What would You do?

[Gar Pike]

One of my few forays into the world of $20+2 Party SnG's.
Blinds are 25/50, 7 or 8 left I have 2250 or so, opponent on my immediate left has about 650. I am BB with K7s

about 4 limpers, including opponent, I check

Flop is 3 7 J, two hearts and one of my suit

I bet 75, opponent raises to 200

I put him on a steal or a flush draw, he had been pretty agressive the whole game and had just lost a showdown, so I raised enough to put him all in.

I think that was the right move, there was 475 in the pot, I raised 450, so he was getting barely over 2:1 to call, if he had a flush draw I think that was not quite enough.

Would it have been better to call, and put him in on the turn, if no 3rd heart came? or can I assume he's PC'd and will call any bet, regardless?

Regards,

Gar

[lorinda]

I won't talk about the play, I don't like it, but you were there and I wasn't, so I'll talk about what you asked /images/graemlins/wink.gif

or can I assume he's PC'd and will call any bet, regardless?

If he's going to call any bet regardless, I like the play of taking one off here and making sure he's not going to hit.

If he calls an all-in on the turn then you're getting much better value on your bet, and also giving yourself a chance to get away from this hand.

Whilst this is not optimal $EV strategy, it is a fine blend of protecting your stack and being aggressive in the structure you are playing under.

Lori

[Gar Pike]

Hi, Lori

Thanks for the reply.

I'm a long-time poker player who has recently discovered on-line NL SnG's. Not anywhere near world-class, but not a total idiot (I don't think, anyway, but /images/graemlins/grin.gif you could find people who might argue that one)

So, I'm trying to get better, and I've learned a lot of standard plays here that have really helped my game.

On this play in particular, I put a lot of thought into what I should do when he raised me. He had been very aggressive, pre- and post flop. I estimated 60% steal with nothing, 35% flush draw, the remaining 5% he had a 7 without an A kicker. As I post this, I maybe should have been more concerned about a slow-played PP than that, but as it turned out, he had raised me with an A-high flush draw. So I think I did a pretty good job of putting him on a hand, and putting him to the test. Admittedly, there were better hands I could have used to put him all in with, but this would have been sufficient.

Sadly, he hit his draw.

Gave me a ration, too, he did, about taking so much time.

However, I am happy to report that I won the SnG.

So, my choices on this hand seem to be:

1) Check fold the flop.

2) Check/call the flop, call down to the river or until a 3rd heart hits then fold

3) Check/call the flop, bet out on the turn

4) bet/raise the flop (but not enough to put him all in) and then bet the turn if a heart doesn't fall, check/fold if one does)

5) Push the flop

6) Bet/call the flop, push the turn if no heart

Remembering that there were still people in the hand after Mr Opponent, when the flop hit the table. (who folded after his raise, so it was HU when it got back to me)

Anyway, looking for more insight on how one should play these kind of situations...

Regards

Gar