hand from WPT today vs. Kathy Leibert

[pfkaok]

OK, so this is my first (and hopefully not last) major 10k buyin tourney with all the big boys (and girls like in this hand):

I don't remember the exact stack sizes, but I was right around 38-39k before the hand, and she was probably 40-45k, so pretty even. last round of the day, and the blinds were 2-400 with 75 antee, so 1350 in pot to start:

folded to me on button with A3s, and I chose to limp for reasons i thought were good, but if not then let me know where my thinking is wrong on this. I had been playing quite aggressively for the past several levels, attaking the blinds pretty hard... after losing over half my stack in the first few levels i managed to build from just over 8k to almost 40k without having to showdown a single hand(obviosly several people at my table were playing weak/scared)... a few times i had folded to a reraise after raising from steal position, so i didn't want to open myself up to that. also, I had limped 1st or 2nd in from LMP-LP and folded to raise few times, so i felt there was a decent chance she'd raise with a good sized range of hands. i had actually decided before looking at my hand that it might be a good time to slowplay AA or KK if its folded to me. then when i caught a hand that i'd like to play in position, in a not-too large pot with these deep stacks. is this a good reason for limping, or should i just raise to my usual 12-1300 and try to get the blinds?

OK, now regardless of whether the limp was correct, thats what i did. SB completes, now she makes it 2400 to go. from the rest of the day i'd guess the chances of the completer slowplaying to be small enough, or at least close to small enough to be ignored when looking at the hand. so, i had known that a raise was certainly possible, but 2000 more was a bit of a problem. i'm getting about 2:1, but i really don't like my hand too much at this point. i do have position, but it seems like against a tough player i might not be able to find out where i am in the hand very easily without risking a very large portion of my stack. don't know if its wrong, but i don't want to call here. before i muck however i start to wonder what her range actually is here to see if a reraise might have some merit to it at this point. although i had been raising preflop pretty often, i had only reraised i think twice the whole day, and both were earlier on before she got to the table. so i think that a raise to 8-10k here might have some real fold equity. but is it enough? also, does she need to fold 60-70% of the time here for it to be, or will she ever just call here and give me a chance to see a flop before pushing? if she occasionally stop and goes medium pairs here then that makes this resteal move a bit more tepmting, right?

anyways, i couldn't come up with a good range, or a good estimate of folding equity, so i just mucked and pondered a bit more as to whether reraising would have been spewing, or if it might have in fact been a good move.

[billyjex]

I understand your reasons for open limping. I mean, of course the obvious answer is to raise 3-4xbb preflop but it's hard for any of us to say about your image since you'd be playing there all day.. basically I'm saying it's ok giving your status.

Once she raises, I feel it's an easy muck. Calling might be ok, but unless you flop something big I think you're going to get yourself into too much trouble with an easily dominated hand. Reraising with represent a big hand but with the big stacks Kathy might still be inclined to call and flop something big -- and you can easily lose a lot of chips with flopping an ace here.

Also, since it sounds like near the end of the day, you won't be able to build on your image with an open button limp for if you do get a big pair..

I can understand reasons for all three, but with an easily dominated hand and against a world class player like Kathy I am willing to muck and hold onto my chips for the next day.

GL tomorrow.

[johnnydingles]

I think its an easy fold here also. Seems like you have a decent stack for tomorrow. And being so aggressive as you said, i think it might have looked funny with you limping in. I think i'd put you on a good hand there. If she has anything that does NOT beat you there, i think she easily calls and tries to hit a flop. Shes raising the pot, and I think i fold this without even thinking about it.

[pfkaok]

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Also, since it sounds like near the end of the day, you won't be able to build on your image with an open button limp for if you do get a big pair..

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no, what i meant was that based on what had happened up until this point i thought this would be a good time to limp with a big pair. sorry, my post was probably kind of confusing in some parts.

maybe i'm overparanoid, but at the risk of giving up tells i'm not aware of, in this tourney i decided to not look at my cards at all until my turn to act. so while the action leads up to me i try to think what are good options with various hands if its folded, or raised by what person, or whatever. as people started folding around to me i thought... hmm, i've openlimped/folded a few times from middle and late posititons a few times lately, if i get a big pair here it might be a good time to try to punish a world-class player for being observant if i get a big pair. as it turned out, when i looked down i was at the other end of the spectrum, where i didn't want to encourage a raise. but i mean, she's probably raising a lot here, but nowhere near 100%... as if she were then a reraise on my part would clearly have awesome fold equity.

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Reraising with represent a big hand but with the big stacks Kathy might still be inclined to call and flop something big -- and you can easily lose a lot of chips with flopping an ace here.

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well, if i raised it'd be to probably 1/4 or a little more of my stack (about 1/4 or a little less of hers). i thought it'd be tough for her to call with small or mid pair here, and probably AJo or worse. i would obviously fold if she came back over the top, but if she called i would assume that i'm waaay behind and her call could likely be a trap, since she's assume that she could check the flop and my continuation bet would make it easy for all the chips to get in the middle. so if she called i'd almost certainly be in check/fold mode unless the flop is real lucky for me. that extra 10-15% might add a little bit of value to this play, but mainly i was thinking that the immediate odds on the bluff might have been there, and even if i gave up completely on the hand if it failed i'd still be left with over 25k to work with, so its not like i'd be totally crippled.

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I can understand reasons for all three, but with an easily dominated hand and against a world class player like Kathy I am willing to muck and hold onto my chips for the next day.

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in the end though this is basically the thought that prevailed in my mind and lead me to believe that folding is best. sometimes its tough for me to tell though exactly where to draw the line between making a good profitable move, and just plain spewing. also, its always tough for me in the heat of battle to get an accurate guess of folding equity.

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GL tomorrow.

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thanks. i'll certainly need a plenty to get far, but i'm feeling pretty good about being at aprox. average stack after the way things started out. however it turns out though its already been a whole lot of fun, and also quite motivating for me to want to get better at MTT's... and to build up the BR to allow myself to play in more sats for these bigger events.