Me vs Scotty Nguyen
 

I played in the Bellagio $2000 today and sat to Scotty's left for five hours. He busted me on this hand when I tried to make a play, looking for thoughts on Scotty and on plays in general.

It's small blind vs big blind, blinds are 300/600 with a $50 ante about 60 people out of the original 300 left. He completes, I raise $1000 more with Ks Js, he calls (I had about $9000 in chips, he had about $20,000 ... . The flop is ten high and he checks to me. I check. The turn is a queen. He checks, I bet $1300, he calls. The river is a three, pairing the board and he checks. I move in for about $7000 more. He calls with Q8, one pair.

Thoughts?

Re: Me vs Scotty Nguyen
 

I'm not sure about how he played it, but I hate how you played it. You really need to bet the flop here. If you want to take this pot without a hand, the streets to do it are the flop and turn. When you shove all your chips in there at the end its generally a big hand or a bluff, and its hard to see what really big hand you would have here.

Re: Me vs Scotty Nguyen
 

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You really need to bet the flop here. If you want to take this pot without a hand, the streets to do it are the flop and turn

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I am going to print this out, laminate it, and stick it to my computer.

I always seem to go broke on hands like these later in tournies. [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

Re: Me vs Scotty Nguyen
 

Push preflop.

Re: Me vs Scotty Nguyen
 

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Push preflop.

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lol

Re: Me vs Scotty Nguyen
 

He had two pair.

-Magnus

Re: Me vs Scotty Nguyen
 

I think pushing's fine, considering you're up against [censored] Scottie Nguyen. I would think that pros would be considerably more leery than amateurs about getting into race situations because they lose their ability to outplay you and accumulate chips with little risk. Plus, pushing negates Scottie's considerable postflop advantage - the longer the hand goes on, the more his superior play asserts itself.

My two cents...

Re: Me vs Scotty Nguyen
 

If I am the pre flop aggressor and it is checked to me HU, I lead almost always (probably >95%).

Re: Me vs Scotty Nguyen
 

your stack size isn't exactly clear, but it looks like you have 9k after raising 1k, so you have 10k before the raise. there is 1.7k in the middle. i think raising 1k more is too small. you're pricing him in with a lot of hands, so you're not narrowing the range at all.

i'd raise another 1.5k. i'm guessing nguyen will complete a wide range here and you want to raise enough to push him off junk. you'll still have enough left that you comfortably fold to a reraise.

i think pushing is also a viable option. your stack is only 6x the pot, and not playing a hand post-flop against a WSOP champ is never a horrible thing.

as it was played, i agree - bet the flop. not sure about the river bluff - i almost never make these kinds of plays personally.

Re: Me vs Scotty Nguyen
 

What do you mean he had two-pair? Were you there and saying I mis-read the board? If so, are you saying that he called only b/c he had two pair and would have folded had he only had one pair, weak kicker?