Tough Call?

[C M Burns]

Ultimate Bet No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t10 (10 handed) 55 buyin, 3rd hand no reads

saw flop|<font color="C00000">saw showdown</font>

<font color="C00000">UTG (t1020)</font>
UTG+1 (t965)
UTG+2 (t1000)
<font color="C00000">MP1 (t1000)</font>
MP2 (t1000)
<font color="C00000">Hero (t1000)</font>
CO (t995)
Button (t945)
SB (t990)
BB (t1085)

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 folds, MP1 raises to t60, MP2 calls t60, Hero raises to t180, CO folds, Button calls t180, SB folds, BB folds, MP1 calls t120, MP2 folds.

Flop: (t615) 9[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 2[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(4 players)</font>
MP1 checks, Hero bets t300, Button folds, MP1 calls t300.

I find 1/2 pot is enough to get people to fold, and I can still fold to a raise.

Turn: (t1215) 4[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(3 players)</font>
MP1 checks, Hero checks.

I decide to check, although risky, to get him to bet into me on the river, with a med pair like JJ, which is what I thought he may have with his call or at least not put me on the flush and be more likley to call w/a pair.

River: (t1215) 4[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(3 players)</font>
MP1 bets t520 (All-In), (pauses for a bit before betting)

My plan backfired somewhat, would you call here against an unknown player?

[Girazze]

I'm thinking he may have A9. Flopping the trips was good but he's got to be aware of the flush draw as well and it shows with his check to you on the turn. You check as well so he's thinking.....ahhhh, looks like he may not have the flush. He's wrong but caution goes out the window when the river is a second 4 and he now has the boat.......and goes all-in. of course, he may also have two hearts but the highest he could have is the Q. Your check on the turn may have him reading you wrong and thinking he has the high flush hand with his Q. Two scenarios......definitely two different outcomes. Since you have no read onhim, you can't really take his hesitation as any kind of a tell. Some folks do it to bluff you into thinking they aren't sure of their hand. Others do it because the AREN'T sure of their hand. Not exactly sure what I would do in this situation. 50/50 shot he's got the boat or the flush.....coin flip.

[Martin Aigner]

Easy call

Best regards

Martin Aigner

[AtlBrvs4Life]

I think you played this hand far too aggressively for such an early stage of the tournament. You should have bet the turn as well.

[C M Burns]

Anyone else? so far it seems like 1-1-1 for call-fold-either. Should pot odds factor into my decision?

[GoSox]

I hate the check on the turn. You're not trying to build the pot there, there's 1200 chips in the pot --- take it down now or make him pay big for his draw.

I'd check if there wasn't so much action earlier and you could risk building the pot without putting too much of your stack at risk. In this case there's too much at stake to get greedy.

At this point you're pretty committed so I'd see it through.

[C M Burns]

To bump, I think for the given 15 sec, and decide I don't think he has a 9, mainly because of the preflop action. A9s is posible but I thought other hands were more likley. So I call and he shows a black AQo. So I double up and go on to win it after a 30-40min 3 way battle.

As it turned out I played it perfectly had I known his cards. Of course I agree the turn check was a big mistake, I need to resist temptation to slowplay in tourney's. I'm still not sure that my call was right, A9s is a plausible hand and 520 leaves me in decent shape this early. On the otherhand players I've seen tend to be aggressive esp against smaller stacks which makes it more dificult to play short stacked, and I am getting good odds. I guess the lesson is if i had played the turn right i wouldn't have to be in this situation

[Homer315]

I have a hard time seeing this guy having A9s or A4s. I know that people can sometimes play aggressively, but in this case, pre-flop, he raised, and was promptly called by one, had someone triple his raise, and then someone else call that large raise. Now he doesn't know if the original caller might go all in, re-raise or what. For him to play that kind of action with Axs is tough to believe, especially in a $55 tourney. Guy was on a bluff and you gotta call it.

My $0.02 [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[Beavis68]

I agree, I don't think that A-9 or A-4 is a likely raising hand, that re-raise pre-flop was pretty ballsy.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

I think if he had a 9, he wouldn't just flat call your flop bet, and the only hand that has a 4 in it that would make sense played like this is 44. His play makes sense, like you said for JJ (or TT or QQ even).

I'd say you're ahead here 2/3 - 3/4 of the time. I'd call.