Evaluate the unexperienced PLHE player

[Inthacup]

Playing in my first PLHE tourney online.

Early in tourney, start with $1000, worked it up to $1800. Blinds are 15 and 30

I'm in LP with JsJd. MP raises to 60, I reraise to 150. Blinds fold, MP calls.

Flop

Kc Jh 5c.

MP checks, I bet the pot($345), He raises all-in($1360), I call leaving me w/ about $270 in chips.

Questions: 1) Would a player ever play this aggressively with either of these 3 hands; AA, Q10 or a flush draw?
2) What hands do you put him on?
3) Did I play this too aggressively on the flop betting the pot limit?
4) When someone makes a tiny raise, does that usually signify a trap? Any hand that seems vulnerable like AK, or KQs seems like it would make a pot sized raise to cut the field as much as possible.


Results and comments posted soon.

[Jimbo]

1. Yes
2. KK, but AJc is remotely possible
3. No
4. Depends on the player & the circumstances but yes it may.
I probably would have called the all-in bet as well. I hope you caught the case J and won.

Jimbo

[Nepa]

I don't know if it is just me but I think pot limit is tougher than NL. Anyone else feel this way?

[Bozeman]

Pot limit tourneys typically require much more post flop skill.

Craig

[Inthacup]

As you might imagine, he had pocket kings. The turn and river were two blanks and I made an early exit from the tourney.

My thoughts: About the hand and PL in general;
1) Not taking into account the way the hand played out, I think his raise preflop was too small. I don't think that the minimum raise is going to push out the lone aces that you want to fold.
2)When faced with my flop decision, I tried to put him on a hand. The preflop action did throw me off his hand, but here were my options: KK, 55, AA, KJ, Q10c.
3)Pot limit becomes much harder online, losing the "feel" that is so important in reading people.

[Jimbo]

Ithacup,

You stated he was in LP, his raise should eliminate any weak aces however either AK or AQ suited will call a medium size raise as well. All the hands he will eliminate with an inordinately sized raise are hands he certainly dominates. As I suspected you were trapped but it takes a perfect read to discard middle set under the circumstances you described. Better luck in the next one. Be honest with me Ithacup, could you ever imagine discarding that hand in a live tourney unless he showed his KK (I know it would disqualify his hand, but you know what I mean)?

Jimbo

[Inthacup]

I certainly don't think I would ever discard middle set under these circumstances. Maybe I should entertain the thought, but A: I don't trust my hand reading skills THAT much, B: It's online, amd the quality of play in these tourneys is not strong enough for me to confidently put him on KK in the first place.

However, I did preface my KK preflop analysis by saying I was disregarding this hand and the outcome. Even if he had raised the pot preflop, I still would have called his all in bet. That was simply my opinion of how KK should be played preflop in general. Anyway, thanks for the input jimbo.

[Jimbo]

You are welcome Inthacup and I apologise for mispelling your name! [img]/forums/images/icons/confused.gif[/img] The obvious advantage of playing KK differently is shown by his results. I still think he played it fine preflop. If he used similiar logic as yours (about online players) he may have figured the "any ace" players would call a pot raise preflop as easily as a small one and perhaps gotten himself "pot stuck" even if an ace flopped.

Jimbo