$5K trump classic

[Temp Hutter]

I will say at the outset that I am going on memory from a week ago and some details may be off a little. About 35 or 40 people left with the top 18 getting paid. Blinds are 300-600 with 50 ante. MP player raises to 2500 and both the SB and BB call. At the start of the hand MP has about 110K, SB has just under 40K and BB has about 65K. Average chip stack is 30-35K. MP is probably the chip leader of the tournament, and has been playing tight but aggressive once he enters a pot. SB has been caught bluffing recently and has been playing a few too many pots. BB is a known pro and a solid player that has been playing pretty tight lately although he can change gears in an instant.

Flop is T54 with two spades. SB and BB check to MP who bets 5K into a 7900 pot. SB thinks for a minute and calls. BB thinks for a minute and starts to line up some chips. He grabs a stack of 1K chips and raises to 20K.

MP has KK (no spade). Call, raise or fold?

[betgo]

Push and hope no one has a set.

[Gary07]

It seems that the pro could easily have a set here, but it also depends on how the mp has been playing and the probable read the bb has on him. If mp has been playing LAG then i think a call is the right play. Also if mp calls and loses he will still have an above average stack.

[betgo]

Yeh, maybe better to call and push the turn.

Does anyone fold here?

If BB is a known pro he may check/raise here with TP putting MP on nothing but a continuation bet. Of course, there is a slightly chance he made a set here but thats a chance I am willing to take. Maybe he is doing the same with the same read (mp has two overs) with a draw and is semibluffing wiht a check/raise. I push here and I expect to win more times than I lose.

[woodguy]

BB may be making a play, or think that his JJ,AT,KT, pair and two spades etc. are good. In other words I'm not folding.

If I proceed on the assumption that I'm in the lead, I want to flat call the raise to keep the BB in the lead and raise him on a blank turn, but that risks keeping the SB around.

The biggest problem with this line is that the SB can call drawing to his hand correctly. (with the check/call he's *probably* on the draw, maybe a OESD or flush).

So on the turn, I don't want to see an 8,3 or a spade if both the SB and BB are there so I raise the flop.

Given the size of the pot and what SB and BB have behind, its a push.

I really want to call the flop and push on a blank turn, but if the SB called the first time, he's got the odds to call the 2nd time, and he may call off 1/2 his stack on the draw given his image. I need to avoid making the SB play his hand correctly here and get HU w/ the BB.

The push probably folds all the hands we are ahead of and gets calls from the ones we are behind, but I don't see another line that I like, and there is ~37K in the pot now, so taking it down is ok.

I'm probably wrong.

Regards,
Woodguy

[Temp Hutter]

[ QUOTE ]
I will say at the outset that I am going on memory from a week ago and some details may be off a little. About 35 or 40 people left with the top 18 getting paid. Blinds are 300-600 with 50 ante. MP player raises to 2500 and both the SB and BB call. At the start of the hand MP has about 110K, SB has just under 40K and BB has about 65K. Average chip stack is 30-35K. MP is probably the chip leader of the tournament, and has been playing tight but aggressive once he enters a pot. SB has been caught bluffing recently and has been playing a few too many pots. BB is a known pro and a solid player that has been playing pretty tight lately although he can change gears in an instant.

Flop is T54 with two spades. SB and BB check to MP who bets 5K into a 7900 pot. SB thinks for a minute and calls. BB thinks for a minute and starts to line up some chips. He grabs a stack of 1K chips and raises to 20K.

MP has KK (no spade). Call, raise or fold?

[/ QUOTE ]

After a lot of deliberation the MP folded and the SB moved all in and was called immediately by the BB.

The SB had TT and the BB had 55 for set over set. MP made the correct laydown in a tough spot. I was SB in this particular hand. If the flop had come rainbow I believe the BB would have just called the flop and the KK may have committed himself to the pot on the turn.