AT VS 66

Limit holdem game. I just bought in with 500 in chips, limit is 40-80.


I'm early position with 66...I limp for 40, Phil Ivey raises to 80. all fold to me, and I call.


Flop comes 848. I check, ivey bets, I raise him, he calls. By this time, he either has a monster, or only overcards. I'm sure he's got overcards.


Turn comes another 8. I bet, he calls 80


River: I bet the river before it falls. it's a Ten. He calls and shows me AT.


Is there any mistake here or did he just draw out on me?


D

That's why he wins tournaments. He catches better than you or me!

If the game is so tight that you often end up heads up on the flop, 66 should be mucked from early position. After that, I think you played the hand ok, by making him pay to draw to his overcards. I esp. like your bet on the flop instead of going for a check-raise as you couldn't afford to risk a free card and want him to call your turn bet anyway, since he didn't get correct odds to chase: 4:1 pot odds vs. 7:1 to pair up. (In hindsight, check-raising might have won this pot for you, but that doesn't matter.)


A case could be made for check-calling on the river, unless he's the kind of player who routinely pays you off but would never bluff with an unimproved ace in this situation (you got lucky that he didn't raise his top pair). However, given his passive play, value betting was probably correct here, too.


cu


Ignatius

I'm confused. Is this a tournament or a cash game? I have never heard of a tournament where you get 500 in chips and start at 40-80. I would assume his tournament strategy was to either win quick or go home early so he stayed around with overcards.


If this was a cash game, you need to buy in for more than $500.

It was a supersatellite actually, and I arrived very late in the tournament...the 5-10 and the 10-20 levels have already finished when i entered.


I did checkraise the flop, because if he had an over pair, then he would probably have repopped. If he was playing to trap and reraise on the turn or river, he could have done that, but didn't. When he caught the T on the river, he couldn't reraise because of my betting on the turn and river...I could have represented JJ, slowplayed any overpair, or had the case 8; that's my only explanation as to why he didn't raise on the river with the "nut" boat..


Yes, Ivey is VERY SLOTHY and draws out more than what i see as the norm. Nothing i can do about that.

Did he have a flush draw at least? I think the turn was definitely a raise or fold situation for him, unless he was so short-stacked that he figured if he didn't win that hand he was dead. Even that favors a raise to a call.

missed that:


> I bet the river before it falls.


You should never do that! (well, maybe as some kind of "Mike Caro move" when you hold the immortal nuts or as a bluff with a completely hopeless card, but certainly not here.)


When the case 8 comes, you know you're beat and threw one big bet out of the window (-$2 EV). Against an ace, you should also consider to lay down if your opponent is not a notorious bluffer. With any face card coming, check-calling would probably have been better play than betting out.


I guess that betting blind in this spot costs you about $8 in EV without any benefit in return, whatsoever. On the contrary: In the case that your betting blind would have made him fold an unimproved ace, which he might otherwise have called with, you actually lost much more.


cu


Ignatius

I'm just curious as to why no one is questioning the limp on the flop? If many players are limping, which seems unlikely based on the levels and chips counts, a limp with 66, trying to hit big is ok. But I see this as strictly a heads up kind of situation, and coming in first with 66 should require some sort of raise to keep hands like AT out. By limping, what was you best case scenario? What did you expect to have show up on the flop? A 6? You need better odds than that to warrant limping in on 66. Certainly, the flop and turn were as good as you could hope for, without hitting a 6. A pre-flop raise was in order, IMO.


Keep playing hard!