Hand Analysis for MTT

[StLouisMike]

Played a $50 buyin MMT NLHE tourney on Party last night and had a few hands that I was a little uncertain on how to play them.

Hand 1:
-Middle of tourney chipstack right at tourney avg and so was rest of table. Chip leader raises from MP (had been playing alot of hands) 2x bb and gets two callers one bieng me in SB with 45s. Flop comes 235 of spades giving me top pair + open end str8 draw. Should I have made a probe bet into the raiser or checked due to the spades? After a little thought I really thought he would not fold with a spade in his hand so I checked and he took the pot on the flop.
Hand2:
-Middle/Late Stages of tourney. Players have tightened up and I am at somewhere around 14 for my M. In first position I get QTs and raise it 4x bb and pick up the pot uncontested. Obviously it worked but is this a profitable play if you know others at the table are tightening up and the blinds are on you next?
Hand 3:
-Middle/Late/Prizes around 20 players away. Folded around to cut off and he raises to 4x bb (new table so I had no read on him). I have A9 in the SB and reraise but, only 2x his original raise (if I did it over again I would have raised 3 or 4) and he calls. Flop comes gives me top pair and I move in which is about the size of the pot and after a lot of though he calls showing QJ (good enough for middle pair) and he hits two pair on river. Was I correct in reraising him with the A9 since it was late and the blinds were getting high? I was still in the 14 range for my M and just over the average chip stack.

Mike

[AceofSpades]

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-Middle/Late/Prizes around 20 players away. Folded around to cut off and he raises to 4x bb (new table so I had no read on him). I have A9 in the SB and reraise but, only 2x his original raise (if I did it over again I would have raised 3 or 4) and he calls. Flop comes gives me top pair and I move in which is about the size of the pot and after a lot of though he calls showing QJ (good enough for middle pair) and he hits two pair on river. Was I correct in reraising him with the A9 since it was late and the blinds were getting high? I was still in the 14 range for my M and just over the average chip stack.


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The other hands are slighty more tricky, but this hand was just weird. I don't understand the reraise. What is the point? If you want to see a flop and not possibly put your tournament life at risk, then call, and if you think A9 is ahead here then why not push?

If you think he's stealing and you want to resteal then usually the best move is to push. What happened was he had a decent hand that you made expensive to see the flop. You got lucky and hit your ace. He thought you were bluffing, called and sucked out.

[StLouisMike]

My reason for the reraise was my M being 14 I wasn't forced to play for all my money. I am assuming that if I move in preflop the only hand he would call with would be one that beats me. If I reraise and he comes over the top of my reraise I can get away from the hand losing a little less than half my stack. I am new to tourney strategy so forgive me if I am terribly wrong here.

[AceofSpades]

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My reason for the reraise was my M being 14 I wasn't forced to play for all my money. I am assuming that if I move in preflop the only hand he would call with would be one that beats me. If I reraise and he comes over the top of my reraise I can get away from the hand losing a little less than half my stack. I am new to tourney strategy so forgive me if I am terribly wrong here.

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Didn't mean to come off sounding harsh, sorry about that...
If you're willing to fold to a reraise then you probably just need to make a bigger raise. Having the small raise just commits more chips to a pot where you're not sure you want to go all the way with. Plus if you miss the flop then you are in a tricky situation where you have put in a lot of chips, might be ahead or behind but have no way of knowing. that's the problem with reraising (not all in).