Bellagio ME hand #2
 

some announcement comes over the PA, saying at the conclusion of this level we are done for the night. I know I did, and it felt like everyone in room turned and looked at the clock. 1:30 left in level 5, day 1.

I have 60K, blinds 300-600, 75 ante

folded to me in highjack with 10-10, Ben, an asain expert cash game player from the east coast, is on button. He came to the table about 2 hrs ago and won 2 nice pots to get his stack around 80k.

I raise to 2400, Ben makes it 5400 to go, what is my optimal play, more than raise, fold, call, play out some scenerio's plz.

Re: Bellagio ME hand #2
 

Call, and play some poker on the flop.

From the way you describe him, I would play the flop pretty aggressively and not give him too much credit. He sounds tricky and could easily be raising you light here in position. I suppose a reraise isn't terrible, but it puts you in a real [censored] spot if he moves all in.

Re: Bellagio ME hand #2
 

arent tens tough to play outa position with a deep stack ?

Re: Bellagio ME hand #2
 

between these two, dont have the right info. how many laydowns has he made? how much folding equity do you have? is he aggressive or passive? im assuming aggressive. is he tricky? i fashioned a range for a tricky player.

Two plans: 1). Call with the plan to CR any dry flop, or bet any non-ace flop. He could be on a resteal, and i think his range is huge here.
2). reraise to 13.5k to weed out any resteals. Let him know you mean business I put his range on AA-77. AK-AT, most broadway, some suited connectors down to 78s. If he goes over the top, fold.

Re: Bellagio ME hand #2
 

I hate tens. For this exact reason. Tough to play. You are getting 2.5:1 on your call, so I think it is a mandatory call and see what the flop brings. Be ready to dump it, but you culd also end up spike a set, or all sorts of good flops for you. I think folding would be a mistake. Pushing would be silly and reraising could get you in real trouble if he pushes over the top.

Re: Bellagio ME hand #2
 

Your stack is too deep for a reraise in my opinion. Is he really gonna make a mistake here and fold KK or QQ etc... or just flat call w/ 99,AK or lower, no, he's gonna fold or push all-in? Your getting good enough odds to see the flop since he can be light here. As for playing the flop, maybe I can get help there cuz i suck w/ medium pairs post flop.

Re: Bellagio ME hand #2
 

i dont think he would make a mistake and fold kings preflop or call with 78s preflop BUT this would prevent him from making a continuation bet on the flop and make me play the guessing game...

Re: Bellagio ME hand #2
 

Instead, you'd rather make the bet yourself? Of course not. By raising to 13K you're risking ~35K every time you don't decide to check/fold. Better yet...you raise to 13K, he calls, the flop comes 742, you bet 20K, he pushes. Are you folding getting 3:1? I wouldn't.

Call and play poker. Let him have the reverse implied odds instead of you.

Re: Bellagio ME hand #2
 

not sure if I completly understand ur post, arent I defining his hand cheaply by reraising prelfop ?

Re: Bellagio ME hand #2
 

[ QUOTE ]
between these two, dont have the right info. how many laydowns has he made? how much folding equity do you have? is he aggressive or passive? im assuming aggressive. is he tricky? i

[/ QUOTE ]

It's a tournament. No one knows anything. This isn't the 8th hour of a limit holdem session.

Re: Bellagio ME hand #2
 

I think this is an easy call. I think you are beating yourself up too much about the result. The flop play is more interesting post that. Calling is the only play IMO.

Re: Bellagio ME hand #2
 

defining his hand means nothing if it lets him play perfectly. All you are doing is letting him fold worse hands and continue on with better ones and its costing you a large percentage of your stack to do so.

Re: Bellagio ME hand #2
 

[ QUOTE ]
defining his hand means nothing if it lets him play perfectly. All you are doing is letting him fold worse hands and continue on with better ones and its costing you a large percentage of your stack to do so.

[/ QUOTE ]

wow. im pretty much convinced. call. whats the line on the flop then? keep the pot small as possible unless hit a set?

Re: Bellagio ME hand #2
 

by not reraising isnt that letting him win all the flops that come tenless, and letting him break me on the 2-2-2 flop if he wants to ?

Re: Bellagio ME hand #2
 

Just call and play poker, not sure what type of advice your looking for here. A push seems pretty bad unless he's folding better hands, a reraise seems bad because then he can play for your stack preflop if he wants to and felting it w tt is probably not good spot for you. A call seems good because you have implied odds to flop a set plus the added bonus that you can...................

play poker on the flop!

Re: Bellagio ME hand #2
 

Call because of the odds, and do so without looking like you are going to hurl on the table because you know you are in a world of hurt post-flop.

Re: Bellagio ME hand #2
 

What MLG said is what I tried to say earlier about reraising to 12k. By calling him you give him the chance to overplay an AK or medium pair that you already have beat. It's not utterly hopeless on the flop either. I think you have an overpair like 45% of the time. And can put him to the test on flops w/ Jacks or Queens by leading or check raising etc...

RESULTS : Bellagio ME hand #2
 

after busting out at the very end of day 2, I obv went back thru the hands I felt like I could have played better and beat myself up over them, saying what if I played better...

this hand I called Bens reraise feeling my hand was best, which doesnt seem right...to call with the best hand.

the flop came QJ2 rainbow, I checked he bet 7k and I folded...

Re: Bellagio ME hand #2
 

One more vote for call and play poker.

What's your image in the last two hours. Is 4x your standard raise in this position?

Re: Bellagio ME hand #2
 

I think u need to be able to tell us a quick range u put him on during the hand...if u didnt put him on a range then I think u should start doing that during hands. My initial reaction is make it 20K and fold to a push if u think TT beats his range...if U think TT is behind his range then call, and look into his soul on the flop.

Re: RESULTS : Bellagio ME hand #2
 

I went back and read this thread because it was mentioned in another one. What does everyone think of the check on the flop here? I'm thinking I'd lead with a bet here. Unless he's got top pair good kicker, or you've been making a lot of c-bets, isn't there a good chance he'll fold?

Re: Bellagio ME hand #2
 

[ QUOTE ]
by not reraising isnt that letting him win all the flops that come tenless, and letting him break me on the 2-2-2 flop if he wants to ?

[/ QUOTE ]

I can think of lots of flops you win that are tenless. namely any flop that does not contain overs.