$33: 2 Pair First Level

Hero calls after 45 seconds. BB shows Qd 7h. Hero takes the pot.

My logic was this. If he had a flush draw, why would he re-reraise me on the turn? I showed some serious strength and he's risking me going all-in because I'm obviously not going to fold for a minimum re-reraise. If he's an idiot that doesn't mind re-reraising and then calling all-in on a flush draw, then he would have attempted to scare me out with bigger than a minimum raise and re-reraise. I put him on a set here, and a badly played set at that since he's letting me 'draw to a flush' (although we know that I don't have it).

So then why would he go all-in on the river? I really couldn't put him on a flush here for the reason stated. So what about a set? When I simply called that re-reraise, I represented at least the possibility of a donk reraising on a flush draw. If he's the type that would go all-in with a set on this board, then he's also the type that would call an all-in from me. So why risk his whole stack when he could have just called whatever bet that I make, which may or may not have been an all-in?

The only hand that can really match his actions is Ac-3c for a 2 pair flush draw, but fortunately I held the ace of clubs so that was not possible.

At that point I thought that I had him beat. If he was smart, he wouldn't have played a flush or set that way. If he was stupid, he wouldn't have played a flush or set that way. He had at best a pair of aces.

I'm not result-oriented though. How was my logic? I was honestly 95% confident to call this all-in after thinking it through.

Any input? I'm really not the type that would usually risk my entire stack very early in the tournament with 2 pair unless I had a really good reason to do it. Can anyone put him on a hand that can beat 2 pair?

[splashpot]

A9 is an easy easy fold preflop this early in the tournament. I'd fold AJ and maybe even AQ. It's just not worth the risk for so few chips. The real game starts mid-tourny. When he raises your turn bet, I'd probably just push. The pot at that point is decently sized and there are a number of draws that could beat you. Get your money in when you have the best of it and be the aggressor.

[curtains]

Preflop - calling is fine

Flop - I would bet more than 50. The board is too draw heavy for me to recommend such a mini sized bet. I'd make it about 75-100.

Turn - Again your bet is too small for my tastes. The min check raise is annoying. Because of your tiny bets youve allowed him to raise such a small amount. If you had just worked on building the pot, this raise would be much larger and make the hand easier to play. Again I hate your minisized 3-bet.

River - Well based on the turn action in your hand....I don't know, his holding/action doesn't make so much sense. I don't think calling is so bad here, I just have a hunch. Against solid opponents your hand would be garbage at this point after the 4 bet on the turn.


Anyway this hand is really weird. Against a solid player I would flat call the turn after being check raised.

[curtains]

[ QUOTE ]
A9 is an easy easy fold preflop this early in the tournament. I'd fold AJ and maybe even AQ. It's just not worth the risk for so few chips. The real game starts mid-tourny. When he raises your turn bet, I'd probably just push. The pot at that point is decently sized and there are a number of draws that could beat you. Get your money in when you have the best of it and be the aggressor.

[/ QUOTE ]

Folding AQ+AJ on the button here will cost a good player money. Even a tightass like myself will call with A9o on the button and 75 BBs, although I don't think its mandatory.

The minibets are simply because people will call bets whether it's big or small at this level. My 2 pair is good enough to build the pot with, but I don't want to commit myself to the pot so early.

I think the key here is that there are plenty of people that play bad. I honestly cannot price people out of the pot for their alleged flush draws with my 2 pair because the implied odds make it so they were actually right to draw to it. Say I did bet 100 on the flop and the turn. I can't know if the guy was smart or not, if he bet a decent amount on the river then I have to call anyways because there's just as good of a chance of him having the flush as there are that he has a pair of aces. With no reads, it's more likely than not that it's incorrect to fold to a river bet this early with 2 pair. But I don't want to risk my whole stack on whether the other guy is an overbetter or just plain insane.

If this was a higher buyin then I would have played it differently, but when there's such a high percentage of people that believe their pair of aces is good at the river on this board, I wouldn't want to commit myself on a nearly coinflip decision based on whether he's bluffing at the river or not. Without any reads, my 2 pair is a coinflip to an all-in out of nowhere. I don't want to stick big bets in on the flop and turn just to find out that he's a clown that goes all-in on the river, and then have a seriously tough decision as to whether he's an idiot that just wants to gamble, or if he's an idiot that overbet a legitimate hand.

This reminded me why I did a mini-reraise on the turn. It was actually simply giving him a chance to drive me out of the pot with a huge re-reraise. That mini-raise by him on the turn made no sense at all, since a flush draw or set shouldn't be played that way. By mini-reraising, I can figure out whether he's drawing to a flush or he has a set, because my mini-reraise made no sense either. He can't put me on any hand right now because that reraise was so stupid, so if he had a set then he has to shove those chips in. If he was on a flush draw, then whooptie. It might make a small flush too scared of a higher flush to bet hard on the river at least.

I just don't see solid opponents that would have mini re-reraised on that turn and then went all-in on the river. To me, this is the most important part of the thread: Can you think of any hand played this way that can beat my 2-pair?

[curtains]

You could easily be losing.Your opponents are not solid, they are generally very bad and you will not be able to "put them on hands". Sometimes you'll be winning and sometimes you'll be losing, but I don't want to sit around and try to figure out my opponents range, when my opponent in this spot could be so random.