Help me take this pot

This occurred on the bubble of a 20+2 tournament. Villain in this hand has seen me open three times this orbit:

First hand, blinds 250-500, I raise to 2000 from late position against a limper. BB calls, limper calls, flop comes rags. Checks to me, I fire another 2000, BB calls, limper folds. Turn is a rag, check check, river is an A, checked to me, I bet half the pot and take it down. (I had KQ, but didn't show it).

Several hands later, with blinds at 300-600, the button open raises to 3x, I jam from the BB and he folds (had QJ, but again, didn't show).

Next hand, I raise to 4x from the SB and take the blinds (had AJs, but once again, Villain didn't see).

Now, this hand occurs. There ~70 players remaining in the tournament, with 60 getting paid 3x the buyin. Villain and I are both in the top 5 chip stacks, he may even be chipleader. I've seen him call a 3x raise from UTG and fold to a pot-sized all-in on a rag flop, and I've seen him check his BB against a limper, and then check-raise all-in on the flop. He made his big stack by raising to 3x with AK and calling a fairly large re-raise all-in.

Here's the hand:

9 players at the table, folded to me on the button. Blinds 300-600, I make it 1800 with 55, I've got T21000 behind. SB (T16000) folds, BB (T32000 after posting) calls.

Flop: T3900 in pot, flop AJ9r. Villain leads for 1200, I call.

Turn: T6300 in pot, turn comes another 9, completing the rainbow. Villain leads for 1800, I pop it to 6600, he calls.

River: T19500 in pot, Villain leads for 2900, I pop it to 10K, leaving 7500 behind, he's got about 16000 left if he folds.

So I think Villain is screaming weakness all the way, but I'm not sure how best to take it away from him. I feel like I was just kind of throwing money at the pot without representing a clear hand or putting too much thought into what Villain could have.

1. Does anyone disagree with raising Villain's blind in the first place, or with my read that he is weak? (FWIW, I don't think this guy is good enough to feign weakness in order to encourage me to come over the top).

2. If you agree that this is a stealable pot, what would be a better line than the one I took? (No need to jump up and down about how poorly I played it, I'm well aware, but I'd really like to know what I should have done).

[MikeSmith]

[ QUOTE ]
This occurred on the bubble of a 20+2 tournament. Villain in this hand has seen me open three times this orbit:

First hand, blinds 250-500, I raise to 2000 from late position against a limper. BB calls, limper calls, flop comes rags. Checks to me, I fire another 2000, BB calls, limper folds. Turn is a rag, check check, river is an A, checked to me, I bet half the pot and take it down. (I had KQ, but didn't show it).

Several hands later, with blinds at 300-600, the button open raises to 3x, I jam from the BB and he folds (had QJ, but again, didn't show).

Next hand, I raise to 4x from the SB and take the blinds (had AJs, but once again, Villain didn't see).

Now, this hand occurs. There ~70 players remaining in the tournament, with 60 getting paid 3x the buyin. Villain and I are both in the top 5 chip stacks, he may even be chipleader. I've seen him call a 3x raise from UTG and fold to a pot-sized all-in on a rag flop, and I've seen him check his BB against a limper, and then check-raise all-in on the flop. He made his big stack by raising to 3x with AK and calling a fairly large re-raise all-in.

Here's the hand:

9 players at the table, folded to me on the button. Blinds 300-600, I make it 1800 with 55, I've got T21000 behind. SB (T16000) folds, BB (T32000 after posting) calls.

Flop: T3900 in pot, flop AJ9r. Villain leads for 1200, I call.

Turn: T6300 in pot, turn comes another 9, completing the rainbow. Villain leads for 1800, I pop it to 6600, he calls.

River: T19500 in pot, Villain leads for 2900, I pop it to 10K, leaving 7500 behind, he's got about 16000 left if he folds.

So I think Villain is screaming weakness all the way, but I'm not sure how best to take it away from him. I feel like I was just kind of throwing money at the pot without representing a clear hand or putting too much thought into what Villain could have.

1. Does anyone disagree with raising Villain's blind in the first place, or with my read that he is weak? (FWIW, I don't think this guy is good enough to feign weakness in order to encourage me to come over the top).

2. If you agree that this is a stealable pot, what would be a better line than the one I took? (No need to jump up and down about how poorly I played it, I'm well aware, but I'd really like to know what I should have done).

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Considering you are one of the big stacks, you are committing alot of chips with a marginal hand(if you had a smaller stack i would understand this move). I would have reraised his 1200 bet and if he calls just shut down. If he called a reaise on a flop like that he most likely hit something(depending what he has done in previous hands). He might just have a pair of Jacks so a reraise might make him lay it down but if he calls reraise he probably has something better.

You have a lot of chips so i would just shut down and not piss away all my chips with a pp lower than the board, i see people do it all the time and its not necessary. Dont be so obsessed with winning every pot you play, ive done much better in tournies by playing smart.

best of luck

[Firefly]

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Flop: T3900 in pot, flop AJ9r. Villain leads for 1200, I FOLD .

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I'd fold right here. This is an awful flop and unless he's leading this flop with KQ or 44 you are going to be way behind. Generally, in a 20 dollar tourney, i dont count on people to make the folds that they should make, so i won't attempt to outplay him on this flop.

i think your assessment of your play is fair. it seems to me that youre throwing money at the pot. if you were to take this pot away, i think the flops the best place to do it. reraise 3.5-4 times original bet. if called, or raised shut down. but me, im folding. 55 isnt the hand i want to stake my tourney on.

bad play. fold his flop bet or reraise and fold the turn. they already saw that you had been playing LAG, and there are not many hands you are ahead of.

[daryn]

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[ QUOTE ]
Flop: T3900 in pot, flop AJ9r. Villain leads for 1200, I FOLD .

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I'd fold right here. This is an awful flop and unless he's leading this flop with KQ or 44 you are going to be way behind. Generally, in a 20 dollar tourney, i dont count on people to make the folds that they should make, so i won't attempt to outplay him on this flop.

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i agree with this.. you don't have to win every pot you know

Thanks for your thoughts. In retrospect, I agree that the flop is the time to make my move. I am quite confident that he does not have an A, as I think a good A re-raises pre-flop and a bad A check-raises the flop. Basically I think he leads with any two other than an A on this flop, which means that even if I'm ahead he likely has overcards and I should define my hand now. When I called, my thinking was that he would let me know where I stood on the turn.

I chose to raise the turn because it makes it less likely he has a 9, and if he has a J, this is a terrible card for him. I also believe that a raise here should allow me to get a free showdown on the river.

When he leads out the river, I think he's rivered me. My guess is that he's got KQ and is begging me to call with any pair, or he hit the T (because he had a hand like QT) and is making a blocking bet. My thinking was that he would lay down anything worse than a pair of Jacks on the river. Unfortunately, he called with 87 for a rivered straight.

Anyway, that's all largely irrelevant. I think the key points here are the "It's okay to let go of a pot" attitude and the flop raise. Thanks again for your advice.