13 late-tournament hands

[Nelson]

On the advice of ohkanada, here are some recent late-tournament NLH hands that I would be happy to hear player comments on:

1) 6 players left, I'm in 5th with half the stack of the leader. I have 4h Qd in the sb. Folded to me, I fold to the chip leader.

2) I am ug+1 with AQ unsuited. Folded to me, I go all-in.

3) Blinds 800/1600. I have 6d7d in the bb. Folded to the sb (3rd) who calls.
Flop 7s Ah 4h. SB bets, I call.
Turn kd. Sb checks, I bet 1600, he calls.
River 4c. Checked through.

4) I'm in 6th place. Dealt JcKd on the Button, folded to me, I raise all-in. BB calls.

5) I have AhQh utg. I raise all-in.

6) 6 players, I'm in fourth place. I have As8s in the SB. UG+2 (2nd in chips) raise a third of my stack. Folded to me, I fold.

7) Blinds 800/1600. I have 14000 chips. I'm dealt 3c 5h in the sb. UG (chip leader) bets, folded to me.
Flop 5d 7h 4c
I bet out 1600, he calls.
Turn 4d
I bet 2500, he calls.
River 5s
I bet 3000, he calls.

8) Blinds 1000/2000, I'm in second place (25000) with 6 players.
I have Kc Qs ug+1. Folded to me, I raise 4000. Folded to the button (15000) chips who calls and the bb completes.
Flop 8h 5d Jd. Checked around.
Turn 5s. BB goes all in (2510), I fold, button calls.

9) Five players left, I'm in third with half of the chips of the leader. I have 3s Kh in the SB. Folded to me and I fold to the chip leader.

10) Same scenario as the last hand, I'm dealt 9d 10h on the button. Folded to me, I fold.

11) Next hand I have Kd 5h in the sb. UG (2nd place) raises 4000. Folded to me and I fold.

12) Four players left, everyone pretty much even, blinds 1000/2000. I have 5c 8s in the sb. Folded to me and I fold.

13) Lucky 13. Blinds 1500/3000. I don't have the exact history of this hand, but I had Ks 10s in the bb. I UG bets 3000, sb calls, I call.
Flop is KD 8s 6s. Sb bets 3000, I call, ug folds. Turn was a low rag. Sb (equal stack as mine) goes all-in. What's the right play here, I strongly considered folding..but didn't.

Thanks to those who have time to respond.

[ohkanada]

It is best not to group this many hands in one post. With this many hands you have not described each situation very well. We don't have chip counts or blind sizes which are crucial in making decisions.

That being said here are some comments: (the hands not shown I think are fine.)

1)" 6 players left, I'm in 5th with half the stack of the leader. I have 4h Qd in the sb. Folded to me, I fold to the chip leader."

Seems like a good fold. Calling would depend on how big the blinds are to your stack.


3) "Blinds 800/1600. I have 6d7d in the bb. Folded to the sb (3rd) who calls.
Flop 7s Ah 4h. SB bets, I call.
Turn kd. Sb checks, I bet 1600, he calls.
River 4c. Checked through."

Stack sizes are important to know here. One option is to raise the flop since many players will raise with any ace from the SB when it is folded to them.


7) "Blinds 800/1600. I have 14000 chips. I'm dealt 3c 5h in the sb. UG (chip leader) bets, folded to me.
Flop 5d 7h 4c I bet out 1600, he calls.
Turn 4d I bet 2500, he calls.
River 5s I bet 3000, he calls."

I don't like all the small bets. This is NL not limit. I would bet more on the flop. The turn bet is tough. You are still hoping he has overcards or a weak draw. The river bet is fine. You want to find the amount that he will call since it seems improbable that you lose.


8) "Blinds 1000/2000, I'm in second place (25000) with 6 players.
I have Kc Qs ug+1. Folded to me, I raise 4000. Folded to the button (15000) chips who calls and the bb completes.
Flop 8h 5d Jd. Checked around.
Turn 5s. BB goes all in (2510), I fold, button calls."

1st of all I assume you made it 6000 to go preflop? Assuming this is true you have one opponent with 2510 and the other with 9000. Depending how the button plays I might just go all-in on the flop. You have 2 overcards and you will still have 10k at the worst case.


9) "Five players left, I'm in third with half of the chips of the leader. I have 3s Kh in the SB. Folded to me and I fold to the chip leader."

This might be a situation where I raise to 3xBB. Again stack/blind sizes may change this.


10) "Same scenario as the last hand, I'm dealt 9d 10h on the button. Folded to me, I fold. "

Seems like a possible steal position. Raise to 3xBB. If the chip leader will call most of the time then I would fold.


12) "Four players left, everyone pretty much even, blinds 1000/2000. I have 5c 8s in the sb. Folded to me and I fold."

Probably fine to just fold. An occasional call in this situation is fine.


13) "Lucky 13. Blinds 1500/3000. I don't have the exact history of this hand, but I had Ks 10s in the bb. I UG bets 3000, sb calls, I call.
Flop is KD 8s 6s. Sb bets 3000, I call, ug folds. Turn was a low rag. Sb (equal stack as mine) goes all-in. What's the right play here, I strongly considered folding..but didn't. "

I would have raised on the flop. The decision to call the all-in would depend on the stack sizes.

Ken Poklitar

[Nelson]

Thanks very much Ken. I will cut down on the hands that I post in the future, and concentrate on providing more detail on chip counts and blind sizes.

On hand #8, I just raised twice the bb. I have just come to understand that the standard raise in these situations is 3 or 4 times the bb (I am still pretty new to NL tournaments). To this point, I have been mixing up my raises for deceptive purposes - but at the same time, I made it too easy for the bb to call the bet. In retrospect, I should have gone all-in. The same applies to when I am betting with middle pair after the flop - I make it too easy for others to see the turn and river. Thanks again for your input, it is very beneficial for me.

Nelson

[ohkanada]

No problem.

There are 2 schools of though in pre-flop raising.

Some people will vary their raises anywhere from 2xBB ( a limit raise) to going all-in. As long as the varing is not tied directly to cards this may be a valid approach and some people do it very well. They key is not to be robotic with your raises so someone knows what type of hand you have. For example I have seen some players raise 2xBB with small pairs but raise 3xBB with medium pairs. Mix up good and steal hands with small and larger raises.

Others like to make pot-sized raises pre-flop. In a typical blind structure making it 3.5xBB is a pot-sized raise if no one else has entered the pot. If someone has entered the pot you would adjust your raise. And once your raise is 40% or so of your stack then you should probably go all-in.

I normally use the pot-sized raise approach.

Ken Poklitar