Speculative hand from Stars 10+1 Deepstack
 

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t2000 (9 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

Hero (t115948)
MP1 (t90781)
MP2 (t255421)
MP3 (t86089)
CO (t47965)
Button (t42818)
SB (t62386)
BB (t62542)
UTG (t89469)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with 6[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 5[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t6000</font>, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, MP2 calls t6000, <font color="#666666">5 folds</font>.

Flop: (t12800) 8[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 4[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 3[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
Hero checks, <font color="#CC3333">MP2 bets t6000</font>, Hero calls t6000.

Turn: (t24800) J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
Hero checks, <font color="#CC3333">MP2 bets t8000</font>, Hero calls t8000.

River: (t40800) 5[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
Hero checks, MP2 checks.

Final Pot: t40800

My plan had been to follow up with preflop raise with a nice half or two thirds pot bet unless the flop came too scary.

Problem was, the guy who called was the only guy at the table who could bust me and who had shown himself to be competent and aggressive. When I saw it was me and him I ratcheted down the aggression several notches to keep the pot small. We were well into it but still shy of the money and I had a healthy enough stack to make a run.

So should I have been more aggressive here, or was being more cautious appropriate?

Re: Speculative hand from Stars 10+1 Deepstack
 

I think him being competent is a plus for you in this situation -- it means that if you play it right you can get him to muck a smallish overpair. I think you can either bet on the flop or c/r &amp; maybe bet again on turn if he calls. Or if he slows up against agression, check &amp; take the free river.

Re: Speculative hand from Stars 10+1 Deepstack
 

There's no way I'm giving up the lead on this flop. I bet the flop and 3-bet a raise. If he's a solid, aggressive player (which you say he is), you can get him to fold a lot of hands -- including many hands he'll try to put you to the test with.

Being careful against one of the few players who can bust you isn't a terrible idea when there are a lot of shortstacks letting you rob them blind. Given that this is a $10 tournament (and that the bubble is for about 15 dollars) it's doubtful anyone will be playing tight enough for that to be an issue in this hand.

Re: Speculative hand from Stars 10+1 Deepstack
 

Bet the flop. There's a good chance he mucks to a flop bet. If you don't, check/raise the turn when you pick up the flush draw to go with your open ended straight draw.