A few hands from one SnG

[durron597]

This is all from the same SnG on PokerRoom (1500 starting stacks). All hands are against the same big stack. Unfortunately I lost the HHs.

Hand 1:
I have 1200 chips before posting BB of 100. 7 handed. I have 9[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 9[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. 4 limpers, this is unusual. Big stack decent but not great player (has me well covered) in the SB makes it 300 total. What's my action?

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Hand 2:
5 handed, I have 2500 chips before posting. I have A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 3[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] in the SB, still 50/100 blinds. Two limpers including huge stack on button (same big stack as last hand, he still has me easily covered). What's my action?

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Hand 3 (IMO the most interesting):

I have A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] T[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] in the BB, 4 handed. 75/150 blinds, I have 2800 chips before posting. Folded to big stack SB who completes. I raise to 400, he thinks and calls. Flop 8KTrb. He checks, I bet 600 into 800 pot. He thinks for a LONG time and calls. Turn is an offsuit 4. He checks again. What's my action?

What I did in white below. Please comment on the turn play before reading what I did and what happened next.

<font color="white"> I checked behind. Turn is a J. He bets 500 into 2000 pot. What's my action? </font>

[SmileyEH]

hand 1: push

hand 2: fold

hand 3: bet the turn

-SmileyEH

[xerostar]

I agree with smiley on all three points. The final hand would be the easiest decision in my opinion, since MPTK is really good in a heads up game this late in the tournament. Especially if you believe that the long hesitation is an obvious tell, you should definitely bet.

[Bigwig]

1 -- Push.
2 -- Fold preflop.
3 -- I probably check, or bet a marginal amount desinged to drive out a river straight draw.

[rachelwxm]

Hi, I would like all of your opinions of hand 2. I would typically complete from sb a wide range of hands if blind is relatively small to my stack, like Ax K9 or better, is this a leak of my game? I would check fold if A flops however. If flop check through, I feel better about my pair of aces. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[ilya]

Hand 1: My initial instinct was to fold, but after thinking about it for a little I guess I lean towards pushing. I think it depends a bit on how suspicious you are of the sudden limping. If you figure there's a 10% chance/per limper of slowplaying a big pair, and another 20% or so chance that the SB has a big pair, the push becomes marginal. If you think the chance of slowplaying is lower, maybe 5%/limper, then it definitely looks like a push.

Hand 2: Fold. I don't think this is a good spot to rob the limpers; if one or more of them does call, you'll have a really hard time flopping anything you like, especially since you'll be out of position.

Hand 3: I would raise a little more before the flop, maybe to 450 or 500. I like the flop bet, and I agree with the others that you should bet on the turn. When he thinks for a long time on the flop, I think it can mean one of three things: he's got middle/bottom pair and he's trying not to be weak, he's got a draw and is trying to guess whether you'll pay him off, or maybe that he's got a hand he likes like JJ and is thinking whether to risk reraising you or to wait and see what you do on the turn. Since the 4 helps none of those possible holdings, I think you've got to bet and try to win the pot right there.

[Sam T.]

Hand One: The consensus here seems to be pushing, but I'm going to dissent. This is a case of small favorite/big dog, and I'm not convinced that it's worth it. (If this is anything like Party, you WILL be called, so folding equity is minimal.) Assuming the raiser has overcards, pushing is +EV in chips, but I don't think it's +EV in terms of survival. (Note all of this could change depending on reads, and opponents' stacks. If a push would force one or more of the limpers all-in, you should definately fold.)

Hand Two:
Clearly you pushed and won. Good for you for not listening to me. I'm an idiot.
Fold. What flop do you want? Alternately, if you're feeling hoppy, raise here and if you're called bet out no matter what the flop.

Hand Three:
Go with a bigger raise here. You have to give the limper a good reason to fold.

I like the flop bet. I don't give many on-line reads much credit. The long wait may well have been because his wife came into the room and asked him when the hell he was coming to bed, didn't he know he had to go to work the next day, and that he has a goddam monkey on his back. (For a guess.)

