55 late in 25+2 from BB

rhizome · #1 07-20-2005, 12:01 AM

Would anyone play this one differently? We were down to about 15 players at the time of this hand. Villian had been raising a lot of pots with any 2 face cards and wasn't folding. I was thinking that I could bust him if I hit a set. I didn't hit the set, but I liked the board. Any thoughts?

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t600 (7 handed) http://216.119.70.224/converter/hhconverter.pl

Button (t31529)
SB (t7688)
Hero (t11930)
UTG (t10392)
MP1 (t6910)
MP2 (t12257)
CO (t8170)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 5[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 5[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img].
3 folds, CO raises to t1500, 2 folds, Hero calls t900.

Flop: (t3300) 6[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 4[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (2 players)
Hero bets t1600, CO calls t1600.

Turn: (t6500) 3[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (2 players)
Hero calls [t9430] , CO calls [t5070] .

River: (t6500) K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (2 players)

Final Pot: t6500

Note: converter looks weird --- I pushed all-in on the turn and he called.

rhizome · #2 07-20-2005, 07:04 AM

Anyone?

juris · #3 07-20-2005, 07:13 AM

Um, if he wasn't folding, why bet all-in on a draw? With a flush showing?

You tried to bluff a calling station based on your description. My guess is he had a medium pair (77-10s) and you lost.

Georgia Peach · #4 07-20-2005, 07:15 AM

I am new to tournament play, so this is not sage advice. If you thought he was too aggressive and playing any paint, I might have gone all-in PF here and taken my chances.

It's either all-in or fold, IMO.

rhizome · #5 07-20-2005, 07:56 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Um, if he wasn't folding, why bet all-in on a draw? With a flush showing?

You tried to bluff a calling station based on your description. My guess is he had a medium pair (77-10s) and you lost.

[/ QUOTE ]

I liked the 8 outs to the straight, but didn't really think that I was on much of a draw. I also didn't think he had higher pair or a flush. More than likely, I think he would have re-raised the flop with either of those possibilities (he had raised 4 to flush earlier). I thought that I was ahead and that he just had overcards. Given that read, was this the right move on the turn?

I'm new to MTTs, so I'm curious --- if my read was right and he folded or called and I won, then I'm in really good shape. If I'm wrong, then I'm a short stack nearing the final table (where all the real money is). I really think that I could have milked my stack to the final table, so should I have waited for a better situation?

Also, anything wrong with the half the pot bet on the flop? I felt that if he had anything, then he would have re-raised, so it was partially a feeler bet with some folding equity (although that assumes that that he would fold, which is probably a bad assumption).

rhizome · #6 07-20-2005, 08:00 AM

[ QUOTE ]
I am new to tournament play, so this is not sage advice. If you thought he was too aggressive and playing any paint, I might have gone all-in PF here and taken my chances.

It's either all-in or fold, IMO.

[/ QUOTE ]

He might have folded to an all-in preflop raise, but I don't like pushing with small pairs unless I'm short stacked. If he called, I'd at best be a slight favorites. At worst, I'm dominated by a bigger pair. I wanted to see a flop. Any face cards and no 5, then I'd fold.

Since I know his hand now, I'm sure that he would have folded preflop, but it didn't really seem to be an option to me at the time.

Blindcurve · #7 07-20-2005, 08:54 AM

I think your main difficulty here was half-measures. You wanted to play the hand, but you didn't feel comfortable playing it aggressively when your aggression would have netted you some dividends. [ QUOTE ]
If he called, I'd at best be a slight favorites. At worst, I'm dominated by a bigger pair. I wanted to see a flop. Any face cards and no 5, then I'd fold.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is your best case scenario anytime you have a little pair, right? So you make a read, and if you don't think he has an overpair, you push and let him make a decision. The trouble is, even if he has something really odd like 89s, he's not going to make a big mistake.

I'm really leery of LPOP, which is more of a limit poker concept, but in this scenario, I don't like playing this little pair against a single opponent for set value, or some sort of arcane straight. Unless I hit really well, it's very hard to know where I am. More accurately, it's hard for me not to assume I'm beaten. If I'm going to play this hand, I'd play it aggressively, to give my opponent every opportunity to reconsider.

So my first choice is a fold.
My second choice is a push, which quite frankly, I'm too much of a weak-tightie to reasonably pull off. (There's no way in creation I'd push this in my home game: my FE there is whatever is less than non-existant.)
My third choice, given the flop and the preflop action is a bigger bet on the flop. Your half-pot bet reads as weakness, or a probe, and I don't think you can afford to appear weak right now, because you are weak. However, you still might have the best hand, so play it as the best hand. I'd make a "standard" bet of two-thirds to pot size, and give him something to think about. If he just has two high cards, I'd make him pay to draw. If he's got an overpair or some sort of set, he's coming anyway, and I can slow down. And if I get repopped, I can leave confidently, wishing I'd have folded pre-flop.

In any case, you haven't hit your set. You've shown some aggression and the villain still wants to play. I don't see any reason to lose any more chips in this pot. Check/fold the turn, I think.

FOITNOF,

-D.

rhizome · #8 07-20-2005, 07:46 PM

Thanks for all the replies. This was an excellent less and I will wait for a better position next time.

For what it is worth, I was actually a 70-30 favorite when I pushed on the turn. He had Ks T non-spade.