3 hands from Monte-Carlo

[PrayingMantis]

Here are 3 hands from the EPT Main Event in Monte-Carlo. Buy-in is 10,000 EURO, which is about $13,000. I have qualified with FPPs on stars.

Hand 1

I'm at seat 4 and been playing quite tight. Original stacks are 10,000, and it's a 90 minutes level. I've accumulated some chips, and then lost some again. I have about 9000 at this point. Blinds are 50/100.

Folded to a young Irish player on CO. He has qualified on Stars. Looks like a solid player, pretty aggressive, but not too much. he has about 15,000 after winning a few big pots with good hands. He raises to 300. He doesn't have garbage here - He's not on an auto-raise mode when it's folded to him. Folded to me on SB with QdQs. I decide to just call. BB folds, pot is 700.

Flop: T95r. I bet 400, CO instantly calls.

Turn: 9. pot is 1500. I bet 800. CO instantly calls.

River: 7. No flush. pot is 3100. I bet 1500. CO instantly raises to 4000. I think about is for a while, stare at him, play with my chips. He looks tense, his mouth is dry. I fold.

Hand 2

Blinds are 75/150. I'm at about 8500. Folded to me on the SB. On the BB is a very aggressive player - constantly reraising on the flop/turn, and we saw him showing down some very bad cards (23s- he bluffed with it all the way in some hand on a dangarous board, and got called. Another time someone called a big bet by this guy on the river, for practically all his chips, with TP+no kicker (A2 on AKxxx board), and won the hand.) This guy likes calling raises PF and then starts pushing people around post-flop. He lost couple of big pots and now he's at 4500, a bit tilting IMO.

I raise to 500 with Q7o on the SB. BB calls.

Flop: K72r. I check, he checks.

Turn: 2. I bet 500. He is quiet for a few seconds, then raises to 1000. A miniraise. I call.

River: T. No flush. I check. He instantly pushes his last 3000 or so into the pot. I look at him and think about it. Then I call. MHIG.

Hand 3

Blinds are 150/300. I'm at about 12,000. A very good (and pretty well known, apparantly) French player on the CO makes it 900. He is constantly open-raising when it's folded to him, for quite a while now. When he did it when I was on the BB/SB, a couple of times already, I stared at him before folding my garbage. It might look as if I'm upset with him raising my blind, and as if I am waiting to make some kind of a move (but I actually just like to stare at people before I fold, if I fold). Anyway, he open-raises again. I have him covered by about 5K at this point. I have AJo on the BB. I reraise to 2500. French guy instantly goes all-in. I fold.

Thanks for any comments.

[MLG]

Hand 1: check call the river

Hand 2: limp preflop, then call a lot like you did.

Hand 3: Call and play a flop.

[PrayingMantis]

[ QUOTE ]
Hand 1: check call the river


[/ QUOTE ]

That's obviously what I was thinking after my fold. However, thinking about it much more, I'm not sure I like check-calling here. I think his smooth calls on the flop and turn, which weren't typical for this player at all, and not on a very drawy board, might make sense if he has 2 kinds of hands: 1) a hand that will call a value bet on the river, especially since I didn't reraise PF 2) a hand that has me killed already on the flop (or on the the turn). I don't think this is a very bluffable board/hand, with the dynamics of the hand. I also suspect that if I'm behind here, the kinds of hands he has might make him bet more than 1500 on the river (and so it's worse than betting myself, if I'm folding to a reraise like I did). Anyway, I'm not sure.

BTW, I talked with my villain here about this hand 2 days later. He said he had TT for a flopped set and I believe him.

[ QUOTE ]
Hand 2: limp preflop, then call a lot like you did.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's a possible line, of course. I liked raising because I liked the idea of starting to put some pressure on this guy. Also, The fact that I raised PF made my river call somewhat easier, IMO.

[ QUOTE ]
Hand 3: Call and play a flop.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes. I don't like my reraise here at all.

[MLG]

You might be right on hand 1. He either has a monster or a hand that he wants to take to a cheap showdown, If im him I actually might play A10 or A9 like this, obvioulsy the second one has you crushed. AA, KK, JJ all check the river behind and probably call you after playing this way, overall saving you money (although I doubt JJ just calls all the way down). The question is, what could he bluff with, and how much do hands that have you beat bet. Isn't JQ a real possibility here?

Hand 2: I would wait to raise for a better hand than Q7o. You know he's calling with anything so you better raise for value, and this is almost exactly EV neutral against a random hand. Against an aggro player out of position I want to keep the pot small.

[PrayingMantis]

[ QUOTE ]
Isn't JQ a real possibility here?


[/ QUOTE ]

It is a possibilty. However, J8 is also possible then, and I lose to this hand on the river. But anyway, I think that his instant smooth calls made more sense for me if he has a made hand, and not a draw. I think that with a QJ there's some real possibility he raises me, at least on the flop. He didn't look as if he contemplates a raise.

Actually, when he raised me on the river, I thought it is more possible that he called me on the flop and on the turn with nothing, only to make a move on me later in the hand. It is of course something I have seen strong players do on these big events, when they sense their opponent is able of folding a nice hand (but I don't really think he is that kind of player). So it was either he's on a complete bluff from the begining (bluff calling on the river/turn), or he has a 9/T (holding A9, AT, like you said) or a set (Edit: of course, if he has only T he doesn't raise the river IMO) I didn't feel he'll be raising me with a missed draw, and so - I didn't feel inducing a bluff from a missed draw is the line for me here.

[MLG]

fair enough.

[PrayingMantis]

Thanks for your thoughts, MLG.

[dmk]

I remember hand 1. While the hand was being played out I thought it was a good fold. It felt like CO had a huge hand. I believe he had TT.

Hand 2 you played well given your opponent. I can't believe I ran into a set vs this guy...bad memories /images/graemlins/wink.gif

Hand 3...was this the guy I busted against? In the 1 seat? I think calling is better than raising, although it sucks having to play against him out of position. He really was raising any hand folded to him at all times. Given the chip counts, its probably best to see a flop and take it from there.

[AJo Go All In]

[ QUOTE ]
When he did it when I was on the BB/SB, a couple of times already, I stared at him before folding my garbage.

[/ QUOTE ]

i think this tends to encourage me to steal more against you. it is so obvious exactly what you are doing.

the french guy wasn't lellouche, was it? i doubt he was ever that short-stacked, but i can't think of who else it would be.

[Roman]

why are you raising an agressive player out of position with garbage?

[dmk]

Given the range of hands villian is willing to call the raise with, I'd consider his raise for value.

[PrayingMantis]

Yes, hand 3 was against the guy who busted you (QQ against your A7, right?). And I agree it's best to see a flop in my hand here.

[PrayingMantis]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
When he did it when I was on the BB/SB, a couple of times already, I stared at him before folding my garbage


[/ QUOTE ] i think this tends to encourage me to steal more against you. it is so obvious exactly what you are doing.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree, I pretty much trapped myself doing this against him.



[ QUOTE ]
the french guy wasn't lellouche, was it?

[/ QUOTE ]

It was Michael Abecassis.

[PrayingMantis]

What hand are you talking about? Personaly I think that the AJo raise is much worse than the Q7o raise. I actually don't have much of a problem with the Q7o raise against this guy, although I could have just limped, obviously.

[Rolen]

I'm not sure I share your distaste for your AJo raise. Purely as an info bet you gain much more equity by raising than you do by calling..From his action after your re-raise it seems clear that you're up against a dominating hand, one you could easily lose a lot of chips with post-flop.

[dmk]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm not sure I share your distaste for your AJo raise. Purely as an info bet you gain much more equity by raising than you do by calling..From his action after your re-raise it seems clear that you're up against a dominating hand, one you could easily lose a lot of chips with post-flop.

[/ QUOTE ]

The problem is he's going to be losing too many chips vs a hand like AQs and AK when an A flops. If he just calls, he's bound to lose a lot less, and he'll make a lot more from any worse A that would have folded to his re-raise.

[dmk]

[ QUOTE ]
Yes, hand 3 was against the guy who busted you (QQ against your A7, right?). And I agree it's best to see a flop in my hand here.

[/ QUOTE ]

JJ, same thing. Sucks that I just happened to run into a real hand that time.

[BPA234]

1. Reraise preflop w/QQ,
2. fold or call, I would wait for better before I took on an aggro
3. I take the flop and play from there. You are either way behind or he has seen you laydown hands and pushes w/any PP to win the hand right there

Is your play with QQ too timid or am I too aggressive?

[BPA234]

QQ hand: I would reraise preflop and play any overcard free flop aggressively.

Any thoughts?

[PrayingMantis]

Of course this is a normal line. But when you play against good/very good opposition at a very big live event, there is some merit in playing your big hands in different ways. I see very good players at these events often limp/call raises with big hands, including QQ-AA/AK, in different positions and situations. If you are not sure of your post-flop game, obviously simply raising is always better.

[PrayingMantis]

[ QUOTE ]
2. fold or call, I would wait for better before I took on an aggro

[/ QUOTE ]

There are too few opportunities in such events to gain chips, in order to pass such a +EV call, IMO. You can't just sit and "wait", people will run over you, as in this hand.