Couple of No Limit Tourney Hands

[balt999]

I played in my first no limit tournament in about seven months at the Orleans NOON tournament...I felt very rusty at first, then got into a groove and comfortably built my chips to where I believe I was chip leader at one point. But consecutive bad beats and unsuccessful bluff attempts finished me off at around 15th place...Anyway, here are a few hands....see the errors in my way..

2nd Level: Blinds are 15-30. I have around 1100 TC....I'm in the small blind with A /forums/images/icons/heart.gif 8 /forums/images/icons/diamond.gif It's folded around to the button, who makes it 60 to go...Button has around 1200 TC...he's a solid Orleans tournament regular...I call....Big Blind (Never showed up) so it was heads up:

Flop comes 3 /forums/images/icons/spade.gif 9 /forums/images/icons/club.gif 3 /forums/images/icons/heart.gif

I check...Button bets 60...at this point...I didn't think that flop helped him much, so my course of action was to call the bet...then bet out the turn if it's a blank...The turn is a 6 /forums/images/icons/heart.gif ....I bet out 220...button mucks....

2nd hand: Blinds are at 50-100...I have around 2500 TC....It's called in 4 different spots..I'm in the blind with 3 /forums/images/icons/club.gif 3 /forums/images/icons/diamond.gif ..and check my option...

The flop comes 4 /forums/images/icons/club.gif 3 /forums/images/icons/heart.gif 6 /forums/images/icons/heart.gif

I bet out 300...called by an EP Player who's in above chip position (around 4000)...then two players go ALL IN..The first for around 500...the second for around 800...I call....as does the EP limper....(Was this the right move?) The turn comes 5 /forums/images/icons/diamond.gif ....I checked...EP goes all IN!!!

I think for around 3 minutes...and decide to muck my hand! This is where I'm confused...should I have call the rest of my chips...knowing that the EP may have a straight....After the River brought a blank...EP turns over A /forums/images/icons/heart.gif 7 /forums/images/icons/heart.gif for a nut straight...to take a massive pot a huge chip advantage...

Hand 3 -- Blinds 50-100

This is the VERY NEXT hand...I'm in the SB with 10 /forums/images/icons/heart.gif 8 /forums/images/icons/diamond.gif and complete my blind after two limpers including Oklahoma Johnny Hale...

The flop comes 9 /forums/images/icons/spade.gif 10 /forums/images/icons/club.gif 2 /forums/images/icons/spade.gif
I bet 300 from my 1600 TC stack...all muck to Oklahoma Johnny Hale who moves in for about 3000..he has me covered...I called, knowing that Johnny was capable of making moves at the pot....turns out I was dead wrong as Johnny Half turns over Pocket 10's....But then the poker Gods smiled upon me as I hit a runner runner straight to double up and cripple Johnny Hale...I got a "Friendly" Earful from him saying "How could I call him"...

Interesting note, I busted him 3 hands later when my ACES went up against his AK...

Any comments would be appreciated!

Thanks in advance

[sam h]

First Hand

I guess the question here is whether to checkraise the flop or do what you did and fire out on the turn. What are you representing with the turn bet? Certainly a three or 66 would check. Maybe a nine that wanted to make sure that an overcard didnt hit. Weaker players are going to fold here, but some stronger players are going to suspect something fishy and call or raise. I think if you made a small checkraise on the flop - which might take the hand down right there - and followed it up with a bet on the turn you would represent the nine stronger or maybe even a three and get better aces and maybe some small pairs to fold. Then again, you have a dilemna if a high card hits the turn instead of the six.

Second Hand

I think you really need to reraise on this flop. Its pretty likely you are still ahead even after the two all-ins and the other player is clearly on some kind of draw. As it turns out, he had a monster draw that he played really passively and you would have busted out following this advice. But I don't think you should let him see the turn that cheaply.

Hand Three

If you are behind you are probably really behind while if you are ahead you are probably not that big of a favorite against a draw/overcard combination. But then again, you are calling 1300 to win 2300 on a drawish board against a player who could make this move with a drawing hand so I don't think its necessarily a bad call. I guess it just comes down to your read. If half the time you have a 55-60% chance to move from 1300 to 3600 and half the time you are dead to a few outs thats not a terrible deal. If you fold here its getting pretty close to desperation time anyway with only 13 times the big blind and, by the sound of it, some other stacks getting pretty large.

[Greg (FossilMan)]

Hand 1 - seems fine to me; this is one of many good alternatives on how to play the hand. Which one is best would depend upon all the details you can't really pack into a short post.

Hand 2 - Pretty iffy. I would tend to bet more than T300 here, since the pot has T550 or 600, and since this is such a scary board for a bunch of limpers. After you get those raises, you certainly can't fold, as you have plenty of odds to catch a full house. However, reraising might have been best to knock out the big stack, if you read him for a fold.

Hand 3 - OKJ is more than capable of going all-in with anything here. A big hand like he had, a good hand like AT, a quality draw like flush + gutshot straight, a decent draw like straight or flush only, plus a few random bluffs that have few or no outs if called. I will very rarely lay down a real hand (top or second pair) to OKJ early in a tourney, as he does the all-in move so often. Best way to play him is to have a good gauge of his present mood. Sometimes he's only peddling the nuts, other times he's on total tilt. He's just harder to read, because he's still pretty friendly and such even when on total tilt.

Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

[balt999]

Fossil,

As always, thanks for the great advice:

The second hand really kept eating at me...it was a tough laydown especially since I had 800 invested in the pot laying around 4:1...and I only had one card to go make my full house....just one of those things where I felt better knowing I made a good laydown abiet a tough one.

The Charismatic and friendly Johnny Hale appeared to be a good spirits most of the time (Heck, he two people bought his book /forums/images/icons/grin.gif ), but as you mentioned, I've seen OKJ tilt his chips away at the drop of my hat...I had no second thought about calling his all-in raise....and would probably do it again under the same circumstances...I just happened to get lucky..