The following hands are taken from a 20+2 30 person sit-n-go. I ended up winning the tournament despite the mistakes and questionable decisions I made. Below are 4 hands which I thought might be of some interest.
Hand1: QQ
Situation: STT. We are already down to 9 handed play and the blinds are still relatively low. I’ve been multi-tabling so I don’t have a good read on the villains.
Your Hand: Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] Q[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]
Action to you: Player A folds. I raise 2.5 x the BB to 250. Player D and Player E call. The rest of the table fold. The pot has $900.
Flop: 2[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 3[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 6[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (rainbow)
Question: You’re first to act, do you check or bet? And how much do you bet?
I loved this flop and the thought going through my head is how to extract the most money out of the situation. So I couldn’t make up my mind. The clock started to run down and I panicked.
Action: I pushed all-in.
My logic was I felt pretty certain that at least one of my opponents had a pocket pair higher than the board and might call me assuming that my over bet was a steal bet. Looking back I think this was a mistake and would have been a better move if there was a flush draw on board. I think the best play is to put in a bet about the size of the pot. This way it looks like a typical continuation bet and maybe one of my opponents will try and steal it from me. And they won’t be getting the correct odds to call with AK. Is a check raise a better option?
Action: Both opponents folded.
Hand 2: KQs
Situation: STT. Still 9 handed play. I’ve been multi-tabling so I don’t have a good read on the villains.
Your Hand: K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] Q[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]
Action to you: Player A-C fold. PlayerD (Villian2) calls. The SB (villain 1) completes. The pot has $450.
Flop: 2[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] Q[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 9[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]
Action to you: SB bets $275.
Question: Do you fold, call or raise? There is a player still to act behind you.
Action: I raised $1000. Villian 2 folded and Villian 1 called all-in with his remaining 705 chips. Villian1 turned over Td 9c. The turn and river came blank-blank. And I won a sizeable pot.
Thoughts: This was probably my worst post-flop play of the tournament. My thinking was I would protect my top pair against a lone heart in either of my opponents hands. However, there was 1750 in the post and Villian1 had only 705 chips left. So he was getting better than 2-1 odds to draw with a lone heart. Whereas, the correct play I believe is to call. And then if a blank falls on the turn, to put him all-in when he won’t be getting the correct odds to call with a single card to come.
The only reason I post this hand is that there could be a small problem to the “correct” line. If Villain2 has the A of diamonds, then he’ll be getting the correct odds to call on the flop, better than 3-1. And if the SB (Villian1) goes all-in on the turn and I call, then Villian2 has better than 3-1 on the turn as well. And if I raise the turn, then I could be drawing dead to a made hand.
Should I be worried about this remote possibility?
Hand3: A7s
Situation: STT. Still 9 handed play, I just won a big pot, so I have a big stack. I’ve been multi-tabling so I don’t have a good read on the villain.
Your Hand: A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 7[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]
Action to you: Player A-f fold. I raise to $400 and the BB calls. The pot has $875.
Flop: 7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] Q[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]
Action to you: SB bets $150.
Question: Do you fold, call or raise?
I have bottom pair and want to reevaluate on the turn. The minimum bet looks suspicious to me. If it is checked to me on the turn, I will bet and try and take down the pot.
Action: I call. The pot has $1175.
Turn: J[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]
Action to me: BB bets $300 (the minimum again)
Question: Do you fold, call or raise?
I’m still not sure where I am. Why would he bet the minimum. Since I’m getting 5-1 on my money. I decide to call and hope to hit something or check down the river.
Action: I call. The post has $1775.
River: 6[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]
Action to me: BB bets $300.
Question: Do you fold or call?
I’m getting better than 7-1 to make the call. Since he called a preflop raise, it’s hard for me to put him on a weaker 7. I just don’t know what he could be betting that I have beat. So I fold. Is this an automatic call, even if it’s only to see how my opponent plays a hand? What would you have done on the flop and turn?
Hand4: 8To
Situation: STT. We’re down to 4 players and are already ITM. The payout structure is 1st=40%, 2nd=24%, 3rd=16%, 4th=12%. The table has been playing tight.
Your Hand: 8[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] T[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]
Action: Player A folds. I raise to $2000. The SB goes-all in for an additional $3,636. The BB folds. There is $6,836 in the pot. It cost me $2,036 to call.
Question: Do you fold or call?
I’m getting better than 3-1 to call. However, if I call and lose, my chips stack would be diminished to 5x the BB; in other words, I’ll barely have any folding equity. Since the table is playing tight I decided to fold. But given that the payout structure is so heavily weighted for first place, should I have gambled and called the all-in?
Action: I fold.
And these were the only mistakes that I felt were worth posting. So the deck hit me and I won something like the last 9 hands I played. Thanks for the comments in advance, this way I won't need to rely on my luck box.