n/l overpairs

This is a general situation I have been having problems with lately in the Pstars satellites. I definitely have been having bad luck but I still think I could be playing better. Here is a situation from last night that seems to be occuring a lot and I am curious how others would play it.


I have TdTs in the cutoff. Early in the tourney, blinds 15/30, I have 1100 or so. Folds to me, I raise to 90. Loose player on button (has me covered) reraises to 270, blinds fold. I can't see folding here, since my raise looks like a steal and the player who reraised me *called* all in preflop a few hands ago with TT. I call. What if the button is a good player?


Flop is 884, two spades. Now what? Pot is 585, I have about 800 left so if I bet, I pretty much have to go all in. Now my logic tells me that even if he is a tight reraiser (AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AK) There are 24 ways for me to be behind and 16 for me to be ahead which makes it very close. Wouldn't most players reraise there with more hands than that though? Do I go all in? Check and call all in to induce a bluff from AK or AQ? Check and fold? Obviously I have my opinons but lately I have been questioning them.


-Glenn

Checking and calling is a losing play.


Checking and folding might/is a good play.


I would bet the $880 and put the pressure on him.


MS Sunshine

Well, part of the problem appears to be that you called the reraise without already knowing what you were going to do here.


If you thought you were against an overpair, or if your strategy was otherwise to flop a set or get out, then the preflop call was a mistake. You were paying 180 to win 1200, which is less than 7:1 payoff. Since it is about 7.5:1 to flop a set, and since you won't win 100% of the time you do flop a set, calling with this intention was a mistake.


If you think he often doesn't have an overpair, then this is a great flop for you. Second best after flopping a set (almost). So, go all-in so that AK/AQ and the like either fold now or call when not getting good odds to do so.


Or, IF AND ONLY IF this player is going to bet you all-in with two overcards just as often as with an overpair, then you could check and induce the bluff. If you bet all-in, and they have JJ or higher, they're probably not folding. If they have overcards, they should and probably will usually fold. However, if you check and they bet all unpaired overcard hands, you make more profit than if they fold those same hands to your bet.


Don't forget, this is the much higher risk strategy.


Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

> Loose player on button (has me covered) reraises to 270, blinds fold. [...] I call


I don't like a call here. Muck or move in. You don't want to see a flop with TT and 1/4 of you stack in: Unless an ace flops, it will be hard to get away from the hand and by calling you set yourself up to often either win T270 or lose T1100. Also, a reraise will usually make him give up on a resteal with hands like KQ or AJ, which you certainly want him to muck.


> There are 24 ways for me to be behind and 16 for me to be ahead


It's a little late to start worring about a higher pocket pair, now isn't it? Short of a set, you got the best flop you could wish for. If you didn't plan on moving in on an overpair, you should have mucked in the first place.


cu


Ignatius

I was going to move in if I liked the flop and check/fold if I didn't. I liked the flop, and moved all in. I am questioning it after the fact /images/smile.gif. I considered all of the things you said but in the situation I described, I am curious what the *actual* decision you would make is.


Thanks,


Glenn

Thanks, obviously I was looking for a flop like this so i moved in as I posted above. I was just trying to find out if there was something I was completely missing, that is, if there is a completely different way I should play that hand.


-Glenn

Greg hit it on the nose. You must know before you call the reraise what you will do. Moving in on this flop given the range of hands this player might have seems to be the best play.


vince

It sounds like you may have played it fine. If you had check-folded on the flop, then I would've said your preflop call was a mistake.


If the way you did play it was a mistake, it was because this opponent was going to have an overpair at least as often as two overcards or an underpair, in which case a fold preflop was in order.


Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

IMO you make a mistake on the flop by calling the reraise on the flop. The only right thing to do is fold, all-in is also a bad play since you are at most 11-10 favorite with two tens against a reraise, and there is a considerable risk that he has an overpair. Especially when he is loose and the chance of scaring him away is almost 0, all-in is a bad play. If you consider yourself an above average player all-in is even worse as a good player does not want to play almost fifty-fifty hands.


All-in is not as bad as calling though since in ten out of eleven flops you will have to make a hard decision on how to proceed. No-limit Hold'em is all about avoiding these decisions.


Regards

Hansi