WSOP $2500 limit: Top pair with KQo

[ShawnHoo]

Played in the $2500 WSOP event this weekend. Didn't cash, but I was pretty happy to have made it out of the first table with an above-average stack. Why? Here's a partial lineup:

John D'Agostino
Andy Bloch
Nate tha' Great
"Aggro boy" (from my last WSOP post)
David Plastik
A Costa Rican casino owner who crushes the $300-$600 game in Vegas
A fashionably late Phil Hellmuth

This particular hand was in the first level, $25-$25 blinds, and I didn't have much info on the players involved. Comments appreciated on all streets.

I'm in the BB with KQo, one of which is a spade. Andy Bloch raises UTG+1, an unknown in MP who plays a lot of tournaments calls, SB folds, I call.

Flop: K73 with two spades

I check, Andy bets, unknown raises, I call, Andy calls.

Turn: 7 (no three-flush yet)

I bet, Andy raises, unknown folds.

[bone77]

Why not three bet the flop if you already planned on leading any non-scare card (ace) turn?

[bobdibble]

I think calling KQo out of position against a WCP's UTG+1 raise is a bad idea at this stage in the tournament.... just look at the trouble it caused /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[dbecham]

so calling preflop was a bad idea but that is beside the point, what needs to be addressed is his position in the hand. The intriquing part about this hand is why Andy would only call the raise on the flop and then raise bb on the turn. If he is ahead why push MP out when he could possibly expect him to reraise again. Is he protecting QQ or jj possibly i dont know exactly what to think. But i think you have two options you could 3 bet the turn here if you think he is protecting or fold to the raise.

[Philuva]

[ QUOTE ]
so calling preflop was a bad idea but that is beside the point, what needs to be addressed is his position in the hand. The intriquing part about this hand is why Andy would only call the raise on the flop and then raise bb on the turn. If he is ahead why push MP out when he could possibly expect him to reraise again. Is he protecting QQ or jj possibly i dont know exactly what to think. But i think you have two options you could 3 bet the turn here if you think he is protecting or fold to the raise.

[/ QUOTE ]

uggh. based on your logic you should be calling down or folding. 3 betting is a horrible idea, unless Andy wold fold AK here, but I don't think he is going to in this situation.

[ShawnHoo]

[ QUOTE ]
Why not three bet the flop if you already planned on leading any non-scare card (ace) turn?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, this was the part of the hand that I was most concerned about.

From my point of view, I'm either way ahead or way behind Andy, and the unknown player likely has a flush draw that he's not going to fold no matter what I do. If I 3-bet the flop, Andy's foolish to call if he's beat, and in a good spot to call and wait to raise me on the turn if he has me crushed.

But by calling the flop and betting the turn, I'm putting up a neon sign that I have a King and figure to only get action when beat. Yes?

[Masquerade]

Why not re-raise the flop? Andy Bloch is betting because he raised pre-flop. He's going to bet any flop. The MP player is raising because he doesnt necessarily believe Bloch has a K and wants it heads up. He might have a king with a worse kicker or might have a hand like 99. I dont know what flop you were waiting for with KQ but this looks like it to me. You can beat at least one of them so re-raise.

[Nate tha' Great]

I feel like something went awry in this hand, but it's hard to figure out just what.

The preflop call is fine IMO. If there's an argument for folding, it's more from a chip preservation/cash equity standpoint than a chip equity standpoint.

The flop call is okay too, as there's just too much chance that you have the best hand to fold. If your kicker were junkier like KTs or something then the decision becomes more difficult. I also don't really see what 3-betting accomplishes here as there aren't ordinarily going to be any draws that you can get to fold incorrectly.

The turn is the interesting street. Your cold call on the flop almost has to represent one of three things:

1) A decent king;
2) A set;
3) A flush draw.

as the pot is not nearly large enough for you to be drawing to some kind of 5-outer with a pair of sevens, especially not closing the action. The cheap play is just to check and call and fold if somehow it's two bets to you or Andy check-raises, and that might be what I'd do. On the surface betting out seems attractive as it prevents free cards and might give you some kind of folding equity, but I don't think it gives you much folding equity against those hands that you'd want to fold, e.g. I doubt anyone is folding KQ/AK/AA and certainly nobody is folding 7x. However, because your coldcall/lead is pretty scary, I doubt very much that Andy is going to raise you without a strong hand himself, especially with another player left to act behind him. So I think I like bet-folding slightly better than bet-calling, though check-calling might be better than both. There's also an argument that it's okay to call the turn raise once the unknown folds, but that you shouldn't call the river since you haven't improved and haven't gotten your free showdown.