Tricky flop with 9s on the button

[schlach]

Hi all,

Long time listener, first time caller. A buddy of mine turned me on to your most excellent community. So... I'm not sure I liked this hand. I thought I'd ask if anyone could help me conclusively decide whether I liked it or not. It was in the early levels of a $10+1 on Party.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t15 (9 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

saw flop|<font color="C00000">saw showdown</font>

SB (t695)
BB (t800)
UTG (t800)
UTG+1 (t515)
MP1 (t955)
MP2 (t1655)
<font color="C00000">MP3 (t590)</font>
<font color="C00000">Hero (t875)</font>
Button (t1115)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 9/images/graemlins/club.gif, 9/images/graemlins/diamond.gif.
UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, MP1 folds, MP2 calls t15, MP3 calls t15, <font color="CC3333">Hero raises to t60</font>, Button folds, SB calls t50, BB calls t45, MP2 calls t45, MP3 calls t45.

Flop: (t300) 6/images/graemlins/spade.gif, 8/images/graemlins/spade.gif, 7/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="blue">(5 players)</font>
SB checks, BB checks, MP2 checks, MP3 checks, <font color="CC3333">Hero bets t300</font>, SB folds, BB folds, MP2 folds, <font color="CC3333">MP3 raises to t530 (All-In)</font>, Hero calls t230.

Turn: (t1360) 6/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="blue">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>

River: (t1360) K/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="blue">(2 players, 1 all-in)</font>

Final Pot: t1360
<font color="green">Main Pot: t1360 (t1360), between MP3 and Hero.</font>

Was it a good play? In general, I don't like to get involved in pots, especially pots like that, at the early levels of tournaments, which is one reason I'm quite unsure about the play. What about the size of my flop bet? And was calling the all-in a mistake? I figured, for less than a third of the pot, it was worth finding out if I had the best hand.

Thanks in advance for the help. It's late, so if I'm groggy and left any info out, let me know and I'll follow-up in the morning (will post results eventually, too).

cheers,

schlach

[Phill S]

preflop is fine.

i wouldnt of bet that much on the flop. too many ways your behind, and you may be cold dead bar a runner runner boat.

bet a third (100) of the pot. if your re-raised you can fold no problem.

incidentally in the size of flop bet, you should call the raise. however its a crying call. your prolly drawing, if not drawing dead.

Phill

[dethgrind]

300/815 ~ 37%. Especially considering that three of your opponents on the flop had even less than your 815, betting 300 here is pretty awkward. But going all-in seems kind of reckless at this stage with such a weak overpair against so many oppponents and a scary board. Maybe underbetting and giving any draws a good price is the only way to go here.

[mikey checks]

i dont like preflop or post flop...


preflop id raise more with 9s....i wouldnt do the cliche re-raise all in if raised but i would def make it about 4x-5xBB just to make sure youre not getting called with "any 2 suited"....

also, postflop youre drawing virtually dead to a flush. if i had a spade 9 id feel a little better about betting out even tho it's likely someone has a J-A of spades.

however, with the all in push i think u had to call, he couldve been drawing for the flush and missed and so far youre beating any pairs

[imported_stealthcow]

the other dude probaly had As J

you have to call aftery ou make your raise, but i also would've raised more preflop. the way you played it, you sort of created a domino effect of one guy calling and everyoen else starting to get odds on their calls as well.

[schlach]

Thanks for the input. It was a tricky hand, I guess. He had J9s and flopped the flush. I think a smaller bet on the flop might have been less than necessary to get out some of the early callers, but would have been easy to get away from when I got check-raised by the flush-flopper.

[adanthar]

At level 1, I'd simply limp 99 here after a few limpers (but probably raise it first in.) It's not a good enough hand yet when you're guaranteed 2 calls, which also probably means ~3 overcards.

Since you raised and were called, I would bet far less on this flop (~150) and shut down if called.

[SmileyEH]

Limp preflop, then you can easily fold the flop.

With jacks on down early in a tourney I want a big multiway pot thats cheap to get into. Then you can take the field for a ride if/when you hit your set and double up.

Raising here puts you in a bind, you have an extremely weak hand and you have no idea where you are. The pot is too big to be able to bet and fold to a raise so what do you do? I would just avoid this situation and limp with the nines preflop. If you had queens I would raise more preflop to get it headsup or threeway - your overpair is FAR stronger in a 3 way pot than in a 5 way pot on a monotone board.

-SmileyEH

[patrick dicaprio]

raising 99 is usually a bad play at early levels. you wont knock many players out and if you are reraised you generally have to fold. better to just call preflop and hope to flop a set.

betting 300 of your 875 stack is tough on this board. i would be looking to play this mouch more cautiously. if you bet 200 you will still achieve the same result since no one can really call here without a good draw at least. i can think of much better spots to get your money in here, as there are very few hands that can call a bet here that you are a strong favorite to.

Pat