on what I knew of my opponent. With two face cards on the flop, I'm happy to see a cheap show down.

Hand 5: I would lead this pot. I am happy to pick it up after the flop, but after he raises, he has ~7500 TC left, and the pot is ~6K + his stack size if I am not mistaken. I'm not sure if he lays down enough here getting almost a 2-1 price. I ran some possible hands, and you are about 50% if he has one pair (either paired the board or a PP 8 or less, not threes). If he has two overcards to the flop other than exactly JQ, you are in worse shape. I would rather give him a chance to fold without putting all my chips in. Again, if I know my opponent well, I may go with an alternate line.

[durron597]

Did you consider your table image here? I've you've been playing like Jason LAG Strasser, he might just be setting you up for the trap.

I would not fault you for this play if you had 76s. Then at least there are lots more flops where you can hurt him with a legitimate hand, and can still try a play like this if you miss. I just think that you have 40xBB; this was a deep stack tournament at this point, you will have plenty of better spots to make a play like this.

[SossMan]

[ QUOTE ]
Hand 2: Wcoop 500 NL. I have 4k, a decent slightly below average stack. A player who has open raised fairly frequently does so 3 off the button to 300 (blinds 50/100 I believe). I reraise to 1100 or so with 72o. Blinds fold, he thinks, and calls. Flop Q74, he checks. I push.


[/ QUOTE ]

I've heard of turning QQ into 72, but never the other way around. This is a nice play against the right opponent. You have to make sure he is able to lay down a pair, though.

[SossMan]

[ QUOTE ]
I would not fault you for this play if you had 76s. Then at least there are lots more flops where you can hurt him with a legitimate hand, and can still try a play like this if you miss. I just think that you have 40xBB; this was a deep stack tournament at this point, you will have plenty of better spots to make a play like this.


[/ QUOTE ]

I halfway agree. I usually try to mix up my play on cards that have some sort of chance at making a hand. But Jason has some sick fascination with 72o...and I'm a Democrat and believe that people should be able to do as they please so long as they don't hurt anyone else.
However, as far as having deep stacks, I think this IS the time to get fancy. Bigger stacks allow you to easily get away from a hand and not worry about it, and it also gives you huge implied odds if you happen to hit a nice hand.

[Tosh]

I agree, resteals are fine, fancy plays are cool too. If Jason made the plays 78s or something like that I doubt I would say anything. With a read its not that terrible but I also belive we had a weak table that we could run over. I doubled my chip count in half an hour without showing or holding anything, Jason didn't need to take this risk IMO.

[Jason Strasser]

Tosh,

I agree. I could've picked a better spot, like from the blinds. A cold call after my raise could've been disasterous.

Thanks for the advice. I'll wait a bit longer to post results.

Edit: I also agree about our table. I was doing a good job accumulating slowly, I think I had played very well up unto that exact moment.

[durron597]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I would not fault you for this play if you had 76s. Then at least there are lots more flops where you can hurt him with a legitimate hand, and can still try a play like this if you miss. I just think that you have 40xBB; this was a deep stack tournament at this point, you will have plenty of better spots to make a play like this.


[/ QUOTE ]

I halfway agree. I usually try to mix up my play on cards that have some sort of chance at making a hand. But Jason has some sick fascination with 72o...and I'm a Democrat and believe that people should be able to do as they please so long as they don't hurt anyone else.
However, as far as having deep stacks, I think this IS the time to get fancy. Bigger stacks allow you to easily get away from a hand and not worry about it, and it also gives you huge implied odds if you happen to hit a nice hand.

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't get me wrong; as I said, I wouldn't fault him for the attempt if he had low suited connectors, or something that can actually make a hand. But the thing is that 72o hits nicely so infrequently (hell, you only pair on the flop 1/3 of the time just like any other non-PP hand) that you would be far better off trying for a fancy play like this with something like, oh, 6/images/graemlins/heart.gif 4/images/graemlins/heart.gif, flopping an OESD, check calling underbets to the river to hit your straight and take TPTK (ok, 2PTK by the river)'s stack, for example. But, at least for me, 72o is never the time to get fancy, unless you are playing HU aginst a twoplustwo'er who's Stars name happens to have 27o in it. Except for that very specific situation (or in the blind), you should just muck it without a second thought.

[SossMan]

I'm pretty sure we all agree....I was talking about stack depth in general, not in this particular hand. You said that he has a 40x stack and should avoid these situations. I would say that when you have a 40x stack, that is the time to make fancy'er plays.