A call of the PF raise says he doesn't have complete garbage, and the call of your flop bet says he caught at least a piece. The check-call is either a weak king or a str8 draw. The problem is that any meaningful bet at this point will commit you to the pot, and you will probably lose to K2o. So I would bet, but not push, simply because that will look desperate. If he calls, you can shut it down - he's got the K.

Once you check through and he bets the J, I think the hand is over for you. It may have made his straight, but it doesn't matter. Since we don't think he's got complete garbage, odds are good he has either the K or the J. The turn check tells him you don't have the K, so he knows is J is good, and is betting it.

[SmileyEH]

[ QUOTE ]
Hand One: The consensus here seems to be pushing, but I'm going to dissent. This is a case of small favorite/big dog, and I'm not convinced that it's worth it. (If this is anything like Party, you WILL be called, so folding equity is minimal.) Assuming the raiser has overcards, pushing is +EV in chips, but I don't think it's +EV in terms of survival. (Note all of this could change depending on reads, and opponents' stacks. If a push would force one or more of the limpers all-in, you should definately fold.)

[/ QUOTE ]

Hero will also be called by hands he dominates like A8s, and probably lower pocket pairs down to 55.

I would need an incredible read to fold 99 in this spot (remember it is a top5% hand).

-SmileyEH

[ChrisV]

(1) Ugh. Really I need more info on the SB - is he aggressive? I think I'd fold as the SB needs a good hand to raise that amount in this spot, but if he's an idiot then I'd have to reconsider.

(2) Fold.

(3) Allin on the turn. I don't think it's particularly close either. Both the check-call and the delay on the flop argue that he doesn't have a king. Given you checked, on the river fold. Nobody runs a 1/4 pot stone-cold bluff against a preflop raiser when a third broadway card falls on the river. Likely hands for him include J9s, QJ, JT.

[durron597]

[ QUOTE ]
This is all from the same SnG on PokerRoom (1500 starting stacks). All hands are against the same big stack. Unfortunately I lost the HHs.

Hand 1:
I have 1200 chips before posting BB of 100. 7 handed. I have 9[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 9[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. 4 limpers, this is unusual. Big stack decent but not great player (has me well covered) in the SB makes it 300 total. What's my action?


[/ QUOTE ]

I folded. I figured the only way he would make a raise like that is if he wanted to build a pot, not get people to fold, so I figured he probably had AA or KK. His betting pattern post flop certainly suggested that.

The bigger stack from the next hand was when I got allin preflop AK vs. AT, in an unmentioned hand. I wonder if people thinking I should push here was reflective of that stack size?

[ QUOTE ]

Hand 2:
5 handed, I have 2500 chips before posting. I have A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 3[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] in the SB, still 50/100 blinds. Two limpers including huge stack on button (same big stack as last hand, he still has me easily covered). What's my action?


[/ QUOTE ]

I'm glad to see that no one completes here. I guess this was a results-oriented hand, the flop came A32, and I probably could have taken a sizeable chunk against button's A9. But my thinking was, I only want to see a flop with this hand if I flop two pair, which isn't worth the 50 chips to complete. Or is it? I need to win 1000 chips if I'm going to go on pure "flop two pair" value for the hand, and there's already 350 in the pot. Plus there's value for when I hit the wheel, trips, and when I can take it down with a bluff. I don't think there's enough value, but my stack is big enough that it might be close.

[ QUOTE ]

Hand 3 (IMO the most interesting):

I have A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] T[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] in the BB, 4 handed. 75/150 blinds, I have 2800 chips before posting. Folded to big stack SB who completes. I raise to 400, he thinks and calls. Flop 8KTrb. He checks, I bet 600 into 800 pot. He thinks for a LONG time and calls. Turn is an offsuit 4. He checks again. What's my action?

What I did in white below. Please comment on the turn play before reading what I did and what happened next.

I checked behind. Turn is a J. He bets 500 into 2000 pot. What's my action?

[/ QUOTE ]

I managed to convince myself that it was too likely he had a King, so the plan for the hand was "check behind, and call a small river bet if the pot odds are worth it." Unfortunately this turned out to be a pretty bad way to play the hand. His long delay coupled with everything else I know about this player leads me to believe that pushing the turn is definitely the right move, but I was playing with scared money. He had AJo and took it down when I called his 500 bet